• Monthly Recaps

    AUGUST, SEPTEMBER, OCTOBER & NOVEMBER RECAP // oops i am late again aka turning 22, my degree kept me very busy ft. finishing my dissertation, some great reads & lots of book mail

    Even though I quote Britney Spears “Oops I did it again”, I don’t think even she describes my predicament over the last few months. Have we ever seen this many months in a singular Ruby recap? You all know the answer to that. Um anyways, we’ll get into it later but in short, uni kicked my ass and I have therefore had no life. — The Hundred Loves of Juliet by Evelyn Skye {★★★☆☆}: gah the premise was so promising but unfortunately I was not hooked and this one was just underwhelming. A fun read that I sped through but not a new favourite. Ty to Headline for the eARC via Netgalley – GR review here! The Priest and The Shepherd by Chloe Gong {★★★★★}: kicked my butt into gear and devoured this lil prequel novella before jumping into the big guns and ugh!!! Phoebe and Silas are such babies and I love them so much!!!! Foul Heart Huntsman by Chloe Gong {★★★★★}: I shan’t say much here because I did a lot of that in my review but, yes this is the best book I’ve ever read and I do not exaggerate. Okay maybe a but but she was…

  • Author interviews

    INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR ASHLEY POSTON // chatting to the fab author of The Seven Year Slip about writing inspiration, next book & a character name reveal!!

    Gahhh I am over the actual moon today and just oh so grateful!!! Look who’s here today,,, yep scream with me. Before we dive right in, I got a bunch of Poston reviews for you to go check out: Heart of Iron duology The Dead Romantics The Seven Year Slip INTERVIEW WITH ASHLEY POSTON Hi hello Ashley! Thank you oh so much for being here today, I am absolutely ecstatic to have you! Before we get started, I wanted to wish you a big congratulations on your sophomore romance release aka The Seven Year Slip! I absolutely adored this one to bits, as I do all of your books, so without any further ado, let’s get into my nosy questions! 🍋 Thank you so much for having me! First of all, can you tell us a little about yourself: hobbies, favourite foods, where are you currently, how are you doing? And of course, about your latest book! 🍋 Of course! I am doing really well right now. I just got myself a new tattoo—Calcifer in a bouquet of flowers, from Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones—and I’m devouring books like it’s my business (which, well, technically I guess it…

  • Book Reviews

    IF ONLY YOU BY CHLOE LIESE // spoiler-free book review: finally reviewing one of my fave reads of the year aka friends to lovers sports romance perfection

    A lot has been happening this year and by a lot I mean I’ve been working on my thesis for like 3 months straight. Hence this post has not happened until now *cries* I’m sorry, but I swear the wait will be worth it!!!! Because this book!!! Imma just get right into it because I need to yell!!!! Oh wait, you can check out my interview with Chloe Liese right over here: Title: If Only YouSeries: Bergman Brothers book #5Author: Chloe LiesePage count: 376Date published: 11 April 2023Genre: Adult contemporary romance ⚽ Synopsis: Ziggy I’m the youngest player on the National Soccer team, the baby of my family, and thoroughly sick of being underestimated, so I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands. Which is where my brother’s best friend and teammate, the infamous Sebastian Marchand, comes in.  Seb needs to rehab his reputation. I want to give mine an edge. So I propose a fake friendship with real benefits: spending time in the public eye, my good-girl image and his bad-boy notoriety rubbing off on each other. He’s my devious, dark-haired fantasy come to life, but his destructive ways make it easy to keep him in the (fake)…

  • Author interviews

    INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR CHLOE LIESE // chatting to romance author extraordinaire aka all things Bergman Brothers & Wilmot Sisters series ft. stunning new covers, bookish playlists and what’s next

    I WANT TO SCREAM I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT TODAY’S POST!!!!!! What the heck I can’t believe who I get to speak to and I am so honoured to have the wonderful Chloe Liese here today aka the marvellous author of the Bergman Brothers series AND the Wilmot Sisters!!!!! I have teamed up with the wonderful Berkley team to share the new Bergman covers that I want to cry about for the rest of eternity,,, Look at them!!!! And lemme send you to a couple of reviews I’ve done Mini IG reviews of the Bergman series Spoiler-free review of Always Only You Spoiler-free review of Two Wrongs Make A Right Anyway, without further ado, let’s get into it <3<3<3<3 AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH CHLOE LIESE Hi hello, Chloe! Before we get started, I wanted to give a big thank you for being here today and a congratulations on the release of not one but TWO releases this year aka If Only You and Better Hate Than Never! They both stole my heart and I am so ready for everyone to love them with me. Without further ado, I have some nosy questions. First up, can you tell us a little about…

  • Author interviews

    INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR ALEXANDRA CHRISTO // blog tour: chatting about The Night Hunt aka the latest ya romantasy release which i cannot wait to read!!!

    Eeep I am so excited about today’s post and I hope you are too because look who’s here?!?!?! Screaming inside Big thanks to Colored Pages for having me on the blog tour for The Night Hunt and to Alexandra Christo for being here today. Let’s dive right in! Title: The Night HuntAuthor: Alexandra ChristoPage count: 384Date published: 10 October 2023Genre: Young Adult fantasy 🖤 Synopsis: Atia is a monster who feeds on fear. As the last of her kind, she hides in the shadows of the world to escape the wrath of the unpredictable Gods. Silas is a Herald, carrying messages and ferrying the dead as punishment for a past he can’t remember. Stripped of his true name, he yearns to recover his identity. Atia would never dream of allying with someone like him, but when she breaks a sacred law and the Gods send monsters to hunt her, Silas offers an irresistible deal: he’ll help avenge her family and take on the Gods who now hunt her, if she helps him break his curse and restore his humanity. All they need to do is kill three powerful creatures: a vampire, a banshee, and one of the very Gods who…

  • Recommendations

    BY ANY OTHER NAME BY ERIN COTTER // blog tour book feature: happy release day to this queer historical romance i need injected into my veins!!!

    Gosh dang it am I excited about today’s post!!!! Welcome to the final stop on the By Any Other Name Book Tour, which is also the release day (!!!) for this gem. A huge thanks to Coloured Pages Tours for having me! Title: By Any Other NameAuthor: Erin CotterPage count: 464Date published: 10 October 2023Genre: Young Adult historical fantasy romance 🗡️ Synopsis: A down-on-his-luck actor and an English lord reluctantly team up to solve the murder of Christopher Marlowe in this Shakespearean-era young adult romp perfect for fans of F.T. Lukens and Mackenzi Lee. London, 1593. Sixteen-year-old Will Hughes is busy working on Shakespeare’s stage, stuffing his corsets with straw and pretending to be someone else. Offstage, he’s playing a part, too. The son of traitors, Will is desperate to keep his identity secret—or risk being killed in the bloody queen’s imperial schemes. All he wants is to lay low until he earns enough coin to return to his family. But when his mentor, the famous playwright Christopher Marlowe, is murdered under mysterious circumstances, Will’s plans are hopelessly dashed. What’s worse, Marlowe was a spy for the queen, tasked with stalking a killer rumored to be part of an elusive…

  • Book Reviews

    FOUL HEART HUNTSMAN BY CHLOE GONG // blog tour book talk: say hello to my favourite read of this year and hands down the best conclusion to a showstopping ya historical fiction fantasy series!!!

    Hi hello friends! And welcome to my tour stop celebrating the upcoming release of Foul Heart Huntsman. As you can guess, I’m hyperventilating over this just a little bit and I’ll just shut up now so we can cry together,,,, Big thanks to Colored Pages Book Tours for having me! Title: Foul Heart HuntsmanSeries: Secret Shanghai series book #5Author: Chloe GongPage count: 560Date published: 26 September 2023Genre: Young Adult historical fiction fantasy 🫀 Synopsis: Winter is drawing thick in 1932 Shanghai, as is the ever-nearing threat of a Japanese invasion. Rosalind Lang has suffered the worst possible fate for a national spy: she’s been exposed. With the media storm camped outside her apartment for the infamous Lady Fortune, she’s barely left her bedroom in weeks, plotting her next course of action after Orion was taken and his memories of Rosalind wiped. Though their marriage might have been a sham, his absence hurts her more than any physical wound. She won’t rest until she gets him back. But with her identity in the open, the task is near impossible. The only way to leave the city and rescue Orion is under the guise of a national tour. It’s easy to convince…

  • Author interviews

    INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR JESSICA JOYCE // chatting with debut author of You, With a View about this glorious childhood rivals to lovers romance you need injected into your veins!!!

    Gosh dang am I excited about today’s post and am oh so grateful that our guest Jessica Joyce agreed to be here today. I haven’t read a debut THIS GOOD in a long freaking time and I shall no go forth and shove her down your throats!!!! 💌 Big thanks to Penguin Random House South Africafor the early copy of You, With a View! Title: You, With A ViewAuthor: Jessica JoycePage count: 352Date published: 11 July 2023Genre: Adult contemporary romance 💌 Synopsis: Two weeks on the road… stuck in a car with your high-school enemy. Noelle Shepard is grieving the loss of her beloved grandmother when she discovers decades-old photos and letters that hint to a forbidden love in her gram’s past. Needing to know the full story, she creates a TikTok video appealing for information – and it goes viral. Through her video, she manages to track down her grandmother’s secret love, Paul, who offers to take her on the honeymoon road-trip he and Gram planned but never got to go on. Noelle jumps at the chance to make this one last connection with her grandmother. There’s just one problem – Paul’s grandson is Noelle’s frustratingly handsome high-school rival…

  • Monthly Recaps

    JULY RECAP // movie theatre mania aka going to barbenheimer, publisher events, back to school & cute reads

    Quite chuffed with myself for being mostly on time with these lately. Who knows if it’ll stick because I have a big fat deadline at the end of August. You have been warned of my potential upcoming hibernation. Let me stop freaking us all out (lmao) and jump right in! — Nothing More To Tell by Karen M McManus {★★★½☆}:I FINALLY picked up this one and ugh Ms McManus always manages to sweep me away with a great time. Unfortunately, this was not my favourite of hers, I usually tend to love her characters but they weren’t my fave in this one. But the cold case was fun and I kept going, so it’s definitely worth a read if you’re a fan like me. Big thanks to Penguin Random House South Africa for the eARC and physical copy. More thoughts in GR review right over here You, With A View by Jessica Joyce {★★★★½}: I mean wow. Round of freaking applause for this DEBUT that literally knocked my socks off. Jessica has pure talent in those finger tips and this book was just absolutely everything. From the writing to the romance to the settings and the gut-wrenching grief conversations THIS…

  • Book Reviews

    MAD ABOUT YOU BY MHAIRI MCFARLANE // spoiler-free book review: meet one of the best adult contemporaries i’ve ever read aka a delightfully british rom-com that has me in a chokehold

    Please say hello to this absolute gem of a book that you should be ashamed you haven’t read yet. Yes I do have the right and power to say that about you all and you are not allowed to say it back *hides* AHHH I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH IT HURTS AND IM SHOVING IT DOWN ALL YOUR THROATS FOR ETERNITY!!!!! Onwards with the crying/yelling/screeching about this author *wink wink* Title: Mad About YouAuthor: Mhairi McFarlanePage count: 432Date published: 14 April 2022Genre: Adult contemporary fiction 🏡 Synopsis: Two reluctant housemates.Two broken promises.One crazy plan… Harriet Hatley may be one of the most in-demand wedding photographers in Leeds, but she hates the idea of marriage. Cal Clarke is used to the world falling in line with his plans – apart from his own love-life, which has gone hopelessly wrong. When they become unlikely housemates, it’s clear they’re both running away from something bigger. Can they take a crazy risk to face the past and change everything? 🏡   🏡 STAR RATING: (5 out of 5 stars)   Trigger warnings for previous relationship emotional abuse — My heart is so full and I am jumping for joy and Mhairi McFarlane is…