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CHECK AND MATE BY ALI HAZELWOOD // spoiler-free book review: this book has me in a chokehold and we don’t talk about this NA rivals to lovers chess rom-com enough!!!
I just can’t stay quiet any longer. I must stand up and speak my truth: you are all wrong if you disliked this book and yes I have an argument to back myself up. What can’t of an amateur do you think I am? Anyways, let’s just get right into it!!! Title: Check & MateAuthor: Ali HazelwoodPage count: 325Date published: 7 November 2023Genre: New adult contemporary ♟️ Synopsis: Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. Every move counts nowadays; after the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory’s focus is on her mom, her sisters, and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious “Kingkiller” Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess. Nolan’s loss to an unknown rook-ie shocks everyone. What’s even more confusing? His desire to cross pawns again. What kind of gambit is Nolan playing? The smart move would be to walk away. Resign. Game over. But Mallory’s victory opens the door to sorely needed cash-prizes and despite everything, she can’t help feeling drawn to the enigmatic strategist…. As she…
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WHEN YOU GET THE CHANCE BY EMMA LORD // spoiler-free book review: need a YA contemporary romance that’s also a mamma mia retelling with rivals to lovers AND is set in NYC? i got you.
In the wise words of Lizzo, IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME,,, Let us not waste any more of that and dive right into it! Title: When You Get The ChanceAuthor: Emma LordPage count: 320Date published: 4 January 2022Genre: YA contemporary romance 🎤 Synopsis: Nothing will get in the way of Millie Price’s dream to become a Broadway star. Not her lovable but super-introverted dad, who after raising Millie alone, doesn’t want to watch her leave home to pursue her dream. Not her pesky and ongoing drama club rival, Oliver, who is the very definition of Simmering Romantic Tension. And not the “Millie Moods,” the feelings of intense emotion that threaten to overwhelm, always at maddeningly inconvenient times. Millie needs an ally. And when a left-open browser brings Millie to her dad’s embarrassingly moody LiveJournal from 2003, Millie knows just what to do. She’s going to find her mom. There’s Steph, a still-aspiring stage actress and receptionist at a talent agency. There’s Farrah, ethereal dance teacher who clearly doesn’t have the two left feet Millie has. And Beth, the chipper and sweet stage enthusiast with an equally exuberant fifteen-year-old daughter (A possible sister?! This is getting out of hand). But how can…
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I HOPE THIS DOESN’T FIND YOU BY ANN LIANG // blog tour book review: the fiercest academic rivals to lovers you’ll ever see!!
Gah I’m a day late with this post because I’ve been having it rough lately,,, anyways hopefully getting back into it now. Big thanks to Colored Pages for having me on the blog tour, let’s dive right into the review! Title: I Hope This Doesn’t Find YouAuthor: Ann LiangPage count: 320Date published: 6 February 2024Genre: YA contemporary romance 🎓 Synopsis: Sadie Wen is perfect on paper: school captain, valedictorian, and a “pleasure to have in class.” It’s not easy, but she has a trick to keep her model-student smile plastered on her face at all times: she channels all her frustrations into her email drafts. She’d never send them of course — she’d rather die than hurt anyone’s feelings — but it’s a relief to let loose on her power-hungry English teacher or a freeloading classmate taking credit for Sadie’s work. All her most vehemently worded emails are directed at her infuriating cocaptain, Julius Gong, whose arrogance and competitive streak have irked Sadie since they were kids. “You’re attention starved and self-obsessed and unbearably vain . . . I really hope your comb breaks and you run out of whatever expensive hair products you’ve been using to make your hair…
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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…
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MOST ANTICIPATED 2023 BOOK RELEASES // this list is maybe longer than it needs to be but we love a 60 book challenge oops
Oh my (second) favourite post of the year where I can endlessly add books I’ll take maybe a 100 years to actually read. Living my blissful life folks. Who knows, maybe next year will be the year I do what I say I will. Putting it out into the universe. I lowkey have a stunning list here even though it’s incredibly long so let’s get into it <3<3<3 JANUARY — – The Stolen Heir by Holly Black (3 January 2023): this title, this cover, the fact that this is a book I’M SO EXCITED!!!! Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert (3 January 2023): I was excited about Ms Hibbert’s YA romance last year and I’m still excited now I WANT IT *sighs* French Kissing In New York by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau (3 January 2023): I saw the title and the Taylor Swift reference in the synopsis and I had to have it,,, – Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo (10 January 2023): nope I have not read book one, I’m just holding myself accountable to actually read it so I can get to the sequel, which shall happen often in this post *hides* Exes and O’s by Amy Lea (10…
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BOOK LOVERS BY EMILY HENRY // spoiler-free book review: this author never ceases to bring me to tears aka a heart-achingly perfect adult contemporary that blew me away
Emily Henry is paying for my therapy bills and she just has to deal with it because I AM IN PAIN!!!! I mean, of course, I adored this book and it is a shame onto humanity that you had to wait this long for a review from me. I won’t even allow an excuse, yelling in my comments is required. This book was absolutely everything and I am obsessed and in love and I want to cry all at once and ITS A LOT SEND HELP!!!!!! Let’s get into the crying!!!! Title: Book LoversAuthor: Emily HenryPage count: 377Date published: 12 May 2022Genre: Adult contemporary romance ♥ Synopsis: One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn’t see coming… Nora is a cut-throat literary agent at the top of her game. Her whole life is books. Charlie is an editor with a gift for creating bestsellers. And he’s Nora’s work nemesis. Nora has been through enough break-ups to know she’s the woman men date before they find their happy-ever-after. That’s why Nora’s sister has persuaded her to swap her desk in the city for a month’s holiday in Sunshine Falls, North Carolina. It’s a small town straight out of a romance…