Review: Stuck With You by Ali Hazelwood

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a new steamy, STEMinist novella…

Nothing like a little rivalry between scientists to take love to the next level.

Mara, Sadie, and Hannah are friends first, scientists always. Though their fields of study might take them to different corners of the world, they can all agree on this universal truth: when it comes to love and science, opposites attract and rivals make you burn…

Logically, Sadie knows that civil engineers are supposed to build bridges. However, as a woman of STEM she also understands that variables can change, and when you are stuck for hours in a tiny New York elevator with the man who broke your heart, you earn the right to burn that brawny, blond bridge to the ground. Erik can apologize all he wants, but to quote her rebel leader—she’d just as soon kiss a Wookiee.

Not even the most sophisticated of Sadie’s superstitious rituals could have predicted such a disastrous reunion. But while she refuses to acknowledge the siren call of Erik’s steely forearms or the way his voice softens when he offers her his sweater, Sadie can’t help but wonder if there might be more layers to her cold-hearted nemesis than meet the eye. Maybe, possibly, even burned bridges can still be crossed…

Review

This was my first book by Ali Hazelwood, and I was entertained. I was a little worried at first that I wouldn’t get the full romance experience since the book was short. But I think it worked. Sadie and Erik spend a day together. After their night of passion, she learns something about him, and then spends a week or two hating his guts until they get trapped in an elevator together for an hour. There’s a major communication mishap in this book. And everything happens in a short timeline and does toe the line of insta-love. However, it can be overlooked because the chemistry was off the charts with these two characters. I enjoyed the conversations they had, and I enjoyed that they had so much in common.

Final Thoughts

Stuck with You is nice as it is. It’s a very short rom-com book with no commitments and an easy-to-follow romance that does rely on tropes. 

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Review: The Devil Wears Black by L.J. Shen

Maddie Goldbloom stitched up a plan to ensure everything in her life was perfect—from a career in fashion to a chic NYC apartment to a pediatrician boyfriend.

When her ex, Chase Black, storms back into her life with an outrageous request, her immediate reaction is to refuse him. But he only wants to fulfill his father’s last wish. So even though he’s the man who broke her heart, playing his fiancée shouldn’t be hard, especially if it means she gets to watch the arrogant devil squirm a bit.

What ensues is a chain of events that detonates Maddie’s life—and when Chase’s walls come down, they both are forced to face reality.

They say keep your enemies close. But what if your enemy is also the man you love?

I was thoroughly entertained with The Devil Wears Black. Yes, it could be discounted as cliché with a quirky and relatable main character and a love interest who only wears black and has commitment issues. But I really liked this one. The author delivered on all the fun tropes—enemies to lovers, fake fiancé, etc—and I’m sorry but I could see myself rereading this one. It was a lot of fun.

Maddie and Chase are two completely different people who dated once for six months. After things got serious, Chase made it look like he cheated on her and he broke up with now. Now, he needs her help again in terms of his family.

The characters aren’t really my favorite separately; however, I think they worked well together for me. It was a second chance love story, and I was strapped in for all the banter and insane chemistry that Madison and Chase had.

Final Analysis

The Devil Wears Black was entertaining and fun, when you go in not expecting a lot of development. 

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Review: The Paid Bridesmaid by Sariah Wilson

The Paid Bridesmaid is a light, clean romantic comedy that has a fun plot, romance and characters that you will have so much fun with.

Going into the book, I knew what to expect from this author. I've enjoyed her books in the past and knew this would be a fun one. I know the plot from first glance might present itself to be simply predictable but there's an engaging plot that slowly unravels making it a cute read.

Rachel Vinson, who is such a likable character, has a bridesmaid for hire business. When a popular Instagram influencer hires her for her wedding, this is just the break she is looking for. With discretion being such a key to her success, Rachel finds herself in a challenging situation when the best man, Camden Lewis, can't seem to reign in his curiosity.

Camden is the best friend to the groom. He charming, funny and is definitely the swooning type. As he chats it up with Rachel, there is something about her that piques his curiosity. Some things aren't adding up and he can't quite figure her out. Considering his relationship with the bride and groom, he's determined to find out what she might be hiding. As time goes on, and their guards let down a bit more, they find themselves growing fond of each other. Only one problem, she has one rule that she is adamant on following. Will this ruin her chance at finding love or will she live up to the cliché, always a brides, never a bride?

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There is something fun and engaging with Sariah's books that make you not want to put them down. The plot was light and fun. The banter between the characters brought out so many laugh out loud moments, especially those with her mother. The slow simmer romance was cute to follow. I love fun vibe female characters that make you want to be invited to their lives. This was a standalone and I'd recommend checking it out.

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Review: Zodiac Academy 7: Heartless Sky by Carolina Peckham, Susanne Valenti

The winds of fate are shifting, and it finally seems like they’ve been twisted in our favour.

On the run and cast out from society, we’ve been forced to hide from the mad man who stole our throne. But as more secrets come to light and my sister and I work harder than ever before to reach our potential and claim our birth right, the end is finally drawing closer.

There is no turning from this path now. The curse chases on our heels as time rushes by and the blood drenched destiny of the man I love looms ever closer just like the monster who stole our throne.

We must prepare for the final battle, but three things are clear now.

The cards have already been dealt.

Blood will spill for a new future to rise.

And the stars themselves can’t help us.

The fight for the throne is upon us. All hail the heartless sky.-

Review 

The only way to describe the second to last book in Zodiac Academy is pain. Happiness barely exists in it, and whatever is left of it is ripped out of your hands in the final 90% of the book.

In this book, Lionel Acrux has taken the throne, and the twins and the heirs must work together to stop him. The war that the books have been leading up to has finally come.

I’ve enjoyed myself thus far reading this series, and I have grown to love most of the characters--- including some of the heirs. I’m still very biased to the twins- Darcy and Tory-- since we’ve had their POVs the longest. And it’s truly amazing how powerful they have gotten. I re-read the first book a couple of weeks ago, and it’s hard not to see their character development.

Another plus of this book was the romance. Finally, we’re getting somewhere with all the couples. It’s been a long journey, and there are some big payoffs for a brief time before everyone – and I mean everyone—is put through the ringer.

Since this is the seventh book in the series, I’ve noticed a few patterns. The timeline in this series has always been over the place, and there is no exception to that in this book. I’ve stopped trying to make sense of it, because quite frankly it hurt my head. Another pattern I noticed is that sometimes moments are lost in favor of having a comedic moment that toes the line of being too cringy.  

I think my biggest problem with this series is that these aren’t small books. That doesn’t bother me. However, when you have long books there becomes an increased risk of having fluff that adds nothing to the story or scenes starting to feel repetitive. There were ten POVs in this one. I think the most out of all the books, and sometimes it felt exhausting, and as if that character’s story wasn’t contributing much to the plot. And it was hard not to skip their chapters.  

Final Thoughts

Heartless Sky was an emotional read in the parts where the story was focused, and in parts where all the characters shined. It does rip your heart out at the end and does leave you praying for a happy ending for all involved in the final book. 

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Review: How to Draw Cool Stuff by Catherine V. Holmes

How to Draw Cool Stuff is a fun, simple book that makes it easy to learn how to draw cool stuff. Throughout the book, you will learn the basics that evolve into more complex items making it easier to draw. There are hands on exercises that will help train your mind to visualize the object through an artistic perspective. Out of a need to cater to all levels of art students, this book came into fruition as a functional, cost effective book that can be used by art teachers, students and anyone who wants to draw.

The book is easy to follow along and makes learning how to draw interesting and informative. The best part is that like many classes that make you buy all those expensive equipment, this comes down to just a pencil and paper.

So if you are an aspiring artist, teacher or student, this would be a great resource for you to practice to perfect your skills.

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Review: Free: Two Years, Six Lives, and the Long Journey Home by Lauren Kessler

Thought provoking and insightful, Free by Lauren Kessler questions the perception that a large segment of the population has about people that are in prison and the impact of the narrative surrounding their release. The tagline of the book captures the story to be told.

I personally have my own beliefs and thoughts involving this subject but was honestly stopped in my tracks reading these point of views that we don't get to see. The author from various methods and interpretations brought together the voices of people who had committed various crimes, including at young ages, and shared their arduous journey to the other side and the ups and downs of acclimating back into society.

I found the book very interesting because the natural reaction to someone who commits a crime is send them to jail for life or death penalty depending on the crime and that's it. If you are related to a victim or something was done to you personally, there is no absolution or belief in rehabilitation. In many circumstances that is correct but when you come across some of the cases such as in the book, it opens up the conversation of the possibility of that part of the population that either committed crimes at young ages and the ones who have completely transformed their lives, is this possible they can change? Are they entitled or deserve a second chance at life?

The book presented something that we rarely seen in many cases that we hear about. There isn't much conversation about their background and circumstances that influenced their behavior that contributed to their poor decision but many of the mainstream narratives are based on their socioeconomic background or race. Along with this, for those who get out, how do we expect them to be productive, redemptive citizens when they aren't getting opportunities to continue reformation or to productively contribute to society. This along with reading their journey really challenges your thoughts on the system and just generally presents a narrative hopefully you are opened to reading about.

Overall, the book was a good read. Hopefully this will open conversation and inspire dialogue about the judicial system, rehabilitation and ways communities can support to improve the recidivism rate by helping those who want a second chance to give back in life.

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