Review: Charlie, Love, and Cliches by Ella Maise

Six years ago at a random diner I met a stranger and he became the-one-who-got-away, or more correctly the-one-who-didn’t-show-up.

A small advice from me to you: if you haven’t dated, touched *or* kissed a guy in years and *years*…do not try to crawl away or hide from the-one-who-got-away. It’s not a good look.

William Carter, the stranger I’d met six years ago was the last person I’d imagine ever seeing at my dad’s firm where I work. While I panic and fight off the butterflies in my stomach and in general struggle to act normal, I realize he doesn’t even remember me. I’m not sure if I should feel relieved or heartbroken. Things get worse when I learn we’ll need to work in close quarters to each other, but at least I let him know that I don’t have a crush on him anymore right away. Just in case he gets any ideas.

While I’m in the process of writing lists and making serious changes in my life, because I decide I’m ready to be the heroine in my own story; having William just a breath away is not helping things. Especially when things shift between us and we start to make eye contact in meetings. Then he shows up in places I least expect him to…as in blind dates and sex clubs. He also gives me cheese because he knows how much I like it and there are secret notes he leaves in my office. If you were wondering, I still don’t have a crush on him though. Nope.

Even though I’d promised myself I’d never wait around for another guy and postpone my own life, I’m afraid William Carter who looks at me as if I’m his and was always supposed to be his might ruin my hopeful plans. And quite possibly me for any other guy since I’m craving his touch like I’ve never craved anything in my life before. But we both know we’re a losing game so we keep admitting that neither one of us has a crush on the other.

Not anymore. Not at all. Not even a little bit.

Review

One of the most embarrassing and upsetting things in the world is spending the majority of a book wishing it was over. To me Charlie, Love, and Cliches was utterly boring. For a book with cliché in the title I had braced myself to be subject to ridiculous but also entertaining cliches. I absolutely love Marriage for One by Ella Maise, and I have read two other books by her, and thought them to be good, nothing spectacular like Marriage for One. My expectations were over the top for this one.

For a quick summary— both Charlie and William live in New York, and one week six years ago they met at a diner and opened up to each other. Then one day, William doesn’t show up and they go back to being strangers. Years later, they both end up working at her father’s company, and he still impacts her just the same.

I think my real issue with this story for why I didn’t enjoy it as much and why I believe it to be boring-- hinges on the main characters. Both of them fell extremely flat to me. The easiest way to categorize them two is Charlie is someone who won’t stop talking and has a complicated relationship with her family. And William is recently divorced, makes bad decisions, and can’t trust women. I can’t tell you anything else about them. They just seemed severely lacking to me, which is disappointing for a story that is trying to sell a second chance romance.

Final Thoughts

Charlie, Love, and Cliches was just boring.

Review: Where Waters Meet by Zhang Ling

Where Waters Meet, the first novel Zhang Ling wrote in English, was breathtaking. For someone whose English is secondary, there’s not a moment that steered my interest away. This beautiful novel captures the extraordinary strength of a multigenerational point of view of women through some of the most tumultuous times in Chinese history.

Upon the death of her mother, deeply heart broken, she finds some mementos that leave her curious about the secret life of her mother. In a quest to fulfill her curiosity, Phoenix Yuan-Whyller boards a flight to China to connect with her mother’s sister, Mei. As her aunt Mei recounts her past, Phoenix discovers the secrets of a painful past that redefined everything she ever knew.

There are no words to describe how wonderful this book is. From the gorgeous cover that invites you in, the beautiful words that grace the pages, it was an experience that grips your emotions and doesn’t let go. There was something special in the sensitive simplicity of her words that left a heavy imprint on my consciousness. As a reader, being able to experience the events through her perspective was haunting and impactful.

What I loved the most about the book was the unique historical perspective coming from someone who represents the culture of the core of the narrative. Her perspective through many of the historical events in the book brought awareness to my interest having not heard of much that was spoken of. What these women endured through the atrocities of war but survived just gives me a new appreciation of life because they went through some things that I don’t know how anyone could have made it. The resilience of the inhumane physical and mental abuse and the fight to gain the courage to survive was remarkable.

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Summary:

A daughter discovers the dramatic history that shaped her mother’s secret life in an emotional and immersive novel written in English by Zhang Ling, the bestselling author of A SINGLE SWALLOW.

There was rarely a time when Phoenix Yuan-Whyller’s mother, Rain, didn’t live with her. Even when Phoenix got married, Rain, who followed her from China to Toronto, came to share Phoenix’s life. Now at the age of eighty-three, Rain’s unexpected death ushers in a heartrending separation.

Struggling with the loss, Phoenix comes across her mother’s suitcase—a memory box Rain had brought from home. Inside, Phoenix finds two old photographs and a decorative bottle holding a crystallized powder. Her auntie Mei tells her these missing pieces of her mother’s early life can only be explained when they meet, and so, clutching her mother’s ashes, Phoenix boards a plane for China. What at first seems like a daughter’s quest to uncover a mother’s secrets becomes a startling journey of self-discovery.

Told across decades and continents, Zhang Ling’s exquisite novel - her first to be written directly in English - is a tale of extraordinary courage and survival. It illuminates the resilience of humanity, the brutalities of life, the secrets we keep and those we share, and the driving forces it takes to survive.

Review: Forth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general―also known as her tough-as-talons mother―has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away...because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter―like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom's protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda―because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die.

Review

It seems like Forth Wing is the number one book that everyone is recommending currently. Lately, I’ve seen this book compared to many others in terms of plot and romance, and each time Forth Wing comes out on top. The book has a 4.72 rating on Goodreads, and I can say with my entire chest that the hype for this series is well deserved.

Rebecca Yarros has perfectly set up an intriguing and high stakes fantasy series. Not only is the main character incredible, but Violet is also lovable and someone who deserves all the recognition in the world. The girl is smart and uses her brain in a situation where she might appear to be unprepared for or the underdog. She’s brave and compassionate. And will stop at nothing to protect others in a world where being cruel is normal. She’s a very balanced character, and I’m very excited to see where this journey takes her.

I enjoyed her and Xaden’s relationship. It’s very much enemies to lovers. And he's tough on the exterior due to his past. However, the longer he spent with Violet the more that he opened up, and we were introduced to a softer side of him. Their romance is angsty and slow burn, with a seat gripping journey.

Final thoughts:

Fourth Wing is an incredibly well-developed fantasy with a strong and lovable character and a beautiful romance.

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Review: Toe the Line by Penelope Ward

Summary

The Wall Street Journal Bestseller.

From New York Times bestselling author Penelope Ward comes a friends-to-lovers story spanning more than a decade...

At first, I thought I'd hate spending the summer with Archie Remington—the conceited son of my parents' friends.
What I knew about Archie: he was gorgeous, pre-law, and had always treated me like I didn't exist when we were younger.
When our families bought a house together on an island in Maine, he and I were forced to share a bathroom.

The boy I remembered was now a full-grown man—but with the same attitude.
After a rough start, Archie and I unexpectedly started getting along one day and eventually became friends. We shared secrets and bonded during our morning jogs. I discovered that Archie had a wild spirit and that he struggled to conform to his father's expectations.

Things were cool until I had to go and ruin it, getting drunk one night, and blurting out my fantasy—involving him.

I took it back, but it was too late. Archie had heard me loud and clear. After that, we never quite knew how to toe the line.
When that summer came to an abrupt and shocking end, I headed back to college, unsure if anything would ever be the same again.
Across the miles over the years, he and I stayed in touch as friends, but fate and timing always kept us from becoming more.

You know the saying: If two people are meant to be, they'll find their way back to each other?

Let's just say Archie came back into my life in a way I would've never expected.
And this time, my heart would really be put to the test.

Review

For a book about friends to lovers that spans for more than a decade, I expected to feel something. I was begging to feel any emotion; however, all I felt was disappointment. It took ten plus years for Archie and Noelle to get together, and the buildup and the play off were extremely lacking. Archie was a frustrating hero, and Noelle continued to wait for him despite him wrongly pulling her along when he knew her feelings towards him. He always had an excuse ready for her.

Every step of the way, there was another obstacle to overcome with them, and if they had communicated, they could have been together much sooner. Yes, I understand moments are missed, but every time? Every single sign?

Final Thoughts

Toe the Line is a romance where the hero is probably the worst character in the book. Not only did he feel bland, but he also continuously played with Noelle’s emotions for no good reason. I really had high hopes for this one because of the summary, but every single aspect of this book left me feeling disappointed. 

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Review: That First Night by Jenn McMahon

My new boss is a CEO Billionaire who hired me to be a nanny for his son.

This should have been easy for me considering my experience with children. Except the man I’m working for is Thomas Ford. A man I never thought I would see again, especially not 5 years later.

Now, I live in his penthouse in the city.

I refuse to cross the line because one, he’s my boss and two, I don’t do relationships anymore.

It’s hard to deny this man when his touch lights my body on fire. I told myself I wouldn’t risk losing my job by giving into temptation but all it takes is one night in his kitchen and I am done for.

But who am I kidding? I was a goner that first night.

Review

I often steer clear of criticizing the writings of a book, because writing is something that can be difficult and finishing a book is a huge accomplishment. And mostly, if other aspects of the story stand out, I’m able to look past writing. However, That First Night, to me, suffered due to the poor writing.

Thomas and Peyton meet at a bar, and have a steamy encounter, and don’t see each other for several years later. And that encounter had seemingly impacted them for those years that they just can’t get over each other. I personally didn’t believe that they had made that much of a connection or had that much chemistry with each other to still be head over heels when they see each other five years later. There was a lot of telling rather than showing with the two of them.

And then Thomas. Thomas just felt like a cartoon character. A parody of a bachelor in a romance novel. A terrible parody, if we were being honest. I didn’t enjoy being in his POV. It just felt odd that a billionaire got excited about free drinks at a charity event. And not to mention that some of the conversations with his brothers just felt very disrespectful to women.

There were several times where Peyton and her friends would have a conversation. And then the next chapter Thomas and his brothers would have the same conversation. It got repetitive.

Final Thoughts

That First Night wasn’t an enjoyable read to me. The relationship felt forced at times, and relied too heavily on Thomas’ son, who often spoke like a ten-year-old rather than a three-year-old. In addition, individually the characters felt lackluster. There is little to no character development. 

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Review: Nocticadia by Keri Lake

Mortui vivos docent.
The dead teach the living.

After watching my mother succumb to a mysterious illness, I promised myself two things. I’d find the cure for what ravaged her. And leave the godforsaken city where she abandoned me.

Four years later, I receive an acceptance letter from Dracadia University, one of the oldest, most prestigious schools in the country. Nestled on a secluded island off the coast of Maine, it’s rumored to be haunted by the souls of the mental patients exiled there centuries before. Those whose bones are said to make up the island’s white sandy shores.

And restless ghosts aren’t even its most daunting peculiarity.

Devryck Bramwell, known on campus as Doctor Death, is a brilliant pathologist in charge of the midnight lab. He’s also my devastatingly handsome professor, who seems to loathe tenacious first-years, like me. Except, his dark and enigmatic gaze tells me all the ways he’d devour me if given the chance, and his stolen kisses burn my lips with forbidden jealousy.

I crave his authority.
He aches for redemption.
Together, we’re toxic. Delicious fodder for the prying eyes hellbent on exhuming the rotted skeletons of our pasts.

For the dead have much to teach, and it’s only a matter of time before Dracadia’s most depraved secret is resurrected.

Nocticadia is a standalone dark academia gothic romance.

Review

It has been decided. This is one of my favorite books that I’ve read all year. No questions asked. For the second, I finished that first chapter, I just knew that this would be an exciting and intriguing journey. As I was describing to my friend when I was trying to convince her to read, Nocticadia is haunting and sexy and gruesome and forbidden and gothic. All in the best ways.

It centers on Lilia, who lost her mother four years ago to a mystery disease. And since then, she’s been trying to understand what it is and wants to figure out how to cure it, while also juggling with trying to support her younger sister.  Unfortunately, there are no records of the symptoms her mother showed anywhere. After writing a paper for one of her classes, she is invited to attend a prestigious university named Dracadia, where they are familiar with the disease that killed her mother. While there she meets a brilliant professor named Devryk Bramwell, who is studying worms. Devrvk has been named Dr. Death on compass and is definitely a morally grey character with more than a few skeletons in his closet.

Lilia believes that the worms that he is studying are connected to her mother’s illness and makes it her mission to become his lab assistant. And then obviously they have this amazing chemistry and things happen. Spectacular. Best chemistry that I’ve read all year. And I couldn’t get enough of them. Both of them are these two intense characters with a tragic backstory and felt so alone for so long. I thought their slow burn was done well, and every interaction between them was incredible.

I think one of my favorite things about this book is how the information was seamlessly presented. There are some things that aren’t what they seem, and I like how instead of it being exposed quickly—that there’s a bit of a slow burn with it. It makes the big reveals much juicier, and so many times when something was revealed I gasped out loud because I didn’t see that coming. This story had layers, and I could tell that the author took the time to create this atmospheric world. I also want to point out that I would have completely loved it if this book was a duet because there is so much rich story left. And I do have a few unanswered questions. I would love for more.

As much as I enjoyed this book, I have one complaint about one of the minor characters named Mel. I wish that her story had been different. For how the story progressed, I understand why the author did what she did. However, I didn’t like that part, and I wish that the author could have thought of something else to get to the ending.

Final Thoughts

Nocticadia is a rich, haunting, and atmospheric story about two people working together to understand this mystery disease. The plot points were weaved perfectly as well having interestingly crafted backstories for the characters, and an exciting, beautiful, and consuming romance. And not to mention, the world which just felt magical. It does have some faults including a plot point with a supporting character that tiptoed the line between being insensitive to me as a reader.   

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