Tag: contemporary

Seyoon and Dean, Unscripted by Sujin Witherspoon [BOOK REVIEW] Seyoon and Dean, Unscripted by Sujin Witherspoon [BOOK REVIEW]
Book Review · Books

Seyoon and Dean, Unscripted by Sujin Witherspoon [BOOK REVIEW]

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Seyoon and Dean, Unscripted by Sujin Witherspoon [BOOK REVIEW]

About The Book:

Seyoon and Dean, Unscripted by Sujin Witherspoon [BOOK REVIEW]

Pages: 330

Genre: Romance, YA

Publisher: Hot Key Books

Format I read it in: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★

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Winning is Seyoon Shin’s middle name. Okay, it’s not, but she is a winner—despite what her critical dad says. Dean Parker, on the other hand, isn’t beating anyone to the finish line. His strengths are more brain, less brawn. 

When Evergreen Expedition—a wilderness game show with an eccentric host and a cult following—announces a reboot, they both jump at the chance to win the prize. Seyoon’s competitiveness fuels a fire in Dean he’s never felt before, and his hunger to prove himself rivals hers.
 
To get to the finals, they realize they need each other. Seyoon and Dean form an alliance, which the opportunistic producers are quick to frame as romantic. The rivals-to-lovers angle is good for views and intimidating the competition, but their chemistry is just for show . . . right?
 
As the lines blur between friendship and romance, reality and reality TV, Seyoon and Dean can’t ignore that the finale is fast approaching—and that only one of them can win.

My Thoughts:

“Seyoon and Dean, Unscripted” was such an addictive, fast-paced read. If you’re looking for a story that combines the high stakes of a wilderness survival trek with some slow-burn tension, this one is definitely for you.

I am a huge fan of the enemies-to-friends-to-lovers trope, and this book delivered. I loved watching the initial cockiness and animosity melt into playful teasing and, eventually vulnerability and both characters developing feelings for each other. 

The reality TV element was also a big highlight! If you grew up watching “Survivor” or “I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here”, you will love the challenges and scenes where they were filming on set.

There were a few things, however, that I didn’t enjoy as much, which is a shame. Seyoon is a strong, calculated character, and it felt unusual to see her make “silly” decisions on the spot. When the competition narrowed down to the final three, she made a choice that felt completely out of character. There is no way she didn’t realise the obvious consequences! There is simply no way… When she yelled, trying to help Dean, she knew exactly what that would mean. She should’ve owned up to it afterwards.

I also found the resolution for the story’s villain quite unsatisfying. It would have been nice to see an epilogue a few months down the line to see how the dust settled and some villains get their well deserved punishments. 

Despite the few frustrations I had, “Seyoon and Dean, Unscripted” is a very well-written adventurous romance. I think it’s a very good choice of a book to take with you on your summer holiday.

About the Author:

Seyoon and Dean, Unscripted by Sujin Witherspoon [BOOK REVIEW]

Sujin Witherspoon is a Korean American author, artist, and lover of words she can’t pronounce. She gravitates towards stories that will either plague her nightmares or make her stomach hurt from laughter–no in between. She earned her degree in English from the University of Washington and now spends her time writing, thinking about writing, or exploring Seattle.

Website

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In Time With You by Kristin Dwyer [BOOK REVIEW] In Time With You by Kristin Dwyer [BOOK REVIEW]
Book Review · Books

In Time With You by Kristin Dwyer [BOOK REVIEW]

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In Time With You by Kristin Dwyer [BOOK REVIEW]

About The Book:

In Time With You by Kristin Dwyer [BOOK REVIEW]

Pages: 384

Genre: Romance, YA, Contemporary

Publisher: Rock The Boat

Format I read it in: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★

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Disclosure: If you buy books linked to this blog, I may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.

Nieve Monroe is devastated after her boyfriend Carter dies saving her from drowning. Even worse she blames herself for his death… and so does his best friend, Max. He was there with them on that fateful day, and he’s never liked Nieve.

Unable to pull herself from her grief and wanting to hide from the accusation in his eyes, Nieve goes to stay with her grandmother, who has always had strange stories to tell of uncanny happenings, of magic and make believe. The next morning, Nieve wakes up on the first day of college, the year before.

This time she plans to make sure Carter never follows her into that river. She’ll do everything in her power to keep him safe, even if it means losing him in other ways. But the more distance she puts between her and Carter, the closer she gets to Max, drawn to him in ways she never expected.

But is she betraying Carter if the only way she can save him is to move on? And can she ever forget her past to embrace her future?

My Thoughts:

“Time is like these colors. It changes and bleeds and blends. Don’t let today’s color seep into tomorrow.”

“In Time With You” by Kristin Dwyer is one of those books that brings you peace whilst reading it, and leaves you with a warm smile after you’ve finished it.

Nieve is devastated after her boyfriend, Carter, dies trying to save her from drowning. Filled with grief, she goes to her grandma’s house and the next morning she wakes up, and it’s the first day of college… again.

She has a chance to make things right this time around, but the more she tries to avoid Carter in order to keep him safe, she realises there is a boy that she has not been paying attention to at all.

I am not usually a fan of the “time loop / Groundhog day” dynamics in a book, but this one managed to execute this very well.

I felt for Nieve and I instantly started rooting for her and Max. Their chemistry was amazing and I loved the passion they both shared for art.

But the most important thing that stuck with me was the story about Nieve herself. Her struggling with grief and PTSD from a moment that is no longer a reality for the rest of the group must have felt so lonely! Her knowing she needs to do something to fix what she knows is about to happen, but every choice backfiring had a toll on her as well. Watching Nieve trying to navigate through all of this, all whilst catching feelings for Max was a very raw and emotional story, but filled with a lot of maturity and without any unnecessary drama.

I really devoured this book and enjoyed the beautiful and emotional journey that Nieve and Max were going through. It is one of those books that will always linger in your mind when you wish you could turn back time in your own life. Definitely recommend!

“Time, my love, takes what it wants. Even when we try to stop it.”

About the Author:

In Time With You by Kristin Dwyer [BOOK REVIEW]

Kristin Dwyer grew up under the California sun and still prays every day for a cloudy sky. When she’s not writing books about people kissing, she and her spouse can be found encouraging their four mischief makers to get into trouble. Kristin is a part-time hair model and wants you to know she is full-time TSA PRECHECK, and one time a credible news outlet asked for her opinion on K-pop (it was the best day of her life). Please do not talk to her about your fandom, she will try to join.

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Ever After by Amanda Prowse [BOOK REVIEW] Ever After by Amanda Prowse [BOOK REVIEW]
Book Review · Books

Ever After by Amanda Prowse [BOOK REVIEW]

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Ever After by Amanda Prowse [BOOK REVIEW]

About The Book:

Ever After by Amanda Prowse [BOOK REVIEW]

Pages: 412

Genre: Romance, Fiction

Format I read it in: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★

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My Thoughts:

“Ever After” is an emotional rollercoaster of a book, but in the most beautiful way. It had so much emotion poured into it, and I couldn’t help getting invested in Enya’s story. 

Enya is a widow that is still grieving her husband. I mean, do you ever really stop grieving a loved one, especially your soulmate? Her son, Aiden is in a relationship with Enya’s best friend and next-door-neighbour’s daughter, and everything seems to be going well. Except that, one day, Aiden returns from a work conference and has news that will change everyone’s lives forever.

Enya finds herself in a very difficult situation that she neither chose, nor does she have control over. What doesn’t help is that she also keeps a secret that she can’t tell anyone, and this burdens her for multiple reasons. The support network she used to have is now gone, leaving her very lonely, and she reverts to her default setting – making sure everyone around her is okay and happy, even to the detriment of her happiness.

I found it painful, but refreshing, that the characters didn’t shy away from difficult topics and voiced how they were feeling, even though sometimes this took much longer than it should have for them to open up. 

The writing was beautiful and raw, every chapter leaving you satisfied and craving for more at the same time. Amanda Prowse is now on my auto-buy list of authors. I will instantly get her book as soon as I spot the next one. I already have “This One Life” on my TBR to get to it as soon as I possibly can. 

If you are looking for a book that makes you feel things and care for the characters, please pick this book! It will take you on a real and raw adventure and make you open a new tissue box whilst at it. How can you say no to a good old healthy cry? 

Favourite quotes:

“I can’t remember what I used to think about before my head was full of you!”

“Speaking for myself, it has always been rooted in love. Loving those that love me a bit too much and not loving myself enough, I guess.”

“His expression, she feared, matched her own; it was that potent mix of longing and regret that, had it been expressed in music, would have been loud and building, a crescendo that carried you along with its passion and its beauty, a trailing rapture that could pierce her very soul. Feelings that had the ability to floor her, to be her undoing, and her salvation. A moment of connection, knitting all the strands of desire and roping her to him, this man who had come into her life in the most unconventional of ways and had turned things upside down.”

About the Author:

Ever After by Amanda Prowse [BOOK REVIEW]

Amanda Prowse is an International Bestselling author whose thirty-two novels, two non-fiction titles and ten novellas have been published in dozens of languages around the world. Published by Lake Union, Amanda is the most prolific writer of bestselling contemporary fiction in the UK today; her titles also consistently score the highest online review approval ratings across several genres. Her books, including the chart topping No.1 titles ‘What Have I Done?’, ‘Perfect Daughter’, ‘My Husband’s Wife’, ‘The Girl in the Corner’ and ‘The Things I Know’ have sold millions of copies across the globe.

Website

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The Shelf by Helly Acton [BOOK REVIEW] The Shelf by Helly Acton [BOOK REVIEW]
Book Review · Books

The Shelf by Helly Acton [BOOK REVIEW]

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The Shelf by Helly Acton [BOOK REVIEW]

About The Book:

The Shelf by Helly Acton [BOOK REVIEW]

Pages: 416

Genre: Romance, Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher: Bonnier Books UK

Format I read it in: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★

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My Thoughts:

Reading “The Shelf” was so fun. It’s a “make you feel good” book, focusing on inner happiness, with or without a partner. 

Despite reading the synopsis, I went into this book blind. I blame this on my forgetfulness – I tend to read 10 synopsis of books, and then choose 1 book to read out of them all. I’ll be honest – I did not connect with Amy at all in the first chapters. It was hard to read about her current life and relationship. Then the surprise event happens and Amy ends up being dumped live on TV, and entering this new TV Show – The Shelf!

It was at this time when I instantly sided with her, and loved reading about her journey.

“The Shelf” show has to be the worst, most hectic, most sexist show I’ve ever come across in my years of reading fiction. Basically, you get to win the show if you can prove that you are the best “housewife material” out there. And I have nothing against housewives. My favourite person in the world – my late grandma – was a housewife, and I know her life wasn’t easy at all. It was busy and filled with manual work, house work, gardening. But it was a house that was always filled with lots of love. Some of my fondest childhood memories I have are connected with that woman.

And to see the “housewife” term used as a TV-show concept in this way was not the nicest thing to see, is all I can say. I just believe that this should be a woman’s choice of life and not a decision made on her behalf, or a mandatory tick box when finding a partner, as portrayed in this book. In this show, you could only win the game if you are the perfect housewife material. The show was full of men treating women in a way they shouldn’t ever be treated.

“We’re all so busy trying to find the right person, we aren’t trying to be the right person.”

All the other women are in the same boat with Amy (dumped and left on the shelf), competing for one million dollars and being crowned “The Keeper”. I know, the show is a huge red flag. But the contestants are here to save the day. Aside from Amy, we’ll meet Jackie, Gemma, Hattie, Lauren and Flick – all of them very different and with their own stories. And most important of all, all these women make their lives a priority, despite their environment telling them otherwise.

I devoured this book in just a few days.

It was heart-warming, fun, uplifting and powerful. It spoke to my younger-self, that it’s okay to be single and happy on your own until / if you meet your person. And it spoke to my present self that it’s okay to have your person and share experiences and work things out. And that if something suddenly goes wrong – you’ve still got your person – yourself! I can only warmly recommend “The Shelf” for you. I hope it brightens your day like it did mine.

About the Author:

The Shelf by Helly Acton [BOOK REVIEW]

Helly Acton is a copywriter from London with past lives in the Middle East, Africa and Australia. Born in Zimbabwe, Helly and her family emigrated to the East Sussex coast when she was 15 years old. Here, she finished school and spent her holidays in Saudi Arabia, where her father had been placed with work. She studied Law at King’s College London before following a more creative path into advertising.

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Twisted Love (Twisted #1) by Ana Huang [BOOK REVIEW] Twisted Love (Twisted #1) by Ana Huang [BOOK REVIEW]
Book Review · Books

Twisted Love (Twisted #1) by Ana Huang [BOOK REVIEW]

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Twisted Love (Twisted #1) by Ana Huang [BOOK REVIEW]

About The Book:

Twisted Love (Twisted #1) by Ana Huang [BOOK REVIEW]

Pages: 343

Genre: Romance, Contemporary

Publisher: Piatkus

Format I read it in: Paperback

Rating: ★★★

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He has a heart of ice…but for her, he’d burn the world

A diverse new adult steamy romance from Tiktok sensation and USA Today bestselling author Ana Huang.

Alex Volkov is a devil blessed with the face of an angel and cursed with a past he can’t escape.

Driven by a tragedy that has haunted him for most of his life, his ruthless pursuits for success and vengeance leave little room for matters of the heart.

But when he’s forced to look after his best friend’s sister, he starts to feel something in his chest:

A crack.

A melt.

A fire that could end his world as he knew it.

***

Ava Chen is a free spirit trapped by nightmares of a childhood she can’t remember.

But despite her broken past, she’s never stopped seeing the beauty in the world…including the heart beneath the icy exterior of a man she shouldn’t want.

Her brother’s best friend.

Also her neighbor.

Her savior and her downfall.

Theirs is a love that was never supposed to happen-but when it does, it unleashes secrets that could destroy them both…and everything they hold dear.

My Thoughts:

“Twisted Love” is a book I’ve always had my eyes on. My sister gifted me a copy, and I instantly dived in. Now, I am all for “bad boy” romances, but this one just wasn’t it. It felt like the author wanted to include all romance tropes at once, and whilst doing so, created a proper mess.

Firstly, our main male character, Alex Volkov, is a horrible person. Rich, as in, I own my grandpa’s company and no one can touch me. Stubborn, arrogant, jealous and possessive. Usually, I don’t mind this in a romance book and just go with it, enjoying the book, despite a character’s red flags. Who am I to judge, right? But Alex was way too annoying. I should request some kind of compensation for the amount of eye rolls this book gave me. Maybe I am owed some eye drops or something.

As for Ava, I really liked her, even though I thought she was a bit gullible at times. I also have to remind myself that she had a crush on Alex, and with that comes a lot of tunnel vision and her wearing her rose-tinted glasses. I liked how her trauma was presented, and it added great depth to the character.

There was one moment in the book that really made me chuckle.

It mentioned how easy it was to cross borders in Europe. And I laughed, because it is clear the author never tried to cross a Balkan border during a summer holiday. If she did, she wouldn’t have made that statement. Europe is much more than crossing the French-Italian border. 

What I found interesting about the book is that despite the unlikeable characters and cliche plot, I devoured this book in two days. Writing this down, I don’t know if that says more about the book, or me. 🙂 And that’s the main reason I haven’t given this book a 1 star. The second book in the series is the story of Bridget and Rhys, and I have to admit, I’m extremely excited about that! I think and I hope that we will see characters with way less red flags. I will still be reading the rest of the series, as I am now intrigued about the rest of the characters.

About the Author:

Twisted Love (Twisted #1) by Ana Huang [BOOK REVIEW]

Ana Huang is a #1 New York Times, #1 USA Today, #1 Sunday Times, and #1 Amazon bestselling author. Best known for her Twisted series, she writes New Adult and contemporary romance with deliciously alpha heroes, strong heroines, and plenty of steam, angst, and swoon.

Her books have been translated in thirty languages and featured in outlets such as Good Morning America, The Today Show, NPR, Cosmopolitan, and PEOPLE magazine.

A self-professed travel enthusiast, she loves incorporating beautiful destinations into her stories and will never say no to a good chai latte.

Website

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