Review: The Faking Game by Olivia Hayle

The Faking Game by Olivia Hayle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via the author, all opinions are my own.

This follows Nora, an aspiring fashion designer and former model. She has moved to New York for a fresh start for several reasons, but the main one is to hopefully get away from the stalker who has been bothering her for months in Europe. Her brother's best friend has been tasked with keeping tabs on her and overseeing her security detail, and it is a job he takes very seriously. West watches Nora's every move, and is a bit overbearing, but he doesn't want to let down his best friends. He also has undue stress from running the family business and trying to gain access to his trust. Fake dating Nora solves a problem for both of them, he can be by her side at all times and his mother will leave him alone about getting married. In getting to know his charge he realizes that she has a hard time telling people no and hates letting people down. She also needs experience dating, so the fake dating is mutually beneficial especially since she has always had a crush on West.

I really liked Nora and West together. They had good banter and some really sweet moments together. As their relationship develops they had some really spicy moments together as well despite the whole "fake" relationship thing. I appreciated the way that West encouraged Nora to ask for what she wanted and stick up for herself instead of always giving in to make everyone else happy and avoid conflict. The stalker plot was a little weak in my opinion, but it appears that is part of the evolving plotline for Nora's brother Rafe's book. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series as the other billionaires are very intriguing.

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Review: Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts

Hidden Nature by Nora Roberts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided both an ALC and ARC via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this romantic suspense.  This follows Sloan, a Natural Resource Police Officer, who was injured in the line of duty.  She moves back home for her slow and steady recovery with family surrounding her.  She also takes a new job in her hometown, but when a string of missing people pops up she can't help herself from investigating on her own terms.  Something just doesn't feel right about the cases and she is determined to figure out what is going on.  In the mean time, a new neighbor comes to town to flip a old house and start a handyman business with his brother.  Nash turns out to be great at building and fixing things, he is also a good listener when Sloan needs someone to bounce ideas off of.

I really enjoyed the alternating chapters between Sloan and the villains.  We really got to get into the heads of the bad guys and understand their motivations, as out there as they were.  While you don't have to agree with their mission, you can certainly see that they believed wholeheartedly in what they were doing misguided as it was.  This was almost like reading an episode of Criminal Minds, but you really got know Sloan and her family and you got to see the relationship with Nash really develop.  I also really enjoyed the setting, I've been to some of the places this is set in and I've driven past others in my travels.  Nora Roberts always does a great job describing the outdoor settings and building the character dynamics.

The audiobook is narrated by January LaVoy, who is always a pleasure to listen to.  She always does a fantastic job with every audiobook she narrates.

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Review: Cursed Objects: Strange but True Stories of the World's Most Infamous Items

Cursed Objects: Strange but True Stories of the World's Most Infamous Items by J.W. Ocker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Interesting info on strange objects and the meanings people place on them. The author did a good job explaining the history and provenance of the objects without getting too detailed and repetitive while also weaving in some humor and common sense were applicable. This is a really short read that I've had on my TBR for quite a while. I love learning about old weird stuff and this was a quick, informative listen that covers quite a bit of ground.

I received this audiobook as a free promotion from Audiobooks.com, all opinions are my own.

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Review: Lessons in Heartbreak by Karla Sorensen

Lessons in Heartbreak by Karla Sorensen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via the author, all opinions are my own.

I absolutely loved this!  Ruby and Griffin were the perfect pairing!  She is a shy, small-town librarian who lives up to the stereotype with everything in her life being modest, regimented, quiet, and put together.   She feels like she is missing out on life and would like to be more spontaneous, but letting things out of her control gives her anxiety.  Griffin on the other hand is her exact opposite, he has a reputation for being the life of the party.  His agent has "grounded him" for his latest antics and sent him to spend a few weeks in Ruby's small town away from the media.  Ruby and Griffin were neighbors growing up, but she moved away.  Their reunion might be the perfect opportunity for her to practice putting herself out there and practicing talking to the opposite sex with someone she knows.  

There is real chemistry between our two main characters, however neither of them want anything serious to start.  They both have their reasons, which we learn as they get to know one another and get more comfortable around each other.  I loved that they were vulnerable with each other and that they were so patient with each other.  This had some great humous moments and great emotional scenes.  I also loved the side characters.  I don't want say much more because I feel it would spoil the book.  Getting to experience Ruby and Griffin's interactions first hand and unraveling their relationship one bit at a time was such a great experience.  

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Review: A Quantum Love Story by Mike Chen

A Quantum Love Story by Mike Chen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, however in an effort to clear it from my TBR I ended up listening to the audiobook from my library.  As always all opinions are my own.

This was a cute sci-fi romance.  This follows Marina and Carter as they get stuck in a 4 day time loop, and try to figure out how undo their predicament.  Carter is a maintenance tech at a particle accelerator, and Marina is a neuroscientist taking part in a memory project at the same facility.  Every Monday they have to relive the same events, but as their groundhog days repeat they begin to break out of their shells and being sharing their lives with one another as they try to solve their time loop problem.  Carter has an eidetic memory, but one day all of that changes and he begins forgetting key parts of their time together just as they are about to make a breakthrough into the time loop solution.  Marina may not have a photographic memory, but she is pretty smart and she is willing to do whatever it takes to save the people she loves.

I really enjoyed getting to know Carter and Marina.  This was really cute and alot of fun.  While there is some great science going on when it comes to time loops, the multiverse, and time travel, I didn't feel it was too overwhelming.  Even Marina would poke fun when the science was getting to complex because that wasn't here area.  This had great emotional scenes and good humor to balance out the science content.  I also appreciated that Carter was a foodie and didn't take himself too seriously, which was a nice compliment to Marina's more serious, academic personality.  They balanced each out out nicely.  The romance is very light and not a major plotline in the book, so if you were looking for a full on romance you are going to be disappointed, especially given the title of the book.  This is more of a sci-fi story with a sprinkle of romance.  The book is very clean though, the couple only kisses twice.  So if you are looking for something on the clean side with very little romance this is a good one to pick up.  

I do feel a bit underwhelmed by the open ending, otherwise I really enjoyed the book.  I prefer more closed endings with things spelled out but that is a personal preference.

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Review: The Best Medicine by Krysta Dearson

The Best Medicine by Krysta Dearson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided an ARC of this book via the author and Smartypants Romance, all opinions are my own.

I'm going to be honest it took me a while to warm up to Polly, but by the end I was 100% on team Polly  Her upbringing by a controlling single father who expected perfection at all times played a huge part in that.  Polly was expected present the right image and to earn the affection of her father she had to be perfect at all times.  She is deemed a failure because her marriage didn't work out, despite being a pediatrician with two kids.  It took her almost the entire book to come out of her shell and start advocating for herself.  With some help from her handsome and kind nanny Jace, her best friend Leah, and her book club, she learns to ask for help when she needs it, have fun with her kids, and speak up and fight for what she believes in and those she loves.  Jace on the other hand is a bit of a drifter.  He works odd jobs, helps his parents, and volunteers with the drama program, but he doesn't have a traditional career like his siblings.  He is exactly what Polly needs.

Through a series of unfortunate events and a comedy of errors, Polly hires Jace to be her live in nanny.  He is amazing with her kids, and nice to look at too.  Polly doesn't expect to be attracted to her much younger nanny, and while she is happy to keep company with her spicy romance novels and audiobooks, the more time she spends with Jace the harder it is to ignore the chemistry between them.  The more he is around the easier it is for her to relax and have fun again especially when she sees the kind gestures he makes to help her kids thrive and help with some of her daily burdens around the house.  Jace and Polly not only had great chemistry they developed a really great friendship as well, which was nice to see.  They both had great character development both together and individually.

This is a little on the long side in my opinion, however it does tackle some great topics like mental health, school accommodations for students with disabilities and mental health needs, relationships both romantic and familial, and more.  Overall this is a solid debut and I look forward to reading more from the author in the future.  

This is the 5th book in The Teacher's Lounge series, however it reads as a complete standalone.  It does feature characters from the other books in the series, but it is not necessary to read those before reading this.  Polly and Jace's story stands on it's own as do all of the bools in the Pennyverse.

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Review: The Man Made of Smoke: A Novel by Alex North

The Man Made of Smoke: A Novel by Alex North
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided both an ARC and ALC of this book via Netgalley and Celadon books and Macmillan Audio respectively.  As always all opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this thriller.  This follows a few different characters all with ties to a serial killer.  Dan's life was touched by the killer when he was a young boy, and while he wasn't a victim a brief run in with the man and one of his victims has left deep scars.  Now as as an adult, Dan has devoted his career as a prison therapist to uncovering the motivations of criminals and why they do the things they do.  Dan's father John is a retired police officer, who has stumbled upon what appears to be a copy cat of the Pied Piper's crimes from all those years ago.  While he didn't interact with the man then, he is determined to find out how the crimes of today are connected and why they seem so familiar to that old case.  When he disappears in what looks like a suicide, Dan returns to his hometown to deal with the aftermath.  He uncovers clues his father left for him and begins retracing his father's steps in the investigation he was working on.  This forces Dan to revisit feelings from his childhood from that fateful day and evaluate his relationship with his father.

I really enjoyed this.  The multiple POVs and timelines really worked well to tell the story as this thriller unravels.  The author keeps you guessing with complex relationships and an atmospheric read.  The pacing starts out slow and ramps up as the book progresses, I found it hard to put down.  From Dan's point of view we retrace his dad's investigation and disappearance.  From John's point of view we investigate current day crimes but in each case we learn different information.  We learn more and more about the motivations of the killer as the story progresses, but not much is given away until the time is right.  

Overall I really enjoyed this thriller and feel like I want to read it again to see what I missed the first time through.  I mainly listened to the audiobook, and listened to it in about 24 hours.  I had to find out what happened and couldn't stop listening

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