amateur_bookworm's reviews
599 reviews

Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight

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mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Like Mother, Like Daughter by Kimberly McCreight is a suspense novel. Cleo and her mother, Katrina, don’t have the best relationship. But when Cleo arrives home for a dinner with her mom to find dinner burning and nothing but her mom’s bloody shoe, Cleo will do anything to find her. 

There’s a lot going on in this book. Multiple timelines. Seemingly unrelated topics. Characters thrown in with no introductions but you’re somehow supposed to know who they are. Unlikeable characters. The author also liked to go on long winded tangents that I found confusing. I went into it feeling like the blurb already told me the entire plot, and it honestly does (at least, more than I would like), but the suspense, I guess, is determining the who and the why. The bad of this book almost outweighed the good for me, and overall, it was only ok.
Finding Home: A small town, single dad, rockstar romance by Lauren Rowe

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medium-paced

4.0

Finding Home by Lauren Rowe is a single dad, rockstar, small town romance. This is the first book I’ve read by her. I enjoyed it and the pages just flew by. 

Aubrey is great. I just love her character, and her parents too. I always love a good rockstar romance. And this was a different twist on the single dad romance trope. Plus, there’s a bonus forced proximity trope here too that I wasn’t expecting, which is always a favorite of mine. 
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Scythe & Sparrow by Brynne Weaver

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dark funny medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No

4.0

Scythe & Sparrow by Brynne Weaver is the third and final book of the Ruinous Love trilogy. I found the other books of the series to be best as audiobooks so I chose that route for this book also. 

I absolutely love the narrators and the duet style narration. Both narrators are a perfect fit for the characters, especially Samantha Brentmoor as Rose. 

I enjoyed that the plot runs concurrently with the first two books. It gives you the story from the other sides of certain events that happened in the earlier books. I think I may read this book down the road, as I just wasn’t really getting into this one like I had expected to. I think I just wasn’t in the right mood for this one at the time I listened to it. I did like this one but Butcher & Blackbird remains my favorite by far of this series.
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Riding the High by Paisley Hope

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funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

Riding the High by Paisley Hope is the third book of her Silver Pines series. It’s a friends to lovers, single dad, small town romance. I really enjoyed this one, plus I love the characters from the first two books being involved in this story.

I’ll be honest, friends to lovers is not my favorite trope. But I think this one was really well done. I love the flashbacks to when they were younger to get a better picture of their relationship. Their baseball rivalry was cute. And the nicknames are great, Vixen and Law Daddy. The single dad trope felt like a cherry on top. This one is a great addition to the series. 
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The Games Gods Play by Abigail Owen

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challenging dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

The Games Gods Play by Abigail Owen is the first book of The Crucible series. It’s a Greek mythology retelling set in modern times, with a blend of fantasy and romance. Think Hunger Games but being ran by Greek gods. 

I love Lyra’s irreverence to Hades. So refreshing. And funny. But, wow, how many times were there that I was screaming at Lyra to save herself and stop saving everyone else? (A lot.) I enjoyed seeing the relationship build between Hades and Lyra. And, honestly, Greek mythology isn’t my thing. But this one pulled me right in. 

I both read this and listened to the audiobook. Not at the same time, I kept reading just a bit ahead of the audiobook throughout. I preferred reading it much more than listening to it. The narrator’s voice inflections didn’t really match up with how I expected it to sound at times. I also may or may not have bought this because the cover and sprayed edges are so pretty (I mean, I did see some great reviews of it too before buying though). 

That ending though?! Whew, September can’t get here soon enough to find out what happens next. 
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Story Of My Life by Lucy Score

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funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Story of My Life by Lucy Score is the first book of her new Story Lake series. It’s a super cute story of a struggling author moving from the big city to live out her own personal romcom in a small town. Look, guys, when Lucy Score says “this series is my love letter to every reader who said they wanted to move to a fictional town”—she absolutely delivers with this one! 

I can’t count how many times I cracked up while reading this. The intertwining of her writing and living her love story is hilarious and sweet and adorable and swoony. All the characters are perfect. Hazel, Zoey, Campbell, his parents, his brothers,  Laura, the wonder boy mayor, and even the raccoon. And Campbell? Guys. HE READ HER BOOK. The grumpy construction guy READ her romance book. I’m smitten. 

I enjoyed the chapter titles. It really set the stage before starting each one. And I never wanted this book to end. I want to move to Story Lake and be besties with Hazel and Zoey and Laura. I mean, who doesn’t want to run away from their dumpster fire of a life and start over in a perfect small town? Loved this one so much. 
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From Nowhere by Jewel E. Ann

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emotional funny hopeful fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

From Nowhere by Jewel E. Ann is the second book of her Wildfire series. To say that I love this book is an understatement. Virtually every line is perfection. And it left me with all of the warm and fuzzy feels at the end, exactly how you want a romance book to leave you feeling. 

From the most laughable un-cute meet-cute at the beginning to the happy tears at the end, I couldn’t put this one down. I basically binged it straight though. Also, leave it to Jewel E. Ann to make a guy named Oswald sexy AF. I mean—picked flowers AND notes?!? That’s all you need, guys. Take notes. 

I just love Jewel E. Ann’s writing so much. I feel like I highlighted half the book because so many lines are simply perfect. I love all of the characters (except one, lol). Lola sounds like the most amazing kid, in spite of the trauma she deals with at such a young age. I love Ozzy’s care and concern for, well, everyone. And Maren is a badass (but we already knew that from book one). 

I absolutely recommend this one! And I cannot wait for Will’s story next. At least, I’m assuming it’s Will’s story. But let’s be real, I can’t wait for ANY next book that Jewel E. Ann writes. 
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The Naughtier List by Jade West

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3.25

The Naughtier List by Jade West is the second book of her Naughtier and Naughtier series. And if all of that doesn’t tell you exactly what this book is mostly composed of, then, well, maybe it’s not for you. 

I haven’t read a mostly smut book in a while. So when I saw a post about this book and quite a discussion about some, ahem, unhygienic activities in it, I ran straight to Kindle Unlimited and downloaded it. And, honestly, I’m really not sure I want to unpack that at any point. But, I digress. 

The writing is … not good. lol. Shocker, I know. But it starts with a bang (after a bang, and then another bang) so it drew me in right off the bat. Overall, I don’t necessarily regret reading it. I liked some parts, some parts were hot, a lot of parts were just gross, and a lot of the storyline was a bit much. 

All I could think about with Josh and Ella starting to date are the scenes from A Million Ways to Die in the West with the hooker and her boyfriend. And it was hard to get past that tbh. 
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This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead is a fictional true crime tell-all style narrative of an amateur sleuth pulled into a high-profile murder investigation, all while making peace with the death of her father from a sudden heart attack. 

Although this is a work of fiction, the author draws on real-life cases and it really gives the story a believable feel. I found myself often wondering throughout the book which elements were “real” from the actual cases and which were fictional. The author said she included elements from the cases of the University of Idaho, Gabby Petition, Golden State Killer, and Abraham Shakespeare cases. 

Overall, this one definitely kept me in suspense and I enjoyed it. I’ve gravitated from reading mostly thrillers to now reading mostly romance. So when I do read a thriller now, I feel extra gullible and never see the twists coming. This book was no exception and took turns I wasn’t expecting all the way through the end.
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Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Deep End by Ali Hazelwood is a standalone college sports romance with spice. It features a college diver during her junior year at Stanford as she navigates school, diving, and a budding romance with a college swimmer. Ali’s working title for this book was Whet, so spice is clearly a central theme in this one. 

Honestly, at this point Ali Hazelwood could write a phone book and I’d read it. As she claims that each of her latest books are becoming more and more unpublishable, I am loving them all. Her typical formula is still here with a smart, science-y petite woman and a very scowly and very large male love interest. This one feels much different than her original few books though. The writing feels chaotic, almost like you’re listening in on someone’s jumbled mind. So it took me a bit to find the rhythm of the writing, but I really enjoyed it once I did. 

I love how painfully introverted Scarlett is, as I can totally relate. I really enjoyed watching her journey through this book while grappling with, well, everything in her life. From school struggles to diving struggles to a confusing romance. Normally I feel too old to read college romances but I didn’t feel like that at all with this one. And I absolutely loved Lukas’s character. He was the perfect male main character and I was definitely channeling my inner-IKEA to try to read his words in a Swedish accent in my mind. 

Overall, I loved this one but this definitely may not be for everyone. If you’re not a fan of spice, then you may not enjoy it.
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