booksaremysoulmates's reviews
269 reviews

After reading some books about serious topics, I decided I need to pick up a cute little romance. I settled on this one because I still had the e-arc of it and the title was cute. Again I didn‘t know anything before reading, which to me is then best way to start a book. 

The writing was fine, didn‘t like the third person perspective, would‘ve liked it more in the first person of Sam but at the end it didn‘t bother me to much. The story was the perfect inbetween read when you need something light and easy between books with heavier topics. I actually liked Sam as the main character a lot. The romance as cute, nothing special but a cute read anyway. It wasn‘t the best romance novel out there since I actually like a little more depth to the characters but like I said before it‘s a book that might not need it that much. I enjoyed reading it and am glad that I picked it up.

Description:

The last thing I ever expected was to insult a colleague before I even started a new job.

But here I am, already on thin ice after I mistook a fellow doctor for a patient on a bad drug trip. Oops.

No matter how handsome or infuriatingly aloof he is, Grant Gao isn’t going to spoil my fresh start. Instead, I’m going to keep myself (maybe too) busy with my roommates, work, and passion: starting a new program to improve pregnancy care in the community.

But getting the hospital bigwigs on board with my idea is proving to be more difficult than I anticipated, and I may be forced to swallow my pride and ask Grant for help.

But will working with Grant bring us closer, or will I be crushed under my ever-growing list of responsibilities?

Again one of these books that I went into completely blind, which is my favorite way to start a book. Chloe Ashby really has a way with words, I absolutely loved her writing in this book. It really helped me to get into the story and really feel like I was there with the main character, right there by her side. Also I think that the way she wrote the book really helped to get the story across without being too triggering, at least for me BUT please still check the trigger warnings before starting this book. It‘s about a woman in her mid/late twenties that had to deal with a some trauma in the past and talks about how she copes with it and honestly it felt like such a real presentation of how people can deal with stuff like that. It felt like she didn‘t really „cope“ with anything at the start of the book which is the truth for so many people out there because we sometimes don‘t know how to cope, so we just continue to live on and function without addressing the trauma and help we actually need. I don‘t want to say much more since I don‘t want to spoil to much about this BUT I really related to the main character in some ways and I think stories like these are important to write to maybe start a conversation even though I still would‘ve liked the end to be different or at least longer because I just wanted to see how it continues with her. It was also a little confusing at the time but that‘s because I feel like in her head it must be confusing for her a lot and that’s what made it so believable, at least for me if that makes sense. Anyway, I‘d recommend this book to anyone that can handle the triggers in the book. 

Triggers: suicide, suicide attempt, alcoholism, rape

I always wanted to read this book but honestly just because I really liked the cover of it, which is also why I bought it.

It‘s about the neighbor boys from the Lisbon girls who all 5 killed themselves. How they handle and experienced it all. But not only that but also how the community, neighborhood and everyone experienced it. 

Honestly the writing from the author is amazing. I loved his writing style a lot but sadly the story itself just wasn‘t for me. I know this topic is a hard one but somehow I just couldn‘t get into the book at all. I still think writing about suicide is important but for me this just wasn‘t it. I might give another book of his a try since I really enjoyed his writing. Maybe I also had too high expectations for this one, but again I had to really force myself to finish it. Which is also why it took me so long to finally finish it at the end.

Finally I finished the Dreamland series by reading this book. I have to say that the series got better with each book. The first one was good, the second one better and this one is my favorite out of all of them. Cal and Lana are just the most relatable and likeable characters in the series, at least for me. I knew I was going to like the authors writing since I already did in the first 2 books and that didn‘t change with this one. Again I loved the switching POVs between Cal‘s and Lana‘s. Also I liked their story the most because of the tropes their story included, which I will not name since that would probably spoil a bit of the book, even though yes it is a romance to do we really expect anything unpredictable? No. I also loved the fact that this book touched on sobriety and addiction because these topics should be discussed. This book puts an end to the Dreamland series and I‘m sad not to read anything about the Kane brothers again even though I got to admit that I‘ll miss Cal and Lana the most, that‘s for sure. Also this book has a little spice but I wouldn‘t call it spicy at all.

I received this book as an ARC a while back and finally got to read it and honestly I have to say that I am disappointed that I haven‘t read it before now. I loved the way the story was told a lot, the writing perfectly fit to the story and how the main character Maddie tells it is just perfect. 

This story is about a black woman finding herself, in the work world as well as in her personal life. It talks about culture, family, friendships, mental health, grief, relationships, as well as about racism and micro aggressions. I feel like this book is so important to read. It educated me as a white person, that‘s for sure. Also Maddie is such a likeable character and the topics she mentioned as well as the feelings she felt were so relatable (other than the racial issues because as a white woman I will never experience how these feel like and I can only do my best to educate myself). It sure also has a romance aspect to it, but I love that this wasn‘t the main focus of the book at all. This book was so much more than that.

Description:

It’s fair to say that Maddie’s life in London is far from rewarding. With a mother who spends most of her time in Ghana (yet still somehow manages to be overbearing), Maddie is the primary caretaker for her father, who suffers from advanced stage Parkinson’s. At work, her boss is a nightmare and Maddie is tired of always being the only Black person in every meeting.

When her mum returns from her latest trip to Ghana, Maddie leaps at the chance to get out of the family home and finally start living. A self-acknowledged late bloomer, she’s ready to experience some important “firsts”: She finds a flat share, says yes to after-work drinks, pushes for more recognition in her career, and throws herself into the bewildering world of internet dating. But it's not long before tragedy strikes, forcing Maddie to face the true nature of her unconventional family, and the perils―and rewards―of putting her heart on the line.

Smart, funny, and deeply affecting, Jessica George's Maame deals with the themes of our time with humor and poignancy: from familial duty and racism, to female pleasure, the complexity of love, and the life-saving power of friendship. Most important, it explores what it feels like to be torn between two homes and cultures―and it celebrates finally being able to find where you belong

This book was such a quick read but I liked it a lot. Is it the best book I‘ve ever read? No, but it‘s such a cute romance novel. Personally I liked the writing a lot, also the main character is so likeable. It was such a cute read that I caught myself smiling at some points of the book. Did I predict the ending? Yes I did but again it‘s a romance book and those tend to be really predictable but isn‘t that also what we love about them? I‘m glad I got to read this book and will check out the other books from the author, that‘s for sure.

Description:

Perpetually cheerful and eager to please, Gracie Cooper strives to make the best out of every situation. So when her father dies just months after a lung cancer diagnosis, she sets aside her dreams of pursuing her passion for art to take over his Midtown Manhattan champagne shop. She soon finds out that the store’s profit margins are being squeezed perilously tight, and complicating matters further, a giant corporation headed by the impossibly handsome, but irritatingly arrogant Sebastian Andrews is proposing a buyout. But Gracie can’t bear the thought of throwing away her father’s dream like she did her own.

Overwhelmed and not wanting to admit to her friends or family that she’s having second thoughts about the shop, Gracie seeks advice and solace from someone she’s never met—the faceless “Sir”, with whom she connected on a blind dating app where matches get to know each other through messages and common interests before exchanging real names or photos.

But although Gracie finds herself slowly falling for Sir online, she has no idea she’s already met him in real life…and they can’t stand each other.

I received this book in exchange for a review, which is what I‘m now doing. The only thing I knew about the book going in was that it‘s a crime novel. It‘s the second book in the Frank Bosman series but I heard that it‘s okay to read the second one without having read the previous book.

The story/plot of the book personally wasn‘t for me as much as I wanted to. I enjoyed parts of the story but not the whole thing. Also the „plot twist“ was quite expectable and I saw it coming quite early on, which is never a good thing since I want the plot twists to surprise me. Also I feel like I needed more depth to the main character Frank Bosman, even though this might be my fault, maybe we received the depth of that character in the first book. Anyway, I expected more…I had to force myself to finish the book since I was contemplating dnfing it half way through. The writing itself was good, nothing to be critiqued there, the only thing I didn‘t like was that the chapters were quite confusing at times because I didn‘t know if it talked about the past or the present, also the fact that it sometimes took me more than a few sentences to figure out who‘s POV the current chapter had. Like I said though, the writing itself was good and the author has a lot of potential but maybe this book just wasn‘t for me.

Description:

UN-special agent Elaine Szolnay and Frank Bosman work together to finally arrest former Warlord Remi Ekrem. Szolnay wants to arrest him for his war crimes, Bosman for his drug dealing since Ekrem is responsible for most of the drugs in Berlin. But then he gets from the hunter to the hunted all of the sudden. He now has to prove that he isn‘t guilty of the crimes attached to his name.

It took me longer than usual to finish this book because I had to take a few breaks inbetween. I heard about the book quite a lot on BookTok was well as on instagram but never really knew what it was about. So please check the trigger warnings for this book because this could be really triggering to a lot of people out there.

I‘m glad that it wasn‘t triggering for me, but the topic is still a hard one. Before I go into the plot I want to mention how good the writing of this is. The author has a way with words that really captivates you and puts you right there with the main character. It‘s told from Vanessa‘s point of view which is absolutely perfect for this book. It pained me to read how Vanessa thought of herself throughout the book and how a young girl can get so manipulated, that she really thought she wanted everything that had happened to her. She was groomed by her teacher when she was just 15 and it talks about how she copes with everything and the relationship between her, the teacher throughout the years. It jumps from the past into the present with each chapter which I thought was genius for telling the story. Sadly it‘s something that happens in the world way too often and obviously sometimes the girls that were groomed really feel the way Vanessa felt about it all. It‘s an heartbreaking but important book that hopefully opens up a conversation about the topic. Honestly this book will stay with me forever, that‘s for sure. I don‘t really know how to express what that book made me feel and how much I already thought about the book while reading it and the things that run through your mind while reading it. I feel like everyone who can handle the triggers should read this, to maybe even understand victims of grooming can feel like and how conflicted they might feel about their abuse.

Honestly Fitzek‘s writing was absolutely amazing, like always. The story itself was good too. Again his plot twists are just amazing, even though I am not sure if the ending was as good as it could‘ve been. I‘ll explain why when you continue to read but there will be a huge spoiler.

*SPOILER AHEAD*

One of the people in the book has DID (Dissociative identity disorder) and as someone who watches a lot of youtubers that have DID and talk about how they feel about how the media presents the illness can be really toxic for the community, I can see how this character again is an example of that. Since this character is one of the villains in the story, which might be again something that increases or solidifies the stigma around DID. So I don‘r know how to feel about that part of the story.

Description:

It is the eighth of the eighth month, at eight o’clock p.m.
You have 80 million enemies.
Will you survive the EightNight?

This is not a mental game, it is dead serious. It is mass-psychological experiment that got out of hand. And your name has been picked from the lottery pot …

Just imagine there is a death lottery. You can put the name of a person you hate into the lottery pot. In the EightNight, on the eighth of August every year, a name is drawn from all the entries in the pot. The person drawn from the pot is outlawed for one night during the EightNight. Everybody in Germany is allowed to kill this person without having to fear any kind of punishment – and the killing is rewarded with a bounty of ten million euros.

I recieved this one for review purposes and since I like Ali Hazelwood‘s work I thought it would be like that with this one as well. This is a book that contains 3 short novella‘s (Under One Roof, Stuck With You and Below Zero). Again I like how easy it is to follow the authors writing but somehow these stories weren‘t for me. I noticed that I really like to have some depth in characters and these novella‘s were lacking exactly that. The stories were cute and I liked the characters but liked I said, I want more depth to the characters themselves. I really wanted to like these stories but again they weren‘t as good as her other books. I still enjoyed reading the novella‘s but they‘re not my favorite. 

Description: 

Mara, Sadie, and Hannah are friends first, scientists always. Though their fields of study might take them to different corners of the world, they can all agree on this universal truth: when it comes to love and science, opposites attract, and rivals make you burn....

Under One Roof
An environmental engineer discovers that scientists should never cohabitate when she finds herself stuck with the roommate from hell - a detestable big-oil lawyer who won't leave the thermostat alone.

Stuck with You
A civil engineer and her nemesis take their rivalry - and love - to the next level when they get stuck in a New York elevator.

Below Zero
A NASA aerospace engineer's frozen heart melts as she lies injured and stranded at a remote Arctic research station and the only person willing to undertake the dangerous rescue mission is her longtime rival.