Book Review · Books

With This Kiss by Carrie Hope Fletcher [BOOK REVIEW]

With This Kiss by Carrie Hope Fletcher [BOOK REVIEW]

I am so thrilled to be joining the blog tour for “With This Kiss” by HQ Stories. If every time you kissed someone, you knew how they will die, would you have the courage to try and find love? “With This Kiss” by Carrie Hope Fletcher explores this in a sweet romantic fashion.

With This Kiss by Carrie Hope Fletcher [BOOK REVIEW]

About The Book:

With This Kiss by Carrie Hope Fletcher [BOOK REVIEW]


Pages: 400

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: HQ Stories

Format I read it in: Paperback, Uncorrected Proof

Rating: ★★/★★

Synopsis:

When their lips touch, will she seal his fate?

From the outside, Lorelai is an ordinary young woman with a normal life. She loves reading, she works at the local cinema and she adores living with her best friend. But she carries a painful burden, something she’s kept hidden for years; whenever she kisses someone on the lips, she sees how they are going to die. But she’s never known if she’s seeing what was always meant to be, or if her kiss is the thing that decides their destiny. And so, she hasn’t kissed anyone since she was sixteen.

Then she meets Grayson. Sweet, clever, funny Grayson. And for the first time in years she yearns for a man’s kiss. But she can’t… or can she? And if she does, should she try to intervene and change what she sees?

Spellbinding, magical and utterly original, With This Kiss is one love story you will never forget.

My Thoughts:

I chose to read “With This Kiss” by Carrie Hope Fletcher because the cover looked gorgeous, and it fit for my April Monthly TBR Prompt to pick a book with a beautiful cover. But it was actually the synopsis that really intrigued me to want to really read this book. I really like the idea of Lorelai’s ability to see people’s deaths when she kisses them. It was an idea that was well thought of and well developed throughout the book. I couldn’t help but think what would I do if I was in that situation.

Usually, when the main character is going through something in their life, I am able to relate to their thoughts and feelings. And I had my concerns that I won’t be able to with this book, because what Lorelai is going through is very fictional. However, I was wrong. I felt everything she was feeling. Through her story and experiences, I was able to understand why she makes the choices she does and it all makes sense. I also loved her friendship with Joanie. Joanie is a true gem and every person deserves a friend like her in their lives.

I really enjoyed how Lorelai and Grayson meet.

The book club scenes made me quite excited and I could instantly feel the geekiness from Grayson, that I adored! But there were too few of these scenes. I can’t help but feel that this book club was only introduced for Lorelai to meet Grayson, as well as for the author to introduce a trans couple. But where I felt the frustration was that neither the book club nor the trans couple were mentioned later on in the book. So I’m not quite sure what the author wanted to achieve with this. The other bit that was mentioned here was Lorelai’s passion about working on movie adaptations, which she briefly mentions twice of three times in the book, and nothing comes out of it.

Now let’s talk actual romance.

I loved their meeting and I was all up for the little teasing combined with geekiness. But then the couple slightly lost me, especially during the period when Lorelai wasn’t sure what to do, but also kept leading him on, promising to explain things and never did. I also refuse to believe someone would let two weeks pass by and not listen to their voicemails.

However, I still enjoyed the book a lot! It just wasn’t the romance I was hoping for. Instead, it was a beautiful journey of a woman that has unique abilities. Her struggles to find courage to be able to truly love someone. Her relationship with her family, who are able to offer much more that she was led to believe all her life. This book will make you feel all the feels – you will be rooting for Lorelai to go out there and fight for what she loves!

About The Author:

With This Kiss by Carrie Hope Fletcher [BOOK REVIEW]

Carrie Hope Fletcher is an English actress, author and singer-songwriter.

Her debut book, All I Know Now: Wonderings and Reflections on Growing Up Gracefully was published in May 2015. Her first fiction novel, On the Other Side was published in July 2016. Fletcher is well known for her YouTube channel where she shares videos about her life and her work as an actress and author.

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Blog Tour · Book Review · Books

The Stepsisters by Susan Mallery [BLOG TOUR]

I am so excited to be part of the blog tour for The Stepsisters by Susan Mallery! Huge thank you to the team at Mills and Boon, for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

About The Book:


Publisher: Mills and Boon

Pages: 385

Format I read it in: Paperback

Purchase Links:
Amazon UK | Amazon US

★★★

Synopsis:

When Daisy’s dad married Sage’s mum, Daisy was thrilled to get a new sister. Except Sage was beautiful and popular, everything Daisy was not, and she made sure Daisy knew it.

As a young girl, Sage found herself living in a palatial home where she didn’t belong. Intimidated by her new sister’s intelligence she used her popularity to put Daisy down. After their parents’ divorced, the stepsisters’ rivalry continued until the final straw: Daisy married Sage’s first love, and Sage fled to Europe.

Years later, Daisy never expects – or wants – to see Sage again. But brought together by an accident involving the little sister they have in common they must learn to put aside their differences. Slowly the stepsisters begin to view the past through one another’s eyes and long buried secrets are revealed. Until their fragile truce is threatened by one careless act that could have devastating consequences…

My Thoughts:

When I heard about the author, I knew I have heard that name before and I thought I have read some of her books. It turns out, I have “The Friendship List” in my library, but I haven’t read it yet. As soon as I finished “The Stepsisters”, I was full of regret that I haven’t read the other one as well. That is about to change soon.

The Stepsisters is such a relaxing novel, in the sense that it provides a certain sense of comfort while you’re reading it. I found myself flying through the pages. The stories intrigued me and every chapter ended with me wanting to read a little bit more. The beginning was a bit hard for me to get into. It felt like a lot of characters were introduced very quickly. However, as soon as you get through the introductory part, everything goes smoothly.

Even though the synopsis focuses on the two sisters, Sage and Daisy, we also have the third sister – Cassidy. All three sisters have different qualities, and even though for some time, they were all living in the same household, they all have different experiences growing up. Sage and Cassidy were always close to each other. Sage bullied Daisy, which led to Cassidy also hating Daisy, with no real reason. And all of these feelings somehow stayed with them in the years to come, creating a very complex and fragile relationship between the three of them. Throughout the book, circumstances will make them cross paths again. This will give them a change to rekindle their relationship and either change or stay the same.

I really enjoyed the story as a whole.

The relationship between the stepsisters really intrigued me. I loved how their differences were explored, alongside with their opinions and past and current choices in life. However, there were a few things I didn’t enjoy, such as the random racist accusation that was thrown, and how both stepsisters handled this issue. It left me very confused. The other part was Sage’s story, and how it ended. For what she did and the people she hurt in the process, forgiveness shouldn’t have been served to her on a plate. There should have been a bigger road to redemption, and it’s just not a reality that I believe in.

To conclude, The Stepsisters is a very good choice of a book to dive into this summer. The variety in characters and their storylines, as well as the relatively small chapters will definitely keep you hooked and entertained.

About The Author:

SUSAN MALLERY is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of novels about the relationships that define women’s lives—family, friendship, romance. Library Journal says, “Mallery is the master of blending emotionally believable characters in realistic situations,” and readers seem to agree—40 million copies of her books have sold worldwide. Her warm, humorous stories make the world a happier place to live.

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Book Review · Books

Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane [BOOK REVIEW]

Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane [BOOK REVIEW]

I had the amazing opportunity to participate in another instagram readalong – this time reading the Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane with some amazing bookstagrammers. Huge thank you to the team at Tandem as well as the publisher, Harper Fiction, for sending me a copy of the book to read and review!

About The Book:

Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane [BOOK REVIEW]


Publisher: Harper Fiction

Pages: 416

Format I read it in: Paperback

Purchase Links:
Amazon UK | Amazon US

Synopsis:

Eve, Justin, Susie, and Ed have been friends since they were teenagers. Now in their thirties, the four are as close as ever, Thursday night bar trivia is sacred, and Eve is still secretly in love with Ed. Maybe she should have moved on by now, but she can’t stop thinking about what could have been. And she knows Ed still thinks about it, too.

But then, in an instant, their lives are changed forever.

In the aftermath, Eve’s world is upended. As stunning secrets are revealed, she begins to wonder if she really knew her friends as well as she thought. And when someone from the past comes back into her life, Eve’s future veers in a surprising new direction…

They say every love story starts with a single moment. What if it was just last night?

My Thoughts:

You don’t know how much you miss a certain type of book until you start reading one and you feel the instant refreshment it brings. This happened to me with Last Night. This book is so much more than your typical rom-com novel. I wanted to read it because of the “best friends to lovers” possible scenario, and instead I got so much more, and I’m so glad I did! I felt like I was Eve’s shadow – feeling everything she feels. Friendships, relationships, grief, secrets and betrayals… A remarkable roller-coaster of a story that I wasn’t able to put down.

“I notice, once again, that company that’s not the right fit for you is so much lonelier than being happily alone.”

I loved Eve, Justin, Susie and Ed.

Their group was unique and very dear. The chemistry these characters have between each other, especially Eve and Susie is truly something remarkable, and quite rare in today’s world. I felt like we didn’t get enough of Justin, and I quite liked Ed, although I did judge him for his poor decision making skills. I loved Finlay, and I really enjoyed getting to know him slowly throughout the book.

“Incredible how one revelatory discovery can completely change your perception of someone.”

Last Night is also one of those books where it’s so hard to write a review without spoiling anything, as the big bombshell happens quite early in the book. So I’ll just say this – I loved the ending and I feel like everyone got what they deserved! Last Night is the first book I’ve read by Mhairi Mcfarlane, and (said with the voice of Michael Bisping) “believe you me”, I’ll be definitely reading more. And while I’m checking out the rest of Mhairi’s books, you go ahead and check this one out. 🙂

A truly incredible story, a very emotional journey that will leave a mark in your life. A lesson on how to cope with grief, how to stop wasting energy on people that don’t deserve you, and how to start loving again and accept love back. And most importantly, a lesson that sometimes, it’s okay to be rude!

“I ponder how many mistakes in life are born of a simple fear of being rude.”

Rating:

★★★★

About The Author:

Mhairi was born in Falkirk, Scotland in 1976. She went to school in Nottingham, studied English Literature at Manchester University and then returned to Nottingham to delight its citizens with her journalism. Her debut novel, the romantic comedy You Had Me At Hello, was an instant hit upon being published in December 2012. It’s since become HarperCollins’ best selling ebook to date, has been translated into 16 languages and is being developed as a major feature film, with Mhairi writing the screenplay. The follow up, Here’s Looking At You, was published in December 2013 and made the Sunday Times Bestseller list.

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