Recent Reads Mini Reviews

More mini reviews from books I’ve enjoyed to varying degrees over the last few weeks.

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Heartbreak for Hire by Sonia Hartl

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Release Date: July 27, 2021

I just didn’t really enjoy this at all. I found Brinkley to be incredibly annoying and while it’s normally a non issue for me, I also wasn’t the biggest fan of the audiobook narrator. I found that in particular, I liked the love interest less because of the narration. And all the other characters just faded into the background for me, I could distinct Brinkleys friends and coworkers apart at all.

I love the idea of the empowerment that comes from the personal journey, and I’m always here for a good revenge story, this just fell flat to me.

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Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian

Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Release Date: September 7, 2021

I don’t know if I just had too high of expectations, but this was kind of a flat read for me. I was intrigued about a book with a group of diagnosed psychopaths college students at the core, but I was really just bored for most of the story and I didn’t connect with the story or characters at all (a fun bit of irony, at least). Three primary characters got focus: Charles, Andre, and Chloe and were distinct enough, but the narrative was unbalanced, with Chloe – the least interesting to me, getting the most focus. The pacing did a good job of propelling the story, but I didn’t really care who the killer was, so it didn’t make me want to keep reading.

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

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The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2.5 Stars)
Release Date: February 23, 2021

While this was a solidly enjoyable read, I think my expectations were a bit too high from all the hype and it ended up just being okay for me. I do think Catalina and Aaron have immediate and obvious chemistry but the actual development of the relationship was lackluster to me (especially in the last half of the story – it all was a little too rushed.) And I didn’t love Lina as much as I wanted too, so that didn’t help either. I also thought the fake dating/wedding scenario would be much more prevalent in the story but it doesn’t actually start until around the near halfway mark. I know it sounds like a lot of complaining, but workplace rivals to lovers is always something I will gravitate towards, so I still had fun and would recommend this for a quick read.

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The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5 Stars)
Release Date: August 31, 2021

Anna and Quan are both going through some major life changes throughout the novel and really learn a lot about themselves along the way. I’d honestly say the romance takes a backseat in this one verses the healing journey that the two go on individually, which left me a little disappointed, but Helen Hoang packed a lot of emotion into the pages and it still managed to pull at my heart.

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

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What books have you been reading lately? Share below.