Review: The Kingmaker by Kennedy Ryan

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The Kingmaker was a hidden gem that I’m grateful that I was able to stumble upon. It’s a second chance romance that does not disappoint.

The Kingmaker centers on Lennix Hunter. She is determined to make a change. While a teenager, fate brings her and Maxim together. Unbeknownst to her, he’s the son of the man she hates the most. The man who has brought devastation to her people. 

I wouldn’t necessarily say this is a light book. Because it most certainly is not  It’s a story of love, loss, privilege, and politics. Everything is perfectly blended and it’s hard not to be immediately sucked into it. 

There’s so much depth and history. And oh my god the ENDING. That was very unpredictable and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next installment. 

Characters 

Both main characters were amazingly three dimensional characters who you can’t help but love. Both of them work separately while also working together. There were so many times while reading where I muttered out loud about how cute they were together. There was this familiarity and comfort they both had. 

Sometimes when writing a romance novel authors create unnecessary or random drama to keep the lead apart. It doesn’t feel authentic nor does it make sense for either character. But fortunately, that isn’t the cause of The Kingmaker. The drama felt real and the stakes felt high. I understood character motives, even though it might have hurt my heart a little. 

Final Analysis 

The Kingmaker is a gripping book about love and loss. The romance is stellar and the ending will leave you the edge of your seat. It’s a must read.

Review: Regretting You by Colleen Hoover

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Summary:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Ends with Us comes a poignant novel about family, first love, grief, and betrayal that will touch the hearts of both mothers and daughters.

Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike.

Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. Clara doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her predictable mother doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in her body.

With warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it increasingly difficult to coexist. The only person who can bring peace to the household is Chris—Morgan’s husband, Clara’s father, and the family anchor. But that peace is shattered when Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident. The heartbreaking and long-lasting consequences will reach far beyond just Morgan and Clara.

While struggling to rebuild everything that crashed around them, Morgan finds comfort in the last person she expects to, and Clara turns to the one boy she’s been forbidden to see. With each passing day, new secrets, resentment, and misunderstandings make mother and daughter fall further apart. So far apart, it might be impossible for them to ever fall back together.

Review

I finally got to read a Colleen Hoover book and it was everything that I knew it would be. Not being able to put down her latest, Regretting You, if you are a fan of her books, you won’t be disappointed. Told through the perspectives of Morgan and Clara, mother and daughter, we experience their family journey of loss, love and forgiveness.

Morgan’s life began early. Like many mothers who have kids young, life happens really fast and those big goals and dreams get tucked away. Many find themselves living vicariously through the children but for someone like Clara, she sees her future going differently. She has big plans for her life that her mother sees differently and besides, she’s a teenager, so it’s inevitable that she would clash with her mom. Luckily, between her “cool” aunt Jenny and her dad Chris, they have a way of reaching her to make everything better.

After a tragic accident, they find themselves facing more questions than answers. With their life upside down and emotions taking the best of them, Clara finds comfort in the one person she is not allowed to be around and Morgan’s past comes down in revelations that change her life forever.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It took me forever to read one of them but glad I finally did. These characters really hit something hard with you. You really don’t want to let them go. There is such a special takeaway from this mother/daughter relationship. The up and down but most importantly how they found their way together through this situation really make you laugh and cry. So excited and looking forward to her next book. If you are a fan, than you will love this one. Add it to your tbr list.

Review: Midnight Blue by L.J. Shein

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Midnight Blue was utterly disappointing and frustrating. There were several times where I wanted to stop reading but I powered through.

Midnight Blue tells the story of Indigo Bellamy. She is an average girl, whose family suffered a huge tragedy a couple of years prior and is still facing the aftermath. To lessen the financial burden, she takes a job as a baby sitter. She’s not watching children, she’s watching an international rock star who has a drug and alcohol problem. And unfortunately, is a huge jerk.

For a book about addiction, it rarely focuses on it. The reader is told several times that Alex is an addict, Alex’s addiction is only used as a plot device to keep Indigo close to him. The book doesn’t take any groundbreaking steps in dealing with the true side of being an addict nor does it have any hard-hitting conversations about addiction. It feels very far removed from any addiction story and I don’t know if I like or dislike that.

This book seemed very all over the place in terms of story. Everything, especially the reveals, felt a little too convenient and did the bare minimum to add any true excitement to the plot. Did I see those reveal coming? No, I did not. But plot twists should be used to advance the story and not provide a lackluster reason as to why something happened. Also, they should not be used to diminish the consequences of character actions.

Characters

Everyone in this book felt extremely unlikable or one dimensional. Let’s start with Alex. He’s a jerk. He was controlling, annoying and obsessive. There’s nothing else to it. I understand wanting the main character to be harsh and hard, but there comes a point when that is too much. His treatment of Indigo is unnecessary and completely unfair. Alex spends the majority of the book toggling between pinning for his ex-girlfriend and hating any male who talks to Indigo. There was very little character growth with him and never any real consequences for him. And quite honestly, he deserves to end up alone.

Indigo, Indie, Blue, Stardust. She has several names. It was quite hard to keep up with. Anyway, she was an extremely underdeveloped character. Unfortunately for her, any defining character trait was a burden underneath an eye-roll worthy plot and tragic romance. She was defined by the men in her life and never really got a chance to shine. And also, she had the misfortune of being everyone’s punching bag. She never truly caught a break and was a pawn in their game. Literally. The big reveal towards the end of the book should have sent her far away from Alex Winston and his team.

Final Analysis

Midnight Blue is about an unhealthy romance that fails at being exciting and thrilling due to lackluster plot twist and story progression.

Review: The Bet by J.L. Beck & C. Hallman

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The Bet is a story about Jules and Remington- childhood best friends who were secretly in love with each other. That was until Jules leaves Remington; he’s heartbroken. A couple of years later, Jules returns and unfortunately it is not a warm welcome. Remington is bitter and wants revenge. 

The Bet was an unnecessarily violent book which features a highly toxic relationship. In addition, it features an overwhelming and poorly developed spin on rape culture. There’s a trigger warning at the beginning book, but nevertheless, the book doesn’t handle this sensitive topic well. 

This is a frustrating book, and there were several times where I wanted to throw it against the wall. The characters were terrible, especially Remington. 

Remington spends the majority of that book bitter and upset that Jules left him. It’s honestly ridiculous considering Jules was 15 years old and had not choice but to move. The fact that he held that against her for so many years is immature. I understand that it was obviously a tough time for him, but again, her family was moving. What was she supposed to do? 

His “pain" felt over exaggerated and his need to “ruin" her was alarming. I won’t provide spoilers, but there was a scene earlier in the book where I gasped out loud at his behavior. And to make manners worse, he never apologized to Jules. 

I don’t care how many times the authors state or attempt to show it, Remington is not a hero. He doesn’t deserve redemption. He’s a toxic character, who doesn’t understand boundaries and is selfish. 

 A character in the hook summed it up best when he stated and I quote, “You are the most selfish, self-absorbed person I have ever met in my entire life. You never deserved her, never. She loved you, and you destroyed her. You literally could’ve ripped her heart out of her chest, and it would have hurt less.” 

Final Analysis  

The Bet is a story which attempts and fail hard at creating a sweet childhood to lovers romance. It’s frustrating and quite honestly offensive. 

Review: What He Doesn’t Know by Kandi Steiner

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I really don’t know how to describe What He Doesn’t Know besides slightly messy. Let me explain. The book can be described as a second chance romance with a heavy emphasis on a love triangle. The tag reads “They say there are two sides to every story. But in this one, there are three” and that isn’t being overdramatic. It’s very true. 

What He Doesn’t Know centers on Charlie. When she was a teenager, she had a huge crush on her neighbor, Reese, who is five years older than her. Unfortunately, for her, him and his family moved to New York when she was 16 years old. She moved on with her life- went to college, got married, and took a teaching position at her old school. Years later, Reese moves back into town and scores a teaching job at the same school as her. This time more heartbroken, since he suffered a devastating tragedy. With him back in town, Charlie questions her whole marriage. 

Like mentioned earlier, it is hard to describe my feelings towards this book. It had a centralized plot and flowed nicely.  But it was just messy. Messy in terms that the conflict involved was messy for all parties involved. The characters made questionable decisions and not everything was black and white. It is filled with drama and angst. 

If someone is looking for light reading, this is not something they should read. There is a wide variety of tough subjects- including death, miscarriages, and cheating. 

Characters

It isn’t a false to say that every character is complex and all lean towards unlikeable and not relatable. They were very frustrating and relied heavily on their heart instead of their heart. I think that is the point. 

Charlie and Reese’s relationship treaded the line of uncomfortable. The last time he saw her she was 16 years old and he was in his early 20’s. For him to admit that he wanted to kiss her before he left for New York, felt a tad bit predatory. She was a literal minor, and that didn’t set well with me. It would have been interesting to see them fall for each other while both adults, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. The author relied heavily on their history, instead of them developing in a linear way. At times, it was hard to even understand the attraction they had together since it was too convoluted with unresolved feelings for when Charlie was a teenager. Especially, in terms of Charlie, Reese kept mentioning how she used to me. He still held dear to this innocent teenager, and attempted to make her that way again. 

This is part of a duology. And I haven’t decided if I’m going to read it, but it would be interesting to see how their relationship plays off. It isn’t exactly in a positive place when the book ends. Quite honestly, at this moment, I’m not rooting for them. Separately, I think they have a better chance of developing than together. 

Final Analysis 

What He Doesn’t Know is an angst-y, messy book. 

Review: I Hate You by Isa Madden-Mills

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I Hate You is a second chance story intertwined with enemies to lovers. It centers on Charisma, a self proclaimed nerd, and Blaze, the star college football player. The two had something last semester until Blaze broke it for under the disguise that she wasn't his “type". After the ordeal, Charisma developed a strong dislike for him and has made it a point to avoid him. Unfortunately, for her, her luck has ran out and she’ll be seeing more of him.

This was a fairly decent book. Throughout, I stayed entertained and thought that the main characters were great. And I feel as if the author was able to display there history together without a lot of expedition.

The issue I had from the book stems from the fact that it was a rollercoaster. One minute Charisma and Blaze were okay and then a second later they were mad at each other and someone was walking about the door. It got odd fairly quickly. I understand the need to keep the relationship fresh but it felt expressly dramatic at times.

Like mentioned early, I enjoyed the characters. And I wouldn’t mind having another book in their POV. There was such an interesting dynamic between them that I think should be explored more.

I do wish that that Blaze's background would have been explored more. It was so tragic and I found myself wanting more. Especially since his childhood had such a big impact on him. There was one scene that happened towards the middle of the book when him and Charisma were at the grocery store that I don’t think the information was provided to the audience in a caring way. What Blaze told Charisma was personal and impacted a lot of people besides his family. I think it should have been brought up again and not just a throwaway comment.

Final Analysis

I Hate You is an interesting and entertaining read. It does have some fails but it powers through and delivers on a great romance.