Top Ten Books I LOVED with Fewer than 2,000 Ratings on Goodreads

Item: Love & Luck
Rating: 3
Author: Jana

Posted February 18, 2019 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 21 Comments

This week’s topic shows some love to the books that aren’t getting much. What books have you read and loved, but there’s not many ratings or reviews on Goodreads (or any other book pushing/retailer sites)? I’m hoping we all find some great hidden gems for our own TBRs this week!

Love, Lucy by April Lindner (1,678 ratings)
This book is AMAZING, you guys! It takes place in Florence, Italy and is the sweetest romance and coming of age story. It’s also a retelling of A Room With a View, which is very cool.

Just Like the Movies by Kelly Fiore Stultz (1,232 ratings)
A very sweet romance with tons of references to well-loved romantic movies, a beautiful friendship, swoony boys, girl power, and an important message to readers young and old.

Wish You Were Italian by Kristin Rae (1,791 ratings)
OH MY GOODNESS. When I discovered that this book had so few ratings my jaw dropped. It’s a wonderful book. Seriously, this book will fly you to Italy and deposit you right into the middle of the best parts of it. My very favorite part was Italy, but the romance and the gelato and the wonderfulness of growing up and discovering your independence and your identity solidified my love.

Captivate by Vanessa Garden (1,432 ratings)
The world in this one is gorgeous and colorful and sparkling and so unique! Humans live on the ocean floor in a huge city that has rivers and gondolas and a modern colosseum where people go to watch criminals get thrown to the sharks in a big aquarium-like tank. The ocean is their sky. Their world is lit and warmed by light crystals that sparkle, and oxygen is brought down to them through air shafts. There’s a garden and a park with real grass. I could go on and on. I’m in love with this place, and the writing is beautiful.

Starry Nights by Daisy Whitney (717 ratings)
The premise of Starry Nights is SO unique. I’ve always wanted to read a book with such a huge emphasis on art history. The fact that it’s about a boy who falls in love with a girl in a Renoir painting, and dances and eats dessert with her on the museum floor each night made me love it so much. And there are some twists which make it pretty exciting. Who is she? Why does she come to life at night? Why is Julien the only one who can see her? Yeah, these questions are answered in a blend of excitement, suspense, and the love of art.

Touching the Surface by Kimberly Sabatini (1,405 ratings)
This book will think about your own life, and you will most likely end up making some goals for yourself as you move forward. I was touched by so many of the passages, and related to the emotions that were discussed.

Pizza, Love, and Other Stuff That Made Me Famous by Kathryn Williams (1,245 ratings)
An amazing cast of characters and a unique story that takes place during a reality TV cooking show for teens. It’s like reading an episode of Iron Chef, and made me SO HUNGRY.

Snowed Over by Angie Stanton (1,298 ratings)
A fun NA Christmas novella about two people carpooling home for Christmas and getting stranded in a blizzard. SOOO SWOONY.

Degrees of Wrong by Anna Scarlett (432 ratings)
Anna Scarlett is Anna Banks’s pen name! You know Anna. She wrote Of Poseidon, Nemesis, Joyride, etc. This is her adult sci-fi and it’s AMAZING. A doctor on a mission to find the cure for a deadly virus… and terrorists hoping to kill her before she gets the chance? YES. High-tech equipment, underwater battleships, transport pods, giant squids… YES. The heroine and I would be BFFs until I tried to steal her man. Nicoli is this strong military-type with a hardened exterior and a mushy center reserved for those he cares about.

By Love or By Sea by Rachel Rager/Harlin (137 ratings)
I have only three things to say. 1. The writing was beautifully done. 2. I want a Caleb Newman of my very own. 3. This was seriously one of the most adorable, clean romances I’ve ever read! And look at that cover.

What books do you love that deserve more attention?
Will you be adding any of my picks to your TBR?

Ten of My Very Favorite Couples In Books

Posted February 11, 2019 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 23 Comments

In honor of Valentine’s Day in a few days, I thought this would be a fun topic to write up this week! In order for me to enjoy a book there has to be at least a LITTLE romance in the story. This is by no means my actual top ten list of favorite couples because writing one of those would be impossible. I’ve randomly chosen from my very very favorites. Life totally got away from me, so I’m just listing them and not really going into much detail as to why I love them. I think that’s best anyway!

1. Zorie and Lennon from Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett (enemies to lovers)
2. Emmy and Beckett from I Temporarily Do by Ellie Cahill (fauxmance to romance)
3. Hazel and Josh from Josh & Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren (college acquaintances to lovers)
4. Millie and Reid from My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren (best friends to lovers)
5. Bella and Edward from Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (serial killer and food to lovers)
6. Audrey Rose Wadsworth and Thomas Cresswell from Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco (colleagues to lovers)
7. Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman from The Hating Game by Sally Thorne (enemies to lovers)
8. Anna and Étienne from Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (classmates to lovers)
9. Feyre and Rhysand from A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas (enemies to lovers)
10. Cress and Captain Thorne from Cress by Marissa Meyer (Cress’s star-crossed crush turned lovers)

Which bookish couples are your favorites?

Five Upcoming Books I Need Help Deciding On

Posted February 4, 2019 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 20 Comments

So… sometimes I come up with topics and then realize they’re hard. lol. That happened this week, hence the 5 picks instead of my usual 10! This week’s topic is about the upcoming releases that I’m not sure if I actually want to read or not. I’ve received them for review and I’m just not sure if they’re my kind of book or not. Am I wrong? Do they sound good? Have you heard good things about them? Has anyone read an early copy and can tell me if they’re good? I need help deciding on them!

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang – I did not like The Kiss Quotient. Like, not at all. This one sounds like it could be good, but I worry that I’m going to feel like I did with Hoang’s other book.

Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey – From what I can tell, this author writes mostly erotica (which I don’t read). Have a been fooled by the cutesey cover? It sounds like so much fun, but erotica is not my thing at all.

One Summer In Paris by Sarah Morgan – I love Sarah Morgan, but really do not like women’s fiction at ALL. I need my romance and my swoons. I don’t enjoy family/personal drama with no romance. This one’s hard.

The Lost History of Dreams by Kris Waldherr – I love Gothic fiction, and this one sounds amazing. I’m worried, though, that it’ll be too creepy for me! There’s a fine line between eerie and so-scary-I-might-die for me.

Woman 99 by Greer Macallister – I’m starting to really enjoy historical mysteries, and this one sounds interesting. Asylum type books tend to upset me, though, so I don’t know…

What books are on your radar, but you’re just not sure you’re interested in them yet?
What books are getting a lot of pre-pub hype, but you’re still iffy about?
Can you help me make a decision on any of my picks?

Love & Luck by Jenna Evans Welch | Book Review

Posted January 31, 2019 by Jana in Book Review, Young Adult Fiction / 3 Comments

Love & Luck by Jenna Evans Welch
Series: Love & Gelato #2
Also in this series: Love & Gelato, Love & Olives
Published by Simon Pulse on May 8, 2018
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Pages: 320
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher (Edelweiss)
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Addie is visiting Ireland for her aunt’s over-the-top destination wedding, and hoping she can stop thinking about the one horrible thing she did that left her miserable and heartbroken—and threatens her future. But her brother, Ian, isn’t about to let her forget, and his constant needling leads to arguments and even a fistfight between the two once inseparable siblings. Miserable, Addie can’t wait to visit her friend in Italy and leave her brother—and her problems—behind.

So when Addie discovers an unusual guidebook, Ireland for the Heartbroken, hidden in the dusty shelves of the hotel library, she’s able to finally escape her anxious mind and Ian’s criticism.

And then their travel plans change. Suddenly Addie finds herself on a whirlwind tour of the Emerald Isle, trapped in the world’s smallest vehicle with Ian and his admittedly cute, Irish-accented friend Rowan. As the trio journeys over breathtaking green hills, past countless castles, and through a number of fairy-tale forests, Addie hopes her guidebook will heal not only her broken heart, but also her shattered relationship with her brother.

That is if they don’t get completely lost along the way.

I read and loved Love & Gelato, and immediately grabbed Jenna’s second book, Love & Luck, because I was so excited to jump back into another one of her stories. Contrary to what you might think, these two books have nothing to do with one another (except there’s a tiny cameo of the couple from Love & Gelato) and are 100% standalones. As always, my main points are bolded.

1. There’s not much emphasis placed on the “love” part of Love & Luck. There’s a bit of a romance there, but the book is mostly about Addie’s journey to mending her broken heart. She finds a guidebook on healing your heart in Ireland, and follows the tasks in the book that make her love herself more. The emphasis on self-care and healing was refreshing and sweet, but I did really miss the romance that I loved so much in Love & Gelato.

2. I love reading about sibling relationships in books, and there’s a lot of that in Love & Luck. Addie and Ian used to be incredibly close, but something happened to her that ripped them apart. This story is about the two of them mending their relationship as well, and I loved that. Even though there’s a lot of tension and hostility between the two of them, you can also see how much they still love and care for one another.

3. At the same time, though, this big huge secret about what happened to Addie kept being referenced but readers don’t find out what it was until well into the book. I couldn’t figure out why it was so important that the reader not know, and I got frustrated because it felt like something was being kept from me.

4. I had so much fun traveling through Ireland with these characters in their dilapidated car. They pass castles and historic sites and so much pretty scenery. Jenna’s scenery descriptions were wonderful, as I’ve come to expect from her.

4. I really liked Ian’s friend, Rowan. He cracked me up.

All in all, I enjoyed Love & Luck but not even close to as much as I loved Love & Gelato. I love Jenna’s writing and her characters, but I just didn’t feel that the plot sucked me in this time. I’d love to travel to more places through Jenna’s books, though, and I hope she writes more soon!

The Ten Most Recent Additions to My To-Read List

Posted January 28, 2019 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 26 Comments

Today’s topic is the ten most recent additions to my to-read list! It’s a super easy topic, but a fun way to share what we’re interested in right now. I can’t wait to see what you’re all looking forward to reading next!