April Recap

Hey, everyone!

I can't believe we're in May already! It's time to recap what I read in April, check in on the challenges, and share my favorites. :)

April Reads

Forever Pucked (Pucked, #4) by Helena Hunting - 5 stars

Blood Games (Chicagoland Vampires, #10) by Chloe Neill - 4.5 stars

44 Chapters About 4 Men by B.B. Easton - 4.5 stars

Dark Debt (Chicagoland Vampires, #11) by Chloe Neill  - 5 stars

One With You (Crossfire, #5) by Sylvia Day - 3.5 stars

A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1) by Sarah J. Maas - 4 stars

Midnight Marked (Chicagoland Vampires, #12) by Chloe Neill - 5 stars

Appealed (The Legal Briefs, #3) by Emma Chase - 4.5 stars

Stuck-Up Suit by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward - 3 stars

Lead (Stage Dive, #3) by Kylie Scott - 2.5-3 stars

Dirty (Dive Bar, #1) by Kylie Scott - 4 stars

Sidebarred (The Legal Briefs, #3.5) by Emma Chase - 5 stars

Monster in His Eyes (Monster In His Eyes, #1) - 4.5 stars

Total - 13

2016 total so far - 58

Challenge Updates

55/130 - 42% complete

I did drop my goal down by 20 books, since I don't think I'll be reading too much this fall/winter while in Europe.

Blood Games

Dark Debt

One With You

A Court of Thorns and Roses

Midnight Marked

Lead

Monster in His Eyes

Total - 7

Total so far - 29

44 Chapters About 4 Men

A Court of Thorns and Roses

Appealed

Lead

Dirty

Monster in His Eyes

441,445 steps/ 198.8 miles / 75.4 hours 

Favorites

Ack, so good! I can't wait for the next one!

Amazing! It was everything I wanted and more. The third book on my Best of 2016 List, and it's the second from Emma Chase!

I was really surprised at how much I liked this one! I found the hero fascinated, and it forced me to look at the heroine with a new perspective. Very engaging!

Biggest Disappointment

I really didn't enjoy this one at all. 

Made Me Laugh My Ass Off

Total guilty pleasure, but I laughed so hard I cried. 

So enjoyable and relatable! I loved the "did she really just say that?!" humor. I want this chick to be my BFF.

Favorite Protagonists

Merit is a favorite of mine!

Jake is so freaking amazing!

Most Intriguing 

This one left me thinking!

Book Boyfriend of The Month

Jake, for the second month running!
I love him. I want him. Seriously, he's officially in my all time favorites book boyfriends. 

The Sunday Post/It's Monday, What Are You Reading

Hey, ladies!

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. It's Monday, What Are You Reading is a fun weekly meme hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date where we share what we've read and reviewed over the past week and what we plan to read next. 


How is it already May?!

A stressful and tiring week that I am glad to be done with. There's few things quite as nice as having relatives you don't like leave town. ;) 
On the plus side, my dog did great with her tooth removal, and is feeling great. I think the broken tooth hurt her worse than the post-surgury pain, poor thing!

It's almost officially too hot to be outside, except for the late evenings and at night. Low 90s already! Don't even get me started on those bugs....

Still really enjoying the weekend Outlander fun, though I do miss the ability to just binge watch!

Steps this week:

Sunday - 15,917

Monday - 15,267

Tuesday - 11,290

Wednesday - 15,038

Thursday - 15,988
Friday - 14,421
Saturday - 12,832
Total - 100,832

This Week's Recap

{Mini Review} Stuck Up Suit by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Bookish Delights

Waiting on Wednesday

TBR Thursday

Cover Lust, No. 22

Coming Up*

April Recap

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Characters' Coming of Age Stories I'd Like to Read

Waiting on Wednesday

TBR Thursday

{Book Review} Monster in His Eyes by J.M. Darhower 

*as always, subject to change!

Read This Week

3-ish stars!
Not sure how I feel about this one. I still like book one best!
Audiobook 

4 stars!
A really sweet and funny romance novel. Can't wait for the next!

5 stars!
Oh my god, I loved this. Loved it. I laughed, I bawled, and I had so. many. feels. Read it in one sitting.
Emma Chase has officially earned her spot on my favorite authors list.

4.5 stars!
Very engaging and enjoyable read. Kept me on the edge of my seat, and the narrator is great. Can't wait to read the next!
Audiobok 

Currently Reading

This is really funny!

Slooooowwwwllyyy making my way through this, just reading a few pages every night. I'm going with the physical book, since the narrator was atrocious. 

What Will I Read Next?

Cover Lust, No. 22

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up. She graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, and maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant and has a total soft spot for Lily; and the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head, but Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his no dating rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan, her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

With this bold and deeply personal novel Colleen Hoover delivers a heart-wrenching story that breaks exciting new ground for her as a writer. Combining a captivating romance with a cast of all too human characters, “It Ends with Us” is an unforgettable tale of love that comes at the ultimate price. 

I will read anything Colleen Hoover puts out, but I am seriously excited for this one. Plus, that cover! The crushed flowers look almost textured, and I love the colors. 

Releases August 2nd

TBR Thursday

Kimberly @ Kimberlyfaye Reads started a new weekly feature that I'm excited to join in! This feature is to showcase what's on your to be read shelf (or eReader, or Audible library) and see what others think of it. Have you read it? Should I read it or put it back on the shelf? It's a way to dust off the books on your self and decide if they're worth reading!

He knows how to score, on and off the ice 

Allie Hayes is in crisis mode. With graduation looming, she still doesn’t have the first clue about what she's going to do after college. To make matters worse, she’s nursing a broken heart thanks to the end of her longtime relationship. Wild rebound sex is definitely not the solution to her problems, but gorgeous hockey star Dean Di-Laurentis is impossible to resist. Just once, though, because even if her future is uncertain, it sure as heck won’t include the king of one-night stands. 

It’ll take more than flashy moves to win her over 

Dean always gets what he wants. Girls, grades, girls, recognition, girls…he’s a ladies man, all right, and he’s yet to meet a woman who’s immune to his charms. Until Allie. For one night, the feisty blonde rocked his entire world—and now she wants to be friends? Nope. It’s not over until he says it’s over. Dean is in full-on pursuit, but when life-rocking changes strike, he starts to wonder if maybe it’s time to stop focusing on scoring…and shoot for love.

I've read the first one of in this series (this is book 3, and each can be read as standalones) and don't remember too much about it, but I'm in the mood for a lighter, sporty romance. Have you read this, or any of the others in the series?

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking The Spine and is a fun way to see what books other bloggers just can't wait to get their hands on!

The Flame Never Dies (The Stars Never Rise, #2) by Rachel Vincent - August 16th

For fans of Cassandra Clare and Richelle Mead comes the unputdownable sequel to The Stars Never Rise, a book Rachel Caine, author of the bestselling Morganville Vampires series, called “haunting, unsettling, and eerily beautiful.” 

ONE SPARK WILL RISE. Nina Kane was born to be an exorcist. And since uncovering the horrifying truth—that the war against demons is far from over—seventeen-year-old Nina and her pregnant younger sister, Mellie, have been on the run, incinerating the remains of the demon horde as they go.

In the badlands, Nina, Mellie, and Finn, the fugitive and rogue exorcist who saved her life, find allies in a group of freedom fighters. They also face a new threat: Pandemonia, a city full of demons. But this fresh new hell is the least of Nina’s worries. The well of souls ran dry more than a century ago, drained by the demons secretly living among humans, and without a donor soul, Mellie’s child will die within hours of its birth.

Nina isn’t about to let that happen . . . even if it means she has to make the ultimate sacrifice. 

The first book was so interesting and different (especially for YA, which I generally don't like!), and I can't wait to get my hands on this one!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Bookish Delights

Hey, everyone!

It's Top Ten Tuesday by The Broke and The Bookish! This week's topic is bookish delights; whether it be the smell of books or the perfect reading weather, this week is all about those little things that make reading that much better.

In no order....

10. The smell of books

Starting it off cliche!

9. Rainbow bookshelf

Not mine. Sadly. 

Even though my shelves don't allow for a good rainbow organizing system (they wrap around the walls, so you can't see it fully), this is such a gorgeous way to display. 

8. Finding a great book, and then discovering it's a series!

There are so many series that have given me such a rush when I find out there's more to be had. Night Huntress by Jeanine Frost, Experiment in Terror by Karina Halle, Addicted by Krista and Becca Ritchie....just to name a few!

7. Discovering a series when most or all of the books are already out

Not gonna lie, I love binge reading series like this. It's so awesome to not have to wait so long for another book. For example: Kate Daniels, Charley Davidson, Mercy Thompson, Chicagoland Vampires...

6. Buying your favorites in physical form

For the past few months now I've been reading almost exclusively on my Kindle of via audiobook. However, that doesn't dim the excitement whenever I order the paperback version of a favorite!

5. Books with food

I could happily eat 24/7, and with my metabolism (thank you, maternal side, for letting me eat everything and not gain anything), I almost have to. I love when I can find a foodie book!

4. Books with dogs

She makes weird faces. 

I am a huge dog lover, and it makes me so happy when the heroine or hero has a pup. Especially a hero...so hot.

3. Books with great covers

Yeah yeah, don't a book by its cover and all that. Come on though, we all love a nice cover. 

So pretty!

2. Great narrators

A fantastic narrator is my favorite way to read a book. It adds so much to the story!

1. Happy endings

I am such a sucker for a happy ending. I need it!

What about you? What are your bookish delights?

- Amanda

{Mini Review} Stuck Up Suit by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward

From the New York Times Bestselling authors of Cocky Bastard, comes a sexy new standalone novel. 

It started out like any other morning on the train.

Until I became mesmerized by the guy sitting across the aisle.

He was barking at someone on his phone like he ruled the world.

Who did the stuck-up suit think he was…God?

Actually, he looked like a God. That was about it.

When his stop came, he got up suddenly and left. So suddenly, he dropped his phone on the way out.

I might have picked it up.

I might have gone through all of his photos and called some of the numbers.

I might have held onto the mystery man’s phone for days—until I finally conjured up the courage to return it.

When I traipsed my ass across town to his fancy company, he refused to see me.

So, I left the phone on the empty desk outside the arrogant jerk’s office.

I might have also left behind a dirty picture on it first though. 

I didn’t expect him to text back.

I didn’t expect our exchanges to be hot as hell.

I didn’t expect to fall for him—all before we even met.

The two of us couldn’t have been any more different. 

Yet, you know what they say about opposites.

When we finally came face to face, we found out opposites sometimes do more than attract—we consumed each other.

Nothing could have prepared me for the ride he took me on.  And I certainly wasn’t prepared for where I’d wind up when the ride was over.

All good things must come to an end, right?

Except our ending was one I didn't see coming.

3 "The First 30% Was Great" Stars

 With the intriguing plot and some early reviews, I was eager to get my hands on this one. I really enjoyed the first 30% or so, and then it started to go down hill for me.

As a matter of fact, this seems to be the thing when I read this author duo: it starts pretty strong, and then by the end, I'm rolling my eyes. 

The hero and heroine are polar opposites: he's a stiff, asshole-ish businessman and she's a quirky editor for an advice column. What starts with a lost phone and a flurry of texts soon turns into a sizzling romance, with plenty of drama and some good humor.

My life was far from Sex and the City. It was more like Sex and the Pity. Or Sex and the Shitty. 

There was suppose to be a big twist, but it was quite obvious to me right off the bat. The drama progressed to nearly ridiculous heights after that, venturing into soap opera-esque drama. It really turned me off and left me quite exasperated with everyone involved.

However, I still devoured it. It was hilarious in places, and kept me entertained. It was a bit of a train wreck, yet I couldn't look away. ;P