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FEBRUARY RECAP // the month of love aka teensy bit of reading, some new books & getting a job in publishing!!!
Look at me! I’M ON TIME FOLKS OMG THIS IS CRAZY. Be in shock with me. Imma not beat around the bush anymore and just dive right in!!! — How To End A Love Story by Yulin Kuang {★★★★½}: I think you’ll be seeing a post closer to release date from me so I’ll keep it short. This book is freaking hella sad and a lot but very romantic and I have no words. Emily Henry loves and we need nothing else. Huge thanks to Hodder & Stoughton UK for the eARC via Netgalley! Click right over here for the GR review <3<3<3 I Hope This Doesn’t Find You by Ann Liang {★★★½☆}: I was lucky enough to join the blog tour for this one so I’ll send you over there for the full review. But if you’re looking for a stellar YA academic rivals to lovers contemporary romance, then she’s got you. Tysm to the author, Scholastic Press and Colored Pages Tours for the eARC via Edelweiss!!! The Someday Daughter by Ellen O’Clover {★★★★★}: You’ll also be seeing a full review from me on this one because I need to GUSH. Ellen is an absolute force to be reckoned…
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JUST LIKE MAGIC BY SARAH HOGLE // spoiler-free book review: all you need for Christmas is this whacky, heartwarming & festive romance ft. a longing for the living holiday spirit!!!
Took me long enough to get to this one but I have gotten off my lazy ass and gosh am I in love. Let’s just get into the holiday yelling because there is a lot of it!!!!! Title: Just Like MagicAuthor: Sarah HoglePage count: 360Date published: 4 October 2022Genre: Adult magical realism romance 🎄 Synopsis: Bettie Hughes once knew the comfort of luxury . . . before she lost all her money. Long obsessed with her public image, Bettie boasts an extravagant lifestyle on social media but in reality, she’s broke and her family has no idea. Christmas, with all its pressure to meet familial expectations, is looming when Bettie plays a vinyl record of ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ backwards and accidentally conjures up Hall, the Holiday Spirit, in the form of a charming and handsome man. Once the shock wears off, Bettie knows she’s stumbled upon the greatest gift: a chance to make all her holiday wishes come true, plus a ready-made fiancé. But as some of Bettie’s wishes lose their charm, she finds herself thrown off-kilter by Hall’s sweet nature. Suddenly, grumpy Bettie finds her heart merry and light. But the happier she gets, the…
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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…
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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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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…
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MID YEAR BOOK FREAK OUT TAG // 2023 edition: i’ve read almost 30 books so far ft. stunning 5 star reads, new favourite authors & exciting new releases
Time for my overused Christmas in July joke once again? We all laughed right? Glad I can amuse you. Anyways, I always love doing this tag but I’m realising it’s been a minute since I did a tag. And there are more questions than I remember so hopefully you get this at a reasonable time and not in like November. I deserve a commandment if this post is early honestly. An entire ceremony if you ask me, Alright, I’ll shut up now and get into the questions!!! BEST BOOK YOU’VE READ THIS YEAR SO FAR ✯ Honourable mention: Foul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong ✯ Happy Place by Emily Henry The internet had me scared for a second there with all them bad reviews but turns out I should trust my gut. And also my mother Emily Henry. Because she never disappoints and I loved this one. As expected. God, I loved it so much. And hated it. Conflicting but in a good way. Emily Henry is writing my obituary at this point honestly. Not to be morbid or anything, but I do need her to do that. Anyways, yes this book destroyed me and brought me back to life.…
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TWICE SHY BY SARAH HOGLE // spoiler-free book review: a cinnamon roll of a contemporary romance that you absolutely need to warm your cold hearts <3
Read this literally a year ago and I have only just managed to get my hands on a physical copy and I need to yell at you all about this delightful book. Ugh, it’s so good and underrated and let’s just get into it!!!! Title: Twice ShyAuthor: Sarah HoglePage count: 302Date published: 6 April 2021Genre: Adult contemporary romance 🌳 Synopsis: Can you find real love when you’ve always got your head in the clouds? Maybell Parish has always been a dreamer and a hopeless romantic. But living in her own world has long been preferable to dealing with the disappointments of real life. So when Maybell inherits a charming house in the Smokies from her Great-Aunt Violet, she seizes the opportunity to make a fresh start. Yet when she arrives, it seems her troubles have only just begun. Not only is the house falling apart around her, but she isn’t the only inheritor: she has to share everything with Wesley Koehler, the groundskeeper who’s as grouchy as he is gorgeous—and it turns out he has very different vision for the property’s future. Convincing the taciturn Wesley to stop avoiding her and compromise is a task more formidable than the other…
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POPULAR BOOKTOK BOOKS I RECOMMEND // 10 viral tiktok books i actually like that you could read if you want
I don’t know what I’m doing today but I am unhinged and we’re just rolling with it. Spur of the moment decisions over at Ruby Rae Reads today *hides* I could be here talking about the worst BookTok books because I know there are many but I don’t want to put myself through that amount of pain. Very rarely will you catch me pushing through god-awful books and oof I know which ones those are. Avoiding them like the plague in this household. Anyways, I shan’t waste time on the opinions I have concerning this platform because frankly, I don’t know what I would say. It has been both very amusing watching books grow on TikTok whilst also being really cool for the book industry. So there are my two cents, maybe I’ll come back for a discussion? This post is just going to discuss books I rated basically higher than 3 stars. Some are not amazing and a few by authors I wouldn’t support anymore, but I wanted to talk about. Let’s just get into the books. There are more than I anticipated so I’ll be as brief as possible! CONTEMPORARY — It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover:…
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A LADY FOR A DUKE BY ALEXIS HALL // spoiler-free book review: this regency romance will solve all of your problems and maybe melt your heart along the way
Let’s see if I can get through this review without crying. Because I probably will. This book is my new everything and I shall now commence with the shoving and the faces and down the throats. You’ve bene forewarned. Onwards we go!!!! Title: A Lady For A DukeAuthor: Alexis HallPage count: 460Date published: 24 May 2022Genre: Adult historical romance ✉ Synopsis: When Viola Carroll was presumed dead at Waterloo she took the opportunity to live, at last, as herself. But freedom does not come without a price, and Viola paid for hers with the loss of her wealth, her title, and her closest companion, Justin de Vere, the Duke of Gracewood. Only when their families reconnect, years after the war, does Viola learn how deep that loss truly was. Shattered without her, Gracewood has retreated so far into grief that Viola barely recognises her old friend in the lonely, brooding man he has become. As Viola strives to bring Gracewood back to himself, fresh desires give new names to old feelings. Feelings that would have been impossible once and may be impossible still, but which Viola cannot deny. Even if they cost her everything, all over again. ✉ ✉…
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JULY RECAP // tons of reading, vacation bliss, st4 broke me & back to uni ft. some new fave books
I read a lot of books. Like a lot. And it feels so good. Are you proud of me? I’m also fairly on time with this. Double proud. God, I’m conceited and I’m talking too much about myself. This is my blog, but not the Ruby show. I need to get it together. Anyways, let’s just get into this recap!!! — — See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon {★★★★★}: I was actually really nervous going into this as I’d seen some average reviews, but I’m absolutely here for college contemporaries and time-loop tales. It’s a great time. This book was just pure escapism and I loved every second. I loved the writing, the setting, the discussions on mental health, and the relationship between Miles and Barrow. It was all squeal-worthy and wonderful and I loved it to shreds. If you can’t already tell, you definitely need to hop on this stellar new adult time loop contemporary romance that will make you feel all the feels over and over and over and over again. This one shines with witty dialogue, swoon-worthy romance and tender-hearted characters. I HIGHLY recommend!!!! All the thoughts here *insert heart eyes* – Addicted To You by…
