February Book Review

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Hey loves. Wow looking back I read a lot in February. I was catching up for a somewhat slow month in January. I am loving listening to audiobooks while getting things done around the house, bonus it means I don't have to listen to Paw Patrol 24/7 either. (yes the tv is always on in our house, but usually it is background noise and my kids are playing) Listening to audiobooks have also helped my stress during the witching hours after school, homework, dinner time, and bedtime. Do you listen to audiobooks?

Total physical/kindle books: 9

Total audible: 9

Total for the month: 18

Total books for 2022: 28

Goal: 100 books 20 audiobooks



 



Title: Love Unending

Author: Becky Thompson

Genre: self help

How I Read It: physical book

My Rating: 5 out of 5

Amazon Description:

My Review: I read this every Febraury, why February the month of love. The winters are rough, being at home with three kids is rough, work is ehh, and added reminder of to add that spark back into our relationship. 



Title: Get over Your Damn Self

Author: Romi Neustadt

Genre: personal development

How I Read It:  physical book

My Rating: 2 out of 5

Amazon Description: Romi Neustadt is passionate about helping others build lucrative direct sales and network marketing businesses that help create lives with more freedom and flexibility, greater purpose and a lot more fun. In this book she offers you the same direct, no-BS coaching she's given to tens of thousands to help you acquire the skills to build this sucker and teach your team to do the same. And, equally important, she'll work on your mindset so you stop over complicating it all and stop letting the negative voices in your head win.You're going to learn:* The Posture to confidently connect with anyone about your business and your products.* The Possibilities for a lucrative, efficient and enormously rewarding turn key business.* The Power that's already within you to build the life you really want...if you dare.

My Review: Maybe when the book was written back in 2016 her advice and techniques of doing network marketing worked and didn't seem as slimy. Within todays standards and what is acceptable, this is not it. 



Title: Mistakes Were Made

Author: Meryl Wilsner

Genre: lbgt romance

How I Read It: physical copy borrowed from the library 

My Rating: 3 out of 5

Amazon Description: "Listeners will have a devilishly grand time with this rambunctiously robust performance by stellar narrators Quinn Riley and Stephanie Németh-Parker." - AudioFile Magazine (Earphones Award Winner)

From the critically acclaimed author of Something to Talk About comes Meryl Wilsner's Mistakes Were Made, a sharp and sexy rom-com about a college senior who accidentally hooks up with her best friend’s mom.

When Cassie Klein goes to an off-campus bar to escape her school’s Family Weekend, she isn’t looking for a hookup—it just happens. Buying a drink for a stranger turns into what should be an uncomplicated, amazing one-night stand. But then the next morning rolls around and her friend drags her along to meet her mom—the hot, older woman Cassie slept with.

Erin Bennett came to Family Weekend to get closer to her daughter, not have a one-night stand with a college senior. In her defense, she hadn’t known Cassie was a student when they'd met. To make things worse, Erin’s daughter brings Cassie to breakfast the next morning. And despite Erin's better judgement—how could sleeping with your daughter’s friend be anything but bad?—she and Cassie get along in the day just as well as they did last night.

What should have been a one-time fling quickly proves impossible to ignore, and soon Cassie and Erin are sneaking around. Worst of all, they start to realize they have something real. But is being honest about the love between them worth the cost?

My Review: Loved the concept of the book, dating your best friends mom. The book just didn't catch me. It felt to drawn out. I couldn't see this relationship happening in real life. I expected a lot more from reading reviews before I got the book. 



Title: Wait With Me

Author: Amy Daws

Genre: romance

How I Read It: audiobook for book club

My Rating: 5 out of 5

Amazon Description: When romance novelist Kate Smith suddenly gets writer's block as she's beginning the final installment of her international bestselling steamy Bed 'n Breakfast series, she'll do pretty much anything to get her groove back.


Like sneak into a Tire Depot waiting room because her words flow there just like complimentary coffee-smooth, sweet, and scorchingly hot.

She manages to fly under the radar until the rugged and charming mechanic, Miles Hudson, notices the quirky redhead slinking in and out of the employees only entrance.

But she's way too intriguing to blow the whistle on. 
Doing a test-drive of her new book idea sounds like a much better option.

My Review: Enjoyed the story line and the characters. The characters grew as a person and together. There was romance and smut all wrapped up. 


Title: One to Hold

Author: Tia Louise

Genre: romance

How I Read It: audiobook

My Rating: 4 out of 5

Amazon Description: Derek Alexander is a retired Marine, ex-cop, and the top investigator in his field. Melissa Jones is a small-town girl trying to escape her troubled past.

When the two intersect in a bar in Arizona, their sexual chemistry is off the charts. But what is revealed during their "one-week stand" only complicates matters.

Because she'll do everything in her power to get away from the past, but he'll do everything he can to hold her.

(A steamy, fling-to-forever military romance with a touch of suspense. No cheating. No cliffhanger.)

My Review: Hot and steamy romance with a one week agreement. The characters were well developed and the story line could be real life. There are secrets and twists you didn't see coming and didn't know you needed in a romance. 



Title: Never Date Your Brother's Best Friend

Author: Jules Barnard

Genre: romance

How I Read It:  audiobook

My Rating: 3 out of 5

Amazon Description: My plan was perfect. My friend needed a date, and my brother's best friend was single. Problem solved.


Until I saw Jaeger for the first time in years, and sparks flew in the wrong direction.

Jaeger has grown up and bulked up. But that shouldn't matter, because I have the perfect life. Really.

Only my plans are beginning to unravel and now visions of Jaeger's hard abs, broad shoulders, and intense green eyes fill my head.

I should hold back in case my friend is interested. Or in case of a million other reasons. 
But if Jaeger isn't willing to play by the rules, I don't think I can either.

My Review: I wanted to love this story move. The story started off great then had a switch in story line that didn't 100% make sense and changed the mood of the whole book. 



Title: Just The Nicest Couple

Author: Mary Kubica

Genre: thriller

How I Read It: physical copy borrow from the library

My Rating: 5 out of 5

Amazon Description: “Grabs you on the first page and doesn’t let go until you reach the end.” —Laura Dave, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me


A husband’s disappearance links two couples in this twisty thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Local Woman Missing, Mary Kubica 

Jake Hayes is missing. This much is certain. At first, his wife, Nina, thinks he is blowing off steam at a friend’s house after their heated fight the night before. But then a day goes by. Two days. Five. And Jake is still nowhere to be found.

Lily Scott, Nina’s friend and coworker, thinks she may have been the last to see Jake before he went missing. After Lily confesses everything to her husband, Christian, the two decide that 
nobody can find out what happened leading up to Jake’s disappearance, especially not Nina. But Nina is out there looking for her husband, and she won’t stop until the truth is discovered.

My Review: Another great thriller book written by Mary Kubica. The who done it, twists and turns just keeps you hooked. What would you do if your husband would have gone missing? I feel like I would have done more that my only negative. I never guessed who the killer was. 



Title: Forever Never

Author: Lucy Score

Genre: romantic suspense

How I Read It: kindle unlimited

My Rating: 4 out of 5

Amazon Description: 

You don’t fall for your brother’s high school sweetheart, your boss’s daughter, or your ex-wife’s best friend. Especially when they’re all the same woman.


Under Brick Callan’s mile-wide chest beats a loyal heart with a few cracks in it. He’s the steadfast, overprotective type. Especially when it comes to the one woman he can never have. It’s a long, complicated history punctuated by fights, friendship, family, and an attraction that strains his iron willpower.

When Remi Ford returns to Mackinac Island in the dead of winter with a secret, Brick makes it his mission to find out what put the shadows in those green eyes. Even if it means breaking down the walls he’s built between them. Even if it means falling for the one girl he’ll never get over.

The free-spirited artist just needs to lay low for a few weeks so she can figure a way out of this nightmare. She’s definitely not staying. Not when the man who broke her teenage heart into splinters keeps showing up at her parents’ dinner table. Remi doesn’t need broody, bearded Brick riding to her rescue…again. Not when it will put them both in danger, costing them much more than their hearts.

My Review: I had this book on my TBR for a while. I got the hype of the book on social media. The book is long and drawn out. I think that the author could still have an awesome book if it was shorter. There was spice, there was chemistry, there was likeable characters. This book had it all. 



Title: Sweet Thing

Author: JA Huss

Genre: romance

How I Read It: audiobook

My Rating:  4 out of 5

Amazon Description: I knew how old she was.

I just didn’t care.

RYKER
Aria Amherst lied about her age the first night we met.
But when I kissed her… I knew exactly how old she was.
And once I kissed her… I needed more.
I wanted all of her. I wanted everything she wasn’t really offering.
Until I found out that her father was making a deal with my business partner.
Then I wanted her more.

ARIA
Ryker North blew into my life like a wall of hot, tattooed muscle.
And did I mention he’s a drummer?
And a businessman?
And thirty-five years old?
And my father is going to kill me when he finds out I’m dating his new client?
It’s… complicated.
But take my word on this. He’s worth every risk I’m taking.

My Review: A fast paced plot about forbidden love with an barely legal girl and an older man. It was a fun, easy listen.


Title: Before I Let Go

Author:  Kennedy Ryan

Genre: romance

How I Read It:  audiobook for book club

My Rating: 4 out of 5

Amazon Description: Their love was supposed to last forever. But when life delivered blow after devastating blow, Yasmen and Josiah Wade found that love alone couldn’t solve or save everything.


It couldn’t save their marriage.

Yasmen wasn’t prepared for how her life fell apart, but she’s is finally starting to find joy again. She and Josiah have found a new rhythm, co-parenting their two kids and running a thriving business together. Yet like magnets, they’re always drawn back to each other, and now they’re beginning to wonder if they’re truly ready to let go of everything they once had.

Soon, one stolen kiss leads to another…and then more. It's hot. It's illicit. It's all good—until old wounds reopen. Is it too late for them to find forever? Or could they even be better, the second time around?

My Review: Who doesn't love a second chance at love? I loved that the story line was about grown adults and not a younger romance. The characters were so descriptive and likeable. Such a powerful listen. 



Title: Skinny Taste One and Done

Author:  Gina Homolka 

Genre: cookbook

How I Read It: physical book from library

My Rating: 3 out of 5

Amazon Description: Skinnytaste One and Done is the perfect resource for busy home cooks looking for easy, good-for-you dinnertime solutions. #1 New York Times bestselling author Gina Homolka incorporates her healthy, flavor-forward recipes with everyone's favorite way to cook—in one vessel, whether a sheet pan or multi-cooker, and everything in-between. No matter if you'd like to lose weight or just eat a little healthier, this book will make your weeknight dinner routine even simpler with satisfying, all-in-one recipes. Cooking in a single vessel means streamlined dinners with minimal fuss and cleanup—a huge plus after a long day.    


The cookbook is organized by vessels that include everyday cooking equipment such as an Instant Pot®, a sheet pan, a Dutch oven, a skillet, a slow cooker, and an air fryer. As always, the recipes are big on flavor and light on calories, and now more convenient than ever. With 140 healthy, family-friendly recipes, 120 full-color photos, nutritional information for every recipe, and Gina's signature cooking tips, 
Skinnytaste One and Done will be a weeknight game changer. Even if you don't own all of the appliances, Gina gives alternative cooking directions using everyday cooking equipment where possible, so you won't miss out.      

My Review: Easy simple healthy recipes with ingredients that you have heard of. I have found a few new family favorites. 



Title: A Simplified Life

Author: Emily Ley

Genre: 

How I Read It: physical copy

My Rating: 5 out of 5

Amazon Description: Do you want to simplify the demands on your time, energy, and resources? Do you have complicated responsibilities, overwhelming to-do lists, and endless clutter leaving you feeling overwhelmed? What if you could clear the clutter once and for all? Bestselling author and entrepreneur Emily Ley can help you make space for what matters most.

In A Simplified Life, you'll find:

  • Emily's realistic strategies, achievable systems, and methods for permanently clearing the clutter, organizing your priorities, and living intentionally
  • 10 key focus areas--from your home and meal planning, to style and finances, parenting, faith life, and more
  • Tactical tools to help you with your family, increased work demands, and daily household routines
  • Gorgeous photography, a ribbon marker, and meaningful quote callouts

A Simplified Life is for:

  • Mothers wanting to create a more intentional lifestyle by reducing clutter
  • Anyone struggling with organizing schedules and keeping up with multiple to-do lists
  • Mother's Day, National Best Friend Day, birthdays, and holiday gifts

My Review: I am a huge Emily Ley fan. I bought this book years ago but it wasn't the right time for me to simplify. I read it again with the mindset I am ready to purge and simplify my life. She shares simple realistic tips. 



Title: Spare

Author: Prince Harry

Genre: Memoir

How I Read It: ebook borrowed from library

My Rating: 1 out of 5

Amazon Description: It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on.


For Harry, this is that story at last.

Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.

At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love. 

Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .

For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, 
Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.

My Review: This was a did not finish. I tried numerous times to get into this book. I love the royal family and have read other royal family books but this one was very dragging. 



Title: Pretty Thing

Author: JA Huss

Genre: erotica

How I Read It: audiobook

My Rating: 5 out of 5

Amazon Description: My best friend made damn sure I knew the rules. His sister was strictly off limits.

UNTIL NOW.

KALI
Growing up it was always the three of us. Me, my twin brother, Kyle, and our best friend, Aiden. We were inseparable all the way through high school.

Did I picture myself with Aiden from the first moment I laid eyes on him back when we were eight? 
Hell. Yes. I fell in love with his soul that day. But he was always more Kyle’s friend than mine. And Kyle made damn sure we both know the rules.

I was strictly off limits. Forever.

But now Kyle is gone. Dead from a freak accident. And Aiden is still here. Looking hot as hell in his grown-up body. Looking sexy AF with those tattoos all over his muscular chest. Sad and in need of comfort. Just like me.

AIDEN
Every time Kyle caught me lusting after his twin sister, Kali, he reminded me of the rule. “You were my friend first.”

If you want to get technical about it, I was Kali’s friend first, not Kyle’s. But that’s not how he saw it. One rule. That’s all we had between us. Just one. 
Stay away from my sister.

All these years I’ve honored that. I never broke his trust. Until now. Because he’s dead. He left us. And being with Kali is the only thing that makes the pain go away.

I want Kali. I want to marry her, and have kids with her, and keep her in my bed forever.

But I want Kyle’s blessing too. And that’s something I’ll never get.

My Review: Wow this book gave me all the emotions, there may have even been real tears. Its a story of loss and grief, loyalty, romance and forbidden love. 


Title: Movie Star

Author:  Jessica Simpson

Genre: memoir 

How I Read It: ebook

My Rating: 2 out of 5

Amazon Description: A short and true story about a world-famous actor and a fantasy Hollywood romance gone wrong by Jessica Simpson, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Open Book.

In 2006, after the end of her marriage to the first man she ever loved, Jessica Simpson wonders who she really is. Exploring what she truly wants in a relationship, Jessica begins dating again. This time her only vow is not to leap for the fairy tale. Don’t overthink. Just enjoy the moment. But when an A-list childhood crush invites her on a romantic getaway, it’s impossible for Jessica not to swoon.

In this introspective and funny confessional—one she never thought she’d share—Jessica confronts the limits of her experience and her sense of self as she’s nearly swept right off her feet.

My Review: I love Jessica Simpson but I don't see the point of this very short essay. It feels like she is calling someone out for spit without ever saying who it is. 



Title: Part of Your World

Author: Abby Jimnez

Genre: chic-lit

How I Read It: audiobook 

My Rating:  5 out of 5

Amazon Description: After a wild bet, gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich, and cuddle with a baby goat, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The cause: Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s ten years younger than her and as casual as they come—the complete opposite of sophisticated city-girl Alexis. And yet their chemistry is undeniable.


While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere” ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people.

Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet she can’t just give up the joy she’s found with him either. With so many differences between them, how can Alexis possibly choose between her world and his?

My Review: Realistic rom-com with two people who are complete opposites with so many things pulling them apart. I didn't want the book to end. 



Title: Sweet Talk

Author: Cara Bastone

Genre: romance

How I Read It: audiobook

My Rating: 4 out of 5

Amazon Description: It's officially booty o'clock, I'm alone again in my kitchen choking down a slice of terrible chocolate cake...and I'm pretty sure I just got drunk texted by the man I have a ginormous crush on.


I've been daydreaming about Eliot Hoffman's dimples for two months, and even though I'm sure this was a mistake on his end, it doesn't mean it's not an opportunity on mine.

It's the middle of the night, and I just wanna talk to him. So I text him back.

And then somehow we keep talking . . . ALL NIGHT. We're both insomniacs, so talking all night soon turns into talking EVERY night. And talking about nothing soon turns into talking about something. And here we go from in-depth analysis of reality TV to my relationship with my family, to his amazing artwork. There's no topic we don't cover . . .

Except for who I really am.

It's the only question of his I won't answer.

As my crush turns into an avalanche of Eliot, I think of him all the time now. But if he knew who I was, the entire house of cards we've built this relationship on would come toppling down.

I want him to be mine, but we might never be more than just a sweet dream . . .

My Review: I am loving the made for audible audiobooks with all the extra background noises and not just narrating. This book had a unique storyline that may not be 100% realistic but still a girls dream about her crush. 


Title: The Lazy Genius Way

Author: Kendra Adachi

Genre: personal development 

How I Read It: audiobook from library

My Rating: 4 out of 5

Amazon Description: The chorus of “shoulds” is loud. You should enjoy the moment, dream big, have it all, get up before the sun, track your water consumption, go on date nights, and be the best. Or maybe you should ignore what people think, live on dry shampoo, be a negligent PTA mom, have a dirty house, and claim your hot mess like a badge of honor.

 
It’s so easy to feel overwhelmed by the mixed messages of what it means to live well. 
 
Kendra Adachi, the creator of the Lazy Genius movement, invites you to live well by your own definition and equips you to be a genius about what matters and lazy about what doesn’t. Everything from your morning routine to napping without guilt falls into place with Kendra’s thirteen Lazy Genius principles, including: 
 
• Decide once
• Start small
• Ask the Magic Question
• Go in the right order
• Schedule rest
 
Discover a better way to approach your relationships, work, and piles of mail. Be who you are without the complication of everyone else’s “shoulds.” Do what matters, skip the rest, and be a person again.

My Review: There wasn't anything that was necessarily new, or never heard of. The approach and examples that Kendra give make each concept stand out different. I love the concept decide one and have been using it with a lot more tastes. 






Currently Reading


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5 comments

  1. You've been reading a lot! I love Abby Jimenez. I have Spare but haven't tried it yet!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! 18 books in one month is wonderful. I just started listing to audiobooks around the house (I've always listened in the car with my boys).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. listening to audiobooks has added so many books each month

      Delete
  3. Awesome month. I have The Lazy Genius Way to check out. Part of Your World sounds great, and I keep seeing awesome reviews.

    Lauren @ www.shootingstarsmag.net

    ReplyDelete

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