Guarded by the Cowboy – Em Petrova

Link to book (GR) – Guarded by the Cowboy by Em Petrova

Link to book (StoryGraph) – Guarded by the Cowboy by Em Petrova

Overall rating – 3 out of 5 stars.

Okay, I have a lot of thoughts about this book and I think that’s the main reason I gave it 3 stars, because it’s down the middle…

I thought the characters were great, I really liked Lauralee and Boone, and of course I had some strange attraction to Boone because he’s a hot cowboy who wears a hat and is FIERCELY protective, like DUH. However, I did think the other characters kind of fell to the wayside, even others who were arguably quite important to the plot. And I do feel that no one really got much of a backstory, which I feel would have been good to have, again for those important to the plot…

The plot though… Well it was fake marriage so SIGN ME THE FUCK UP!!!!!!!! That being said, I did feel like the story was good and the whole idea of fake marriage but still being fiercely protective of the spouse you thought was annoying until 5 minutes ago was really well executed, but it did have flaws. I didn’t feel like there was enough focus on the reason they were in the fake marriage, it was pushed to the wayside for the focus to be put on their relationship even though it felt like it was taking a different direction to begin with.

Sorry for being vague but I try and keep my reviews spoiler free!

However, I was intrigued by the story and the writing was definitely good, it flowed well and definitely was enough to keep you interested and turning the pages.

Plus it was an entertaining read, for me at least, although I do think it would have been better if it was written from first POV with a split on the chapters, it would have made it more entertaining, allowed for more feelings to be shown and a better delve into their background, which would have developed the characters a lil bit more.

On the whole, I did enjoy my read of this book, it’s just not necessarily one that I would rush to pick up again.

Until next time, Em xxx

Grumpy Fake Boyfriend – Jackie Lau

Link to book (GR) – Grumpy Fake Boyfriend by Jackie Lau

Link to book (StoryGraph) – Grumpy Fake Boyfriend by Jackie Lau

Overall rating – 3 out of 5 stars.

When I first finished this book I was like “oh my god this was amazing I loved it!!!!!” and then once I’d had a few days to think about it, I actually realised there were a lot of things that could have enhanced the story for me.

To start off our characters Will and Naomi, who were pretty cool and I did like them, just didn’t have enough about them. The author didn’t really delve deep enough into them and it felt like that made it difficult to form an attachment to them, they were interesting enough I just felt like we missed out on getting to know them.

The writing was okay, and that’s it. I do feel like the rushed nature of the story definitely didn’t help here, it felt as though the author didn’t get much chance to showcase writing quality with the speed that everything progressed. And this was a real bug of mine, but some of the chapters ended really abruptly and were super blunt and it just really REALLY annoyed me 😦

However, the plot? THE PLOT!!!! The fake dating trope – LOVE. I loved it. Coupled with brothers best friend? Have I died and gone to heaven?! It was a dream come true to have these two tropes merged into one story, I could have died happy there and then.

It was just a standard plot really, using those two tropes but I felt like the smaller group and being on a holiday, introverted boyfriend, it just had those lil extras that kind of brought more to the story and made it better than just fake dating.

I’m not sure I would read this one again, but it definitely was a quick and easy read if you were looking to get out of a slump!

Until next time, Em xxx

[ARC] Girls of Little Hope – Sam Beckbessinger and Dale Halvorsen

Link to book (GR) – Girls of Little Hope by Sam Beckbessinger and Dale Halvorsen

Link to book (StoryGraph) – Girls of Little Hope by Sam Beckbessinger and Dale Halvorsen

Overall rating – 4 out of 5 stars.

Huge thank you to NetGalley & Titan Books for the ARC of this book to read and review!

Girls of Little Hope was haunting, but in the most beautiful way, at no point did it feel too much or too scary, but it still maintained an air of fear and paranoia, culminating into this wonderfully eerie story that took my breath away at points.

The story itself was narrated by our 3 main characters, Kat, Rae, and Donna and getting to see chapters from each of their perspectives was a really clever way of telling the story whilst also allowing us to meet the characters. For me, it made the girls feel like more than just characters on a page, they felt real, they had hopes and dreams, and aspirations and lives and family issues, it helped to form an attachment with them.

I also really enjoyed how the other characters were woven into the story, they didn’t become overbearing of the main characters and storyline, but they did have their own personalities and added real value to the book.

The whole book was just excellently done, the atmosphere that the author created was amazing I think the whole idea of a small town really helped with that vibe. And the writing was so well done, I really liked the way the author used mixed media within the book, it helped to really break the story up.

That being said, there were a few points that the writing felt a little tough to get through, just small paragraphs where I felt myself having to push to continue reading.

It was saved though by the plot, I couldn’t put the book down! It could have so easily been another alien/body horror story, but the authors worked to add all of those extra layers to make it into a story that was so eerie and horrifying, yet so haunting and beautiful. Working in the fear of being stuck in a small town forever, coupled with teen drama and overly religious parents oppressing their child, plus a small town that had it’s day a few decades ago and the residents were still trying to ride that high? PERFECTION!

I don’t think this is something that I would read again, more so because once you know how the story has panned out it takes away some of that enjoyment and shock factor, you know what’s coming so you lose that spark a little bit.

That doesn’t mean that I didn’t absolutely LOVE this book and would recommend it to anyone who wanted a little bit more of an elevated horror story, that has more than just blood and guts and cheap scares.

Until next time, Em xxx

[ARC] Hex and the City – Kate Johnson

Link to book (GR) – Hex and the City by Kate Johnson

Link to book (StoryGraph) – Hex and the City by Kate Johnson

Overall rating – 5 out of 5 stars.

Huge thank you to NetGalley & HarperCollins UK & One More Chapter for the ARC of this book to read and review!

Oh my gosh, this was possibly one of the best books I’ve read this year! I absolutely loved every single page of this book, oh and the COVER… Just everything was excellent.

Starting with the characters, Poppy was the main focus of the story and she was a cracking character, she was chaotic but sweet, without either of those things taking away from the fact that she was absolutely badass as well. She was just written so well, she really perfected the story. And Alex was just swoon worthy as well, of course he was! But he also had a bit of substance, he wasn’t just a pretty face he actually contributed to the story!

And the other witches were really well integrated into the story, even though they didn’t have major parts to play they weren’t forgotten about and added into the story when they needed to add “value”. It was really nice the way the author still included them.

I absolutely loved the plot as well, it felt like a really good mix between the characters and the story itself. The whole idea of them being witches but still integrated into society was so cool! And the way they all had different powers it was so cool, I loved how much time and thought the author put into the plot.

A particular fave part of mine was Poppy’s chaos magic and the way that unfolded (trying not to give too much away!) and the mummy section (again trying not to give too much away). The different parts of the story really fit together nicely, and everything just wrapped up PERFECTLY.

The writing was good, although I did find at the beginning it was a lil hard to keep track of what was going on and who was speaking, but within a few chapters it was all straightened out and picked up and it was really well written!

This entire book was just so entertaining to read, I would love nothing more than to have my memory of this book wiped so I can reread it for the first time. I was literally kicking my feet, blushing, giggling – it made me feel like a school girl with a crush.

I absolutely adored Hex and the City and it was the cutest little read!

Until next time, Em xxx

Revisiting my old blog posts!

Hello friends! Today on my revisiting my old blog posts is reviewing this very post about books I predicted to be 5 star reads! This one was done back when I was young and foolish and thought that having 10 books on my TBR was overwhelming and I’d never heard of ARCs or having a list of books I wanted to read that would top well into 100+.

ANYWAY, you can click the link above to view the old post, but I’ll be detailing the books I predicted to be 5 stars and then my actual rating (and review if I can find them!) below.

First up we had Before You Wake by Adam Nevill, this turned out to be a 4 star read for me.

Then we have Even Good Girls: A Murder Mystery by Nicholas Jordan which I rated 3 stars.

Followed by Virtual Insanity by Charlie Dalton, another 3 star read.

And then we have Coraline by Neil Gaiman, which definitely was a worthy 5 star read! And one of the only books to ever have truly terrified me…

Next up is The Stranger by Albert Camus, which I rated 4 stars (deducted a star because it was a MIND FUCK lmao).

And next we have The Hunted by Rachel Blackledge, this actually ended up beign 3 stars and honestly thinking back I wish I’d have given it a lower rating.

Then we have Magic Terror by Peter Straub and The Grand by Evelyn Chartres both of which were DNF so chose not to rate them.

Next is The Doll by JC Martin which I actually rated 4 stars!

And finally is Twisted all to Hell by JE Moore, this one ended up being a 3 star review.

The only one that actually ended up being a 5 star read is Coraline, and what a worthy 5 star rating that one was. It truly (to this day) still scares me and I won’t reread it because I don’t need to be scared in that way again!

Until next time, Em xxx

[ARC] Ms Perfectly Fine – Kate Callaghan

Link to book (GR) – Ms Perfectly Fine by Kate Callaghan

Link to book (StoryGraph) – Ms Perfectly Fine by Kate Callaghan

Overall rating – 5 out of 5 stars.

Huge thank you to NetGalley & CallaghanWriter for the ARC of this book to read and review!

OH MY GOD, I am literally obsessed with this book, I wanted to reread it straight after I finished reading it, it had everything I could possible want from a book and I am so IN LOVE WITH IT.

To start with our characters, Elijah and Autumn are honestly such good characters.

Elijah made me want to kick my feet and giggle, he was so swoon worthy. I loved how he was written, to be cautious and conscious of not pushing Autumn too far, and trying to support her but in a way that didn’t make her feel smothered or uncomfortable.

I also loved Autumn, she was such a huge credit to the story, she was written so well and the way the author wrote her living with chronic pain SHONE through the pages but without making it her personality and allowing her to have other interests and goals and dreams.

They both worked so well together and I think the 3rd person, split POV worked well for the flow and progression of the story.

The writing as well was EXCELLENT, it had some truly amazing quotes and phrases that I actually tweeted about because they made me blush or grin or kick my feet and giggle. I also loved how there were added layers within the story, the way the author wove the more thrilling aspects to the story was really cleverly done.

It was such an easy book to read and everything just slipped into place perfectly.

And as for the plot, I was blown away by how good it was. I loved how it wasn’t just forced proximity and enemies to lovers (aka my F A V E trope) it had so many other aspects that padded the story out and allowed the book to feel longer than it was. I loved the whole backstory and side story for Autumn and Elijah respectively, whilst also maintaining the romance aspect, it was really well done.

Whilst the story wasn’t exactly heavy on the atmosphere and intrigue, it just wasn’t needed in this kind of story, and the book worked perfectly without some overload of crazy plot and ridiculously tense chapters.

I just absolutely loved everything that this book had to offer and I literally want to scream about it from the rooftops, it was SO DAMN GOOD.

Until next time, Em xxx

Stuff your Kindle day 2023!

Hello my lovely friends (I basically refer to you all as my friends from twt so ye that’s cute) but anyways I took part in Stuff your Kindle day 2023 this year and it was sooooo much fun! I actually learnt about it on tiktok about a month ago and was smart enough (shock) to set myself a reminder to join in!

I got so many good books, including a handful that weren’t technically part of the day, but I got from Amazon as the free books. And here they are…

I think in total I got 4 e -books, which is an absolute SHIT LOAD, but honestly when I get into the mood to read romance I can really power through them and get them read in a day or two.

Plus, I’m saying they didn’t count as breaking my book buying ban because they were free…

Let me know if you’ve read any of these and what you thought, or if any of them have caught your eye and you’ve added them to your TBR too!

Until next time, Em xxx

Harrow Lake – Kat Ellis

Link to book (GR) – Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis

Link to book (StoryGraph) – Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis

Overall rating – 5 out of 5 stars.

When I tell you I loved this book I literally mean I want it ingrained into my brain FOREVER, it was excellent and was actually the first ever book I used lil post it markers on! Mostly because I wanted to keep track of the horror movie references as we went through, which I’m adding to this post right at the bottom in case you’re interested.

But onto the review, to start with I absolutely loved Lola as a character, I thought it was clever that the book was done from her POV as it helped with the inner monologue vibe she had going on. The only downfall was though that we didn’t get much from the other characters, so it was hard to form an opinion on them.

And the atmosphere, oh my god… The whole premise of a small town, shroud in mystery, put on the map by a successful (and cult classic) horror film AND they do a recreation/festival of the film every year?! It was SO GOOD, it had everything that it needed to make this book so creepy and eerie and atmospheric and it certainly succeeded.

Plus the excellent writing from this book just made everything flow and ebb so perfectly to create this tense read.

And the plot?!?!?! Never have I read something that managed to grab my attention so thoroughly within such a short number of pages and that hook that it sunk into me just got deeper the more of the book I read… The entire story was SO GOOD, the mystical aspect that was still shrouded in truth? Perfect. The way the horror film vibe was interwoven into the story? Excellent. The entire ending?! Just SUBLIME.

I literally could not put this book down I was obsessed with and I absolutely loved the horror film references (page 29 Silent Hill, page 42 Cabin in the Woods, pages 119 and 152 Saw).

Until next time, Em xxx

Protector Cowboy – Hope Ford

Link to book (GR) – Protector Cowboy by Hope Ford

Link to book (StoryGraph) – Protector Cowboy by Hope Ford

Overall rating – 4 out of 5 stars.

Okay let’s start with the characters, as this was quite a character focused book, Natalie and King were the main two characters that the story was on. I thought they were both really well written characters, although at points I did feel that Natalie lacked that little bit of extra something to make her stand out a bit more. However, it didn’t really impact my enjoyment of her as a character, she was perfectly nice.

And OF COURSE, I loved King, an overprotective guy wearing a cowboy hat? SIGN ME UP. Oh and Eli, the lil guy was so sweet and I loved how much he adored his Mom and how well he ft into the story.

The writing itself was good although there were a few points that made me cringe… Namely, when the author was happy to write cock for King but used private parts for Natalie, it felt a little as though the author couldn’t make their mind up of how they felt about words to describe male and female anatomies.

The plot itself was just your typical overprotective guy story, who gets his own way and they all live happily ever after. But that’s fine, it’s literally why I picked this book up and why I wanted to read it. It was an easy read that I knew would have a happy ending, what wasn’t to love as a little cleanser between heavier stories.

I did think the plot was well thought out though and it was well written, I liked the cowboy spin on things and with a heavy cowboy obsession lately, it definitely was right up my street!

I think my favourite part though was the ending, not only did it have a happy ending but it also left the book open for further stories to be written about other characters that featured, without us feeling like we’d been left on a cliffhanger or wanting more from our current characters.

I just really enjoyed reading this book, that’s literally the main reason why I gave it 4 stars. It just ticked my boxes for a fun, quick, easy lil read that featured one of my most recent loves (cowboys lmao).

Until next time, Em xxx

Landline – Rainbow Rowell

Link to book (GR) – Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Link to book (StoryGraph) – Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Overall rating – 4 out of 5 stars.

Now hear me out, I rated this book 4 stars but my first line of my review is this…

It wasn’t terrible. And it wasn’t, Landline was a perfectly good book, it just had certain aspects that I rated much higher than others and that pulled up the rating to 4 stars – which for me, feels right.

To begin with, I want to say that I felt absolutely nothing (N O T H I N G) for any of the characters, with the exception of Heather. They just didn’t entertain me or feel exciting or really have anything standout to them that made me latch onto them and love them. For me, they just kind of existed.

However, the rest of the book I really did enjoy! Whilst the writing did drag at points and I did feel there were spaces where the author filled the book with pointless text, the majority of it was really well done. Especially when you consider the premise of the book… Everything was being done through a landline phone?! It was just such a unique way to portray the story and I feel the author really did it justice with the writing, for the most part.

I also found that because it was written as if spoken through a landline phone that it was quite flat on the atmosphere, however, I can’t really hold that against the book or the author because the nature of the story just didn’t really require it to have an atmosphere. Plus, I think the intriguing nature of the story more than made up for it.

And onto the biggie, the plot… I actually thought it was really clever! The whole idea of communicating through a landline phone and trying to rekindle a relationship was like nothing I’d ever read before and I thought it was a really good idea and well executed. That being said, the ending did bug me a little bit because it felt unfinished, just a few more pages would have rounded the book off much better for me.

This book could have been so much more, but I do feel that what was written was good and warranted a 4 star rating. Let me know what you think!

Until next time, Em xxx