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Showing posts from 2023

The Last Phone Booth In Manhattan by Beth Merlin and Danielle Modafferi

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Purchase My Rating: 5/5 Stars  🌶: 0/5 Primary Genre: Romance/Women's fiction Blurb:  When a young woman hits rock bottom, she embarks on a positively Dickensian adventure in a witty and warmhearted novel about past regrets, old loves, new beginnings, and making up for lost time. Avery Lawrence thought she had it all—a charming fiancé, a Broadway-themed star-studded engagement, and a picture-perfect life. But when her fraudster of a fiancé’s true identity is exposed and he’s hauled away in handcuffs, Avery’s world comes crashing down faster than the chandelier in Phantom of the Opera. Left stranded on Christmas Day outside the federal prison without her cell phone or wallet, Avery stumbles out of the cold and into the last phone booth in Manhattan. With nothing left to lose, Avery is directed by a mysterious voice on the line to the doorstep of the college boyfriend she thought she’d moved on from over six years ago. When a second encounter with the phone booth leads Avery to...

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden

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Purchase The Housemaid #1 My Rating: 5/5 Stars 🌶: 0/5 Primary Genre: Thriller Blurb:  Goodreads Choice AwardNominee for Readers' Favorite Mystery & Thriller (2022) Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor. I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband. I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late. But I reassure myself: the Wincheste...

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

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Purchase My rating: 4/5 Stars  🌶: 0/5 Primary Genre: Fantasy Romance Blurb:  Goodreads Choice AwardNominee for Readers' Favorite Fantasy (2022) A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family--and a new love--changes the course of her life. As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don't mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she's used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously. But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tan...

Romance Rules for Werewolves by Linsey Hall

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  Purchase Charming Cove #3 My Rating: 5/5 Stars Primary Genre: Paranormal romance Blurb:  Autumn is a time of snuggly sweaters, crisp breezes, and…. sexy, broody werewolves? When I inherit a magical house in the beautiful seaside village of Charming Cove, it’s just what I need to turn my dismal life around. Fresh off a bad breakup and with magic that I’ve ignored for a decade, I’m ready to rekindle my inner witch. The catch? The house is inhabitable until I renovate it, and the only place to live is with a brooding, rugged boat-builder who definitely doesn’t want me in his space. Though there’s no denying the electric spark between us, neither of us is willing to act on it. To make things more complicated, I have to renovate the house in thirty days or I’ll lose it. But the house hates anyone who enters it and attacks with loose floorboards and horrific odors. I can’t get a single contractor in Charming Cove to help me out. That leaves only one option—convince my new roomma...

The Woman In Me by Britney Spears

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4/5 Stars Get out the cream and sugar because this book has some TEA. Brit dishes about many of her past relationships and touches on some of her more famous moments in the media. She delves deeply into her relationships with J.T. and Kevin Federline. This is definitely an interesting autobiography. She gets deep into her issues with the Spears family and the years during her conservatorship. She lets you into her thoughts while she discusses the not so subtle tyranny inflicted on her by her family. There are definitely some dark and sad moments to this book, while it does seem as though Britney is sincerely attempting to heal from those dark years. She does come off as almost hateful towards her family but can you blame her? Imagine working grueling hours imposed on you by your parents, who are taking all of your money and doling it out to your siblings, paying off their own debts, restricting your access to food, your own vehicle and cell phone, or any privacy. I mean, isn't slav...

The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling

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  The Graves Glen Series #2 4/5 Stars We're back in Graves Glen for the sequel to The Ex Hex and this time around we hear all about Vivi's cousin Gwyn, who was quite a prevalent character in the first book. Something I really liked about the way that this book was written is that Vivi and Rhys are still pretty prevalent characters entwined into Gwyn's story. Rhys's brother Wells shows up to take over the family vampire den otherwise known as the Penhallow house in Graves Glen. Obliging his father, Wells is on a mission to "re-stamp" their family name on Graves Glen since the Jones family is now powering the town's magic. Of course, he's decided that the way to do that is to open a magic shop across the street from Gwyn's magic shop. This makes for a nice little rivalry story between the Jones and Penhallow family with Vivi and Rhys attempting to mediate. Vivi and Rhys depart on a honeymoon of sorts to Wales, leaving Gwyn and Wells to hold down the ...

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling

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The Graves Glen Series #1 4/5 Stars This book has been on my book shelf for like 2 months and I'm so excited to have finally cracked it open! This book lands us in a charming mountain town in Georgia that is giving off Halloweentown/Gilmore Girls/Good Witch/Hogwarts vibes. In Graves Glen we have witches, a college, ghosts, a talking cat who's very much interested in treats, magic, and of course, an ex boyfriend from 9 years ago who turns up unexpectedly! Vivi is a witch but spends most of her time pretending that she's not one. She's a college professor who's very close with her aunt and cousin who are her only close family members. Cousin Gwyn plays a pretty big part in this story, auntie is more of a side character. Rhys, the ex, has returned from Wales to charge the ley lines in a cave in the mountains for the magic town but he starts to have a strange string of bad luck and of course, that brings us to our main plot. There's a mystery to solve, intense fall ...

The Paleontologist by Luke Dumas

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  5/5 Stars Let me begin by saying that I won this book as an advanced reader copy in a Goodreads giveaway. This book is not something that I would normally gravitate towards but I found the description very intriguing.  Ok, now that we've got that out of the way, this book is the best one I've read in months. Dumas's writing comes off as prose at times. It's poetic and beautiful, which is definitely not lost on me. The book is so intelligently written with such an incredible story. It's got some elements of  Jurassic Park, Night at the Museum, The Black Phone all carefully rolled into a very original, beautiful and surprising story. One of the things that I really enjoyed in this book were drawings of the dinosaurs and the way that they helped bring the museum displays to life. I don't know much about them (dinosaurs) and I found myself googling a lot of prehistoric names in the barely 24 hours (after working 12 hours) this book took me to read (when I say page...

How To Fake Date A Vampire by Linsey Hall

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Charming Cove Book #2 5/5 Stars At last, we return to Charming Cove. Once again, I absolutely loved this book. Just as great as the first! The little town and it's characters are, in fact, charming. I love the familiar element and I was so happy to see it again in book 2! Penelope and Boris are two I'd love to meet. The vampire element is interesting but don't expect Sookie Stackhouse vibes as our heroine Emma is an orphan witch desperately trying to gain the title Head Witch in her coven to get herself a family. This book has a great love story and I like the fact that Aria was included quite a bit in this story and even became a bit of a friend to Emma. Every year, the coven throws a ball and it's up to Emma to throw the perfect one to guarantee her permanent spot in the coven and it's a great read to see whether or not she can pull the ball off with her fake vampire Duke boyfriend secret. Don't miss this book series! Both are page turners. Linsey Hall is 2 fo...

In Charm's Way by Lana Harper

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Purchase The Witches of Thistle Grove #4 Rating: 5/5 Spice: 1.5/5 Plot: 5/5 Primary Genre: Sapphic Fantasy/Paranormal Romance Blurb: A witch struggling to regain what she has lost casts a forbidden spell—only to discover much more than she expected, in this enchanting new rom-com by New York Times bestselling author Lana Harper. Six months after having been hit by a power surge that nearly obliterated her memory, Delilah Harlow is still picking up the pieces. Her once diamond-sharp mind has become shaky and unreliable, and bristly, self-sufficient Delilah is forced to rely on friends, family, and her raven familiar for help. In an effort to reclaim her wits and former independence, she casts a dangerous blood spell meant to harness power with healing capacities. While the spell does restore clarity, it also unexpectedly turns Delilah into an irresistible beacon for the kind of malevolent supernatural creatures that have never before ventured into Thistle Grove. One night—just as th...

The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman

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purchase Practical Magic #2  My Rating: 4/5 Stars Primary Genre: Fantasy/Magical Realism Blurb: Master storyteller Alice Hoffman brings us the conclusion of the Practical Magic series in a spellbinding and enchanting final Owens novel brimming with lyric beauty and vivid characters. The Owens family has been cursed in matters of love for over three-hundred years but all of that is about to change. The novel begins in a library, the best place for a story to be conjured, when beloved aunt Jet Owens hears the deathwatch beetle and knows she has only seven days to live. Jet is not the only one in danger—the curse is already at work. A frantic attempt to save a young man’s life spurs three generations of the Owens women, and one long-lost brother, to use their unusual gifts to break the curse as they travel from Paris to London to the English countryside where their ancestor Maria Owens first practiced the Unnamed Art. The younger generation discovers secrets that have been hidden from...
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I'm currently finishing up the last book of the Practical Magic Series, The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman (I'm having a hard time getting into it). Then I'm finishing Book 4 in the witches of Thistle Grove series: In Charm's Way by Lana Harper, which I forced myself to stop reading until I can finish The Book of Magic. My Fall 2023 TBR: How To Fake Date a Vampire by Linsey Hall (Book #2 in the charming cove series) The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Songu Mandanna A Witch's Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley The Only Purple House In Town by Ann Aguirre Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree The House Witch by Delemhach Keeper of Enchanted Rooms by Charlie N. Holmberg Accidental Magic by Iris Beaglehole Apple Cider Slaying Julie Ann Lindsey Not Your Ex's Hexes by April Asher And probably many more that I haven't discovered yet. What's your fall TBR? Let me know in the comm...