Blog Tour: Temporary Wife Temptation

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Much more than he bargained for…

“You want me to find you a wife?”

“No. I want you to be my wife.”

Garrett Song is this close to taking the reins of his family’s LA fashion empire…until the Song matriarch insists he marry her handpicked bride first. To block her matchmaking, he recruits Natalie Sobol to pose as his wife. She needs a fake spouse as badly as he does. But when passion burns down their chaste agreement, the flames could destroy them all…

I can honestly say that I loved this one – I’ve never read anything by Jayci Lee, but after experiencing her writing I’ll be sure to pick up more. So much of this made me think of kdramas (which are something I love) that I had a great time reading it.

It was so spicy and such a fast read (maybe at some points advancing too fast, but understandably with it’s length) that I almost read it all in one sitting. I would definitely say that the characters had depth and each had their ulterior motives for the relationship. I do love a good fake dating trope and this one definitely satisfied that for me. Overall, I would definitely read it again and look forward to reading more of Jayci Lee’s writing.

Jayci Lee writes poignant, funny, and sexy romance. She lives in sunny California with her tall-dark-and-handsome husband, two amazing boys with boundless energy, and a fluffy rescue whose cuteness is a major distraction. She is semi-retired from her 15-year career as a defense litigator, and writes full-time now. She loves food, wine, and travelling, just like her characters. Books have always helped her grow, dream, and heal. She hopes her books will do the same for you.

Happy reading!

Review: Moonstruck Vol 1

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Werewolf barista Julie and her new girlfriend go on a date to a close-up magic show, but all heck breaks loose when the magician casts a horrible spell on their friend Chet. Now it’s up to the team of mythical pals to stop the illicit illusionist before it’s too late.

I didn’t know much about this except that a lot of people I follow thought it was adorable but I had definitely heard enough to want to pick it up. Let me just say that I am so glad I did! The art style is so whimsical and beautiful, the style and color palette just perfect for the setting and story. I loved the mystery and overall storyline and really feel like it is a good start to the series. I definitely would like to see more in the series and learn more about the characters and their backstories. These characters have such great relationships, but also their own insecurities and I would love to see more expanding on that.

Happy reading!

Review: Of Thee I Sing

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What’s your dream? Do you believe that God will answer your prayers so that you can fulfill that dream? Do you really believe that He is faithful? Unrealized dreams can cause deep pain that lasts for years. What takes away that pain? The journey through life is a learning process that each human must endure. I say endure because the learning is not always comfortable. You are not alone in anything you do. The lessons learned and talked about in this book can help anyone who is dealing with trouble, pain, human interaction, or faith. By reading this book, the author hopes you will learn a little about music, a little more about life, and a lot about the love of God.

Full disclaimer, I do know the author and did help with preliminary edits before the book was published, but that didn’t factor into my review or reading experience.

That being said, this is a wonderful telling of a story through different stages of music and musical terms. Musical terms are used to describe different stages of life as well as different personalities. The author weaves parts of her life through these terms, exploring some of her defining moments and how music and faith have changed and shaped her. Essentially how she became comfortable in her skin, secure with her faith and even showing that even now she still deals with vulnerabilities. It’s a wonderful story of life as it is, rough patches, bright spots, love and laughter.

I feel even if you aren’t religious you can still find valuable content and lessons within this book. It’s a great story of finding yourself and finding your way towards enjoying your journey as it takes you through life.

Happy reading!

Announcement & Shout Out

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Today I want to take some time to give a shout out to the people who recently made me my new banner and logo/icon. You may have seen some of the changes and I wanted to devote a post to thanking them!

My banner, the incredible and whimsical path of wandering books, was created by Mir at https://fangirlpixieblog.com/! You can find her at her blog, on twitter or at her etsy shop FangirlPixieJar!

The other change you may have seen was my icon/logo which my cousin A.J. made for me. With this I did want something different but still whimsical and he was great to work with for that. He can be found on instagram at @realajlogan, contacted by email at aj@imlhlife.com or by phone at (971)344-7469.

Both of these artists were amazing to work with! They communicated with me amazingly and customized everything to what I was wanting until I was happy. Be sure to reach out to them if you’re looking for great graphics!

Review: The Cheerleaders

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First there was the car accident—two girls gone after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Not long after, the murders happened. Those two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know why he did it. Monica’s sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they lost.

That was five years ago. Now the faculty and students at Sunnybrook High want to remember the lost cheerleaders. But for Monica, it’s not that easy. She just wants to forget. Only, Monica’s world is starting to unravel. There are the letters in her stepdad’s desk, an unearthed, years-old cell phone, a strange new friend at school. . . . Whatever happened five years ago isn’t over. Some people in town know more than they’re saying. And somehow Monica is at the center of it all.

There are no more cheerleaders in Sunnybrook, but that doesn’t mean anyone else is safe.

I found this book to be a fun mystery that was definitely full of twists and turns, but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me. There were a number of plot elements that I felt were unnecessary and didn’t really add anything to the story, but rather detracted from it. Also I kind of felt like the Monica at the beginning of the book was a completely different person to the Monica at the end of the book, and not just because she grew as a character.

I did definitely enjoy the twists and turns, as well as the constructing of the puzzle as more and more of the mystery regarding the deaths of the cheerleaders was revealed. Everything was resolved at the end in a satisfying way and I did feel like everything was answered. The writing was easy to read and engaging. Overall I think a lot of people will enjoy this book, but it just wasn’t entirely for me.

Happy reading!

Review: break your glass slippers

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Amanda Lovelace, the bestselling & award-winning author of the “women are some kind of magic” poetry series, presents a new companion series, “you are your own fairy tale”. The first installment, break your glass slippers, is about overcoming those who don’t see your worth, even if that person is sometimes yourself. In the epic tale of your life, you are the most important character while everyone is but a forgotten footnote. Even the prince.

This is probably my favorite of Amanda Lovelace’s collections that I have read. There are powerful themes of toxic relationships, finding your way out of them and self empowerment, but there are also a ton of trigger warnings that go along with it. If you have been in a toxic relationship I would definitely go into this carefully, I’ve been in them and this spoke to me, but it may be completely triggering in a negative way to someone else. If you pick it up definitely check the trigger warning note at the front to evaluate if it’s something you want to pick up.

As always Lovelace’s imagery and the flow of her writing were beautiful. She is able to evoke such powerful messages in small little packages and I loved it. I’m definitely eager to see what else she comes out with in this new series as I completely loved this one.

Happy reading!

Clearing the Hoard: Update and Month 2

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This challenge was created by Caffeinated Fae in an effort to reduce the number of physically owned but unread books in her collection. Make sure to head over to her post (linked above) to check it out.

So here we are, in month 2! If you want a refresher of what books I had selected and my reasoning, etc, head on over to my previous post. In that post I had selected five books and I read….one of them. Oops.

To be fair, my audiobook loan for The Cheerleaders expired shortly after I wrote that post and I only just recently was able to check it out again, so it will definitely get finished this month. The others (besides Battlefield Ghosts, which I finished) will maybe be added to this months list. Besides those I did manage to remove 3 other books from my physical TBR which were The Witch Boy, Norse Mythology and The Ten Thousand Doors of January. So while I didn’t get to all the ones I picked, I did get 4 physical books off of my TBR.

This month (besides those from last month) I would like to get to The Devouring Gray and Dragon Pearl, which I finally had come in from the library. Other than that I’m not going to make a list since I do have carry overs from last month.

So while January didn’t go exactly as planned, there were still four books from TBR to Read and that’s not too shabby. We’ll see what this month brings!

Happy reading!

Blog Tour: Witness Protection Widow

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Can the witness protection program keep her identity secret?

After Allison James finally escapes her marriage to a monster, she becomes the star witness in the case against her deceased husband’s powerful crime family. Now it’s up to US Marshal Jaxson Stevens, Ali’s ex-boyfriend, to keep the WITSEC widow safe. But as the danger escalates and sparks fly, will Jax be able to help Ali escape her ruthless in-laws?

This was my first title from the Harlequin Intrigue line as well as from Debra Webb and I was not disappointed. This story was a non stop from the beginning to the end and filled with action. While I’m not a huge fan of a lot of misunderstandings, it was understandable between these characters considering their past. I really enjoyed the way they were written as well as their points of view while going through the story.

Webb’s writing was easy to read and really enjoyable, I just loved the fast pace of the story and flew through this story. I will definitely be looking forward to future in this line and from Debra Webb herself as I really enjoyed her writing!

DEBRA WEBB is the award winning, USA Today bestselling author of more than 150 novels, including reader favorites the Faces of Evil, the Colby Agency, and the Shades of Death series. With more than four million books sold in numerous languages and countries, Debra’s love of storytelling goes back to her childhood on a farm in Alabama. Visit Debra at www.DebraWebb.com.

Witness Protection Widow is out now, so if you’re interested be sure to check it out. Happy reading!

January Wrap Up and Haul

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It’s hard to believe that January is already over, but here we are. It flew by super fast and thought I didn’t get everything I wanted done, I do feel like I made great progress for the start of the year.

In total I read 21 books, 16 of which were review books I had on my list. So, that means that only 5 were non review books with 4 being physical copies that got taken off my TBR shelf and one that was on my kindle. (Sidenote: Don’t Read the Comments was read as an ARC, but I loved it so much I went out and bought myself a physical copy,.)

I’m really happy with my ratings for this month as I didn’t have anything lower than 3 stars. My breakdown was six 3 star books, 13 four stars and two 5 star books.

Now to my haul, this month I brought in 10 physical books that were added to my TBR. This included three from Book of the Month, the rest either came from Amazon or my local bookstore.

I’m trying to fill in my holes in the Krewe of Hunters series from Heather Graham, so that’s why I have a few from that series. I’ve been reading them since the first series that started with Adam Harrison Investigations, but I’ve fallen quite a bit behind.

Overall I’m happy with the way January shaped up, I didn’t bring in a ton of books and I got a decent amount of my review books taken care of. After the slump that was the last three months of last year I am trying to get all caught up.

And again, Calypso couldn’t resist helping me when I was taking pictures for this post!

Happy reading!

Review: Tails You Win

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Tails You Win is an engaging collection of poems written from the dogs’ perspective. It is the seventh book of original metric rhyming verse by Gill Rowe and contains beautiful hand-drawn illustrations.

Starting with the Afghan Hound and Airedale Terrier, Tails You Win charmingly encapsulates the traits and personalities of fifty different dogs. Whether you’re dotty about Dalmatians, mad about Miniature Dachshunds or crazy for Cavaliers, there’s truly something for everyone in this cheery homage to dogs.

I was intrigued by the concept of this poetry collection and I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised by it. I was in the mood for something fun that would make me smile and this collection certainly did that. Each poem in this collection address a different breed a dog (granted, not every breed is represented) and works through the alphabet.

Each poem’s language and format is tailored to the breed as well, so a breed that may be more active and quick in mannerisms has a poem with short lines and quick paced stanzas. Breeds that are considered more regal or prim will have a different style.

All in all this was exactly what I needed and put a smile on my face.

Happy reading!