Tag: romance

When Life Gives You Vampires had me laughing from the get go. I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrator, Meg Sylvan was absolutely perfect for this book.

I really adored Lily – she was such a spitfire, and her thoughts (when not focused on her body) were witty and sassy. Every time I hit play on this book, I felt like I was getting back together with a friend.

There were also some fantastic Buffy and Twilight references throughout the book that made me smile.

My biggest complaint, though, is how often Lily’s weight is brought up. I am all for a a plus sized main character, and even a plus sized main character that questions and worries about her weight. However, Lily mentions or thinks about her weight A LOT. It almost became a third character in the story.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the audio review copy of When Life Gives Your Vampires.

Have you ever read a book and something just didn’t jive while you were reading it? That’s what happened while I was reading The Summer of Christmas.

The storyline was super cute – a heartbroken screenwriter, Ivy Green, writes a mostly autobiographical movie script about how her long-time boyfriend breaks up with her at Christmastime.

However, when that script gets picked up to be made into a movie and is filming in her hometown, where her ex still lives, love triangles ensue.

I really live the kitschy Christmas in July vibes in the story, and the small town feel and the found family in the movie crew. But the writing was a tough to read. Once I realized the authors were screenwriters and this is their debut novel, a lot of the weirdness in the writing made sense. It was definitely written more like a script than a novel.

Not that it is a pass for the writers, because this was still really awkward to read. There were lots of chapters that flipped back and forth between Ivy and Nick with transitions like, “Back on the boat” and “back on the movie set.”

This would definitely have been a cute Hallmark Christmas movie – something the authors’ style of writing would fit better.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Bad Luck Bridesmaid was a cute read, although it did feel like the storyline was a little disjointed. 

Zoey has been a bridesmaid three times in ten years, and not once has a bride made it down the aisle. When she meets the perfect guy, Rylan, her distrust of commitment and marriage come to the surface. Even more so when Rylan proposes to her. When Zoey’s BFF, Hannah, announces she’s getting married, though, Zoey is determined to see Hannah to the alter. 

My biggest issue with the timeline of the story, was the reader was taken through each of the failed weddings and Zoey meeting and getting closer to Rylan before the story starts to really take off. If we ha started the story with Zoey meeting Rylan and the failed weddings as “flashbacks” I think it might have worked better. Especially as Zoey is participating in Hannah’s wedding weekend in Ireland.

Since the third bride to not reach the alter is the tipping point for Zoey to run from Rylan’s proposal, the ending was expected.

I did enjoy this book, but it was definitely not my favorite romcom book this year.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the review copy in exchange for my honest opinion!