The Best Books I’ve Read In 2018 (So Far!)

Posted July 9, 2018 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 33 Comments

I cannot believe we’re over halfway done with 2018 (obviously, since I totally forgot to put this topic into the calendar and had to swap it out for the freebie that was originally scheduled for today). It feels like just yesterday I was packing up the Christmas decorations on a dreary January morning. Now it’s blisteringly hot outside and I’m  itching for fall weather to blow in and cool us off again. And then it’ll be 2019 before we know it! There’s still lots of reading to be done, but today let’s talk about the best of the best that we’ve read this year!

I Temporarily Do by Ellie Cahill
This marriage of convenience story is seriously so heartwarming and wonderful. It’s also filled with swoons! Emmy is conned out of a place to live on campus (as well as all of her money), and recently dumped Beckett remembers that his apartment is in married student housing. Rather than drop out of school, Emmy and Beckett decide to get married and share the apartment. They have to play the part of a newlywed couple for all their new friends, and I loved watching them convince themselves that they’re great together as well.


Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
Love & Gelato was everything I had hoped for and more. I love stories set in Italy, and this one was pure perfection. Read my review for more info!

Love & Luck by Jenna Evans Welch
The bulk of Love & Luck takes place on a road trip across Ireland in dilapidated old car, passing castles and historic sites and tons of beautiful scenery. It’s seriously such a fun story, and Jenna’s writing is wonderful.


Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett
I loved Starry Eyes. It’s swoony and deep and angsty and full of so much reality, set against the love-hate relationship between two best-friends-turned-enemies as they traverse the elements and depend on one another to survive the literal wilderness, as well as their own wild, untamed lives. Read my full review!


Roomies by Christina Lauren
I love marriages of convenience and fake/sham romances, books set in New York, stories surrounding the theme of music, and hot Irish men. This one did not disappoint! Read my full review.


The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves
Anyone who knows me knows I’m a Tracey fangirl and have been following her since the very beginning of her writing career when she self-published On the Island. TGHUtK is her first plunge into women’s fiction, and I loved it! It features a heroine on the Autism spectrum, a romance from the past, lots of feelings, and characters who find themselves in each other. I don’t want to talk too much about i because it comes out in April of 2019, but keep your eyes peeled for more on this one in the coming months!


Roman Crazy by Alice Clayton & Nina Bocci
Here’s another Italy romance! A chance encounter with the sexy Italian man who got away years ago brings lots of romantic moments and feelings.


Save the Date by Morgan Matson
I’m SO glad I finally jumped on the Morgan Matson train! I hope her others are just as wonderful for me as this one was. I loved the family dynamics, the wedding craziness, and all heart and feeling that swirled around it all. Read my full review.


The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron
I REALLY love the audio for this one. It is amazingly well done. And the steampunk historical fiction mixed with a little suspense/intrigue and hints of romance made this a very unique and enjoyable read.

Which books have you read and loved this year so far?

Under the Same Sky by Genevieve Graham | Book Review

Posted July 5, 2018 by Jana in Adult Fiction, Book Review / 1 Comment

Under the Same Sky by Genevieve Graham | Book ReviewUnder the Same Sky by Genevieve Graham
Series: The MacDonnells #1
Also in this series: Sound of the Heart
Published by Berkley on January 3, 2012
Genres: Historical Romance, Paranormal, Romance
Pages: 319
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher (Mail)
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The year is 1746. A young woman from South Carolina and a Scottish Highlander share an intimacy and devotion beyond their understanding. They have had visions of each other their entire lives. And yet they have never met.

Now, with their lives torn asunder, Maggie Johnson and Andrew MacDonnell's quest to find each other is guided only by their dreams— and by the belief in the true love they share.

On the Carolina frontier Maggie Johnson’s family struggles to survive. Maggie’s gift of “the sight” and her visions show her a presence she calls Wolf. She watches him grow from a boy her age to a man even as she goes from child to woman.

Andrew MacDonald has always wondered about the girl he sees in his dreams. He is able to talk to her through their thoughts and vows that even if he must cross an ocean he will find her.

They are thrust into different situations: Andrew fights for the doomed Jacobite cause and Maggie is captured by slavers, then rescued and brought into a kind, loving Native American tribe. They each believe in destiny and the power of the love they have shared forever.

Lots of things about this book excited me. I love historical romance, the back of the book and the cover reminded me of a light, fluffy romance with a paranormal twist (like a Lynn Kurland book), and I loved the idea of telepathic communication across the world, between two characters who have never actually met each other. During tough times these two characters appeared to one other to help, either delivering advice or actual strength. As they got older, their ability to communicate grew stronger and they began to fall in love. The romance was incredibly sweet. They were childhood sweethearts, who were there for each other all the time, even though they were on completely different continents. I love this idea.

While I did like it, this book is far from the light, fluffy romance I was expecting. The cover is quite deceptive, as this book is a rather heavy and sometimes dark read. This time period was a pretty awful time, especially for women, and the author does not sugar coat it, which I respected. At the very beginning of the book, Maggie witnesses the death and/or murders of several family members. She and her sisters are abducted by men hoping to sell them, and are beaten and raped to within an inch of their lives. Andrew goes to war in Scotland, and also experiences a lot of death and heartache. This is all described in great detail, and it actually upset me so much that I thought I would not be able to continue. I was so curious to see how things ended, though, that I decided to continue on with it. To all my fellow tender hearts out there, if you can make it to page 115, you are going to be just fine. The book does lighten up, and it even gets suspenseful and exciting!

A tribe of Cherokee Indians rescues Maggie and her sister from their captors, and takes them in as part of their family. I loved this entire protective and loving group of people. I have not had the opportunity to read much about Native American tribes, except for my history books in school. I learned so much about the culture and belief system of this tribe, and was captivated by their story and strong, almost religious, ties to Mother Nature.

I really, really liked Maggie and Andrew. Maggie is so incredibly strong and resilient. I admire her, and wish I had the kind of strength she has. Andrew is the perfect sexy Scottish highlander. He cares so much for Maggie, his family, and his friends. He’s also very loyal and honorable. We see him interact with two very young orphaned children, and he is amazingly sweet with them. He really is pretty perfect, and I know I would love it if he came to me in my dreams! His accent is also pretty adorable, but sometimes I had to read his lines out loud in order to understand them. :)

Genevieve’s writing style is gorgeous. Her word choice stirred the same emotions in me that her characters felt. She sent me to the woods where Maggie was held captive, to the battle fields of Scotland, to the rolling hills of the Scottish Highlands, and to the deep southern colonies of North America. The dreams Maggie and Andrew had about each other were mystical and magical. Everything seemed so real to me, and I was completely captivated, even though parts of this book really upset and disturbed me.

I would definitely recommend this book to lovers of historical romances with a bit of a paranormal twist. Yes, it’s heavy and dark in places. Yes, I had a hard time convincing myself to finish it at one point, but I am so glad I did. You can’t fault the author for retelling history. This all really happened, and I was amazed reading what people are willing to do to each other. The story is also magical and romantic, and I really loved reading about Maggie and Andrew’s journey to find one another. We are left with no loose ends, and you’ll be very happy with how things turn out in the end.

Ten Red, White, & Blue Books I Want to Read

Posted July 2, 2018 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 24 Comments

Since 4th of July is tomorrow here in the United States of America, I thought it would be fun to showcase book covers that have country colors on them today! I love learning where my fellow book nerds live. If you live in another country, I hope you’ve chosen book covers with the colors from your country’s flag! If you decided to helped me celebrate the 4th of July, though, and chose red, white, and blue covers then that’s also awesome.

My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan
Study abroad at Oxford and romance!

Freshmen by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison
A funny look at Freshman year at college.

Red Girl, Blue Boy by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Her dad is the Republican nominee for President of the USA, which his mom is he Democratic nominee. This could be interesting.

Prince in Disguise by Stephanie Kate Strohm
Scotland, for one thing. And there’s a prince in disguise!!

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
I’ve been wanting to read this Kate Middleton/Prince William-inspired romance for a LONG time.

Enchantée by Gita Trelease
1789 Paris. A double life. Magic. Blackmail. Marie Antoinette.

Girl on a Plane by Cassandra O’Leary
A flight attendant falls for the sexy Australian in First Class on a flight from Melbourne to London. There’s also an unexpected landing in Singapore.

The Geek’s Guide to Unrequited Love by Sarvenaz Tash
If the title alone isn’t enough to get you, then I don’t know what to tell you.

The Heir and the Spare by Emily Albright
This sounds very Prince and Me/Princess Diaries, and I am here for it.

My Lady’s Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris
A choose your own adventure romance novel! Yes please!

Which country do you call home?
If you’re in the USA, what are your 4th of July plans?

All Summer Long by Hope Larson | Graphic Novel Review

Posted June 28, 2018 by Jana in Book Review, Graphic Novel, Middle Grade / 1 Comment

All Summer Long by Hope Larson | Graphic Novel ReviewAll Summer Long by Hope Larson
Published by Farrar Straus & Giroux on May 1, 2018
Genres: Realistic Fiction
Pages: 176
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher (Mail)
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A coming-of-age middle-grade graphic novel about summer and friendships, written and illustrated by the Eisner Award–winning and New York Times–bestselling Hope Larson.

Thirteen-year-old Bina has a long summer ahead of her. She and her best friend, Austin, usually do everything together, but he's off to soccer camp for a month, and he's been acting kind of weird lately anyway. So it's up to Bina to see how much fun she can have on her own. At first it's a lot of guitar playing, boredom, and bad TV, but things look up when she finds an unlikely companion in Austin's older sister, who enjoys music just as much as Bina. But then Austin comes home from camp, and he's acting even weirder than when he left. How Bina and Austin rise above their growing pains and reestablish their friendship and respect for their differences makes for a touching and funny coming-of-age story.

I’ve started developing interest in graphic novels over the last few years, which was a major surprise to me because I’ve always overlooked them. More and more have been trickling in from various publishers, and I’m really seeing the graphic novel format take off, especially for younger readers. I thought All Summer Long sounded like a fun, light read and was excited to dig in. Sadly, there just wasn’t enough substance for me and it felt much younger than I would have liked.

I enjoy coming-of-age stories, but I don’t feel like All Summer Long was a good example of one. I suppose the characters go through some changes, but they felt more like normal kid changes than coming-of-age. When a story is described as a “coming-of-age story”, you expect some major growth. Bina is 13, and she’s spending her summer alone while her best friend, Austin, is at summer camp. She spends the summer playing/listening to music, and hanging out with Austin’s older sister. She gets to babysit and go to a concert and deal with all the normal kid drama: fights, heightened emotions, and overreactions. At the end, she seemed to be pretty much the same person she was in the beginning. The story was very, very simple and the characters seemed like cardboard cutouts. There just wasn’t anything grabbing me and sucking me in.

I know I’m the wrong demographic, but I work with kids who are about this age. Actually, my kids are about a year younger and they don’t talk like these characters. They don’t use the word “bae” or say “like” every other word. I feel like the author tried to write for tweens and young teens, but without a real understanding of what those kids are like today. These kids seemed younger than mine until they said “bae”, which people my age (late 20’s, early 30’s) were already saying when these kids were toddlers. It just felt really unrealistic to me.

The illustrations were fun, but too stylized for me. The proportions were off and there were inconsistencies in the looks of the characters from page to page. Sometimes I had a hard time telling some of the secondary characters apart. It was easy to read and the boxes flowed in a nice way. I rarely read sections out of order because I didn’t know which box came first, which has happened to me in other graphic novels I’ve read.

All in all, this one just didn’t work for me. I shut the book and immediately wrote my review because I’m not even sure I’ll be able to remember it. I would choose to recommend other graphic novels over this one.

Ten Book Series I Really Want to Catch Up On

Posted June 25, 2018 by Jana in Top Ten Tuesday / 22 Comments

I don’t know about you, but it’s really hard to keep series books straight. I have to really love a book and the characters and/or the world that the author has created to be willing to invest the time and memory space required to stick with a trilogy or series for its entire run. Today’s topic is technically about the series or trilogies I don’t plan to finish, but as I was writing up my list I came across so many series I’ve kind of abandoned but really want to finish someday (also, I did a similar TTT topic years ago and don’t have many new series to add to it)! So I decided to tweak the topic a bit to suit my needs. These are all series I appear to have quit, even though I loved what I read, but would actually really love to continue on with.

1. A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas (I’ve read books 1 & 2)
2. Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas (I’ve read books 1 & 2)
3. Rebel of the Sands trilogy by Alwyn Hamilton (I’ve read book 1)
4. Gideon’s Cove trilogy by Kristan Higgins (I’ve read book 1 & 3)
5. Boomerang trilogy by Noelle August (I’ve read books 1 & 2)
6. Frost Chronicles by Kate Avery Ellison (I’ve read books 1 & 2)
7. The Conspiracy of Us trilogy by Maggie Hall (I’ve read book 1)
8. Firebird trilogy by Claudia Gray (I’ve read book 1)
9. Heist Society series by Ally Carter (I’ve read books 1 & 2)
10. The Winner’s Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski (I’ve read book 1)

Which series should I prioritize?
Which do you recommend I not worry about?