emileereadsbooks's reviews
1113 reviews

I think a major part of the Olympic Games is under valued and that was reiterated to me reading this book. The Paralympic Games are full of amazing athletes with incredible stories and I'm so glad I got to delve deeper into this one.

Oksana's life has been hard, but her efforts to be the best in multiple sports would be a feat even without her backstory. I loved her vulnerability as she shared both extremes of emotion, happy and sad, and how she wrote about how her life has been shaped by how she deals with those ups and downs. 

If you are looking for an Olympic read that will carry you beyond the closing of the traditional Olympic Games, pick this one up. It is great on audio. 

Thanks to Libro.fm, Simon Audio and Scribner for the audio copy. All opinions are my own. 

Gracen is just a humble antiques authenticator living above the antique shop she works in. But she has come across a major score, a chess set rumored to hold the clues to a priceless fortune.

When Bodie King walks in her store, her hackles are raised. She has heard the rumors of the kind of man she is, a con man.

Bodie is used to being able to get what he wants, and through some persuasion, he gets Gracen on his side in search of the treasure. 

As they search for the treasure, they uncover more secrets about each other, and are more drawn together. Is resistance to this attraction futile?
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What a run ride! The banter, the way they continue to try and best each other, the secrets, it all comes together to make the most absorbing story. One you will want to race through to find out the conclusion.

Before this book I would have dubbed myself a fan of morally gray characters, but I'm on board if it makes for a book this fun and immersive. I was traveling with them participating in the banter and feeling their chemistry. 

If you like a rom com plus a little mystery and action, check this one out!
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This is a closed door, kisses only rom com. It is part of a series but can be read as a stand alone. 

Thanks to Carina Taylor for the gifted audiobook. All opinions are my own. 

I think the simplest review of this book I can give is: I finished it, it was fine. But if this is the beginning of series, I will not be continuing. I don't enjoy being bashed over the head with superfluous details and political agendas in my fiction.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Minotaur for the audiobook for me to review. No favorable review was required. All opinions are my own.

This is a classic book, but I did not enjoy Margaret Thursday as a character. She is a bit too whiney and entitled for no reason. She does grow on you, but I just wasn't invested enough. 

Brax and Jaz hit it off at Brax's sister's wedding where Jaz is a bridesmaid. But after magical night, he ghosts her! 

But the past can't stay in the past because when Jaz lists a rooms in her house to rent to cover her mortgage, they get filled with hockey players. And surprise, Brax is one of them!

Jaz had no clue Brax was coming to play on the Crushers, and to make things more complicated, she's the team's new community relations manager.

And when she learns of some shady dealings behind the scenes, she has to add saving the team to her task list under figuring out how to pay her sister's medical bills and fix up her house. How can she possibly juggle her feelings for Brax too? 

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This book hit all the great hockey rom com tropes while centering the team dynamic and setting us up for hopefully more Crushers books!

Jaz and Brax are both characters who carry the weight of those they love on their shoulders and I loved how they, along with the found family here, encourage each other to not shoulder those burdens alone. 

This book is funny and very sexy while still fully being clean. This is only my second Grace Worthington, but I plan to definitely keep reading her books. 

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This is a closed door, kisses only rom com. It is part of a series but can be read as a stand alone. 

Content Warnings. (from author): panic attacks/anxiety, death of a parent (past), brain injury (side character), being ghosted by text (IYKYK)

Thanks to the author for the gifted book. No favorable review required. All opinions are my own.
 

Available on Kindle Unlimited 

Natalie is someone who is comfortable being herself, but when her freshman year of college leaves her without her merit scholarship and with an anxiety diagnosis, she needs to find a way to get some money to stay in school. So, she signs up for the new college version of Wild Adventures, an outdoorsy adventure show, that has a $100k scholarship prize. She isn't exactly outdoorsy (her lengthy skin care regimen makes her too high maintenance for that), but this is better than taking out student loans, right?! However, when she is randomly assigned to partner with Finn, who is the grumpy to her sunshine and the outdoorsy to her indoorsy, she realizes she may have taken on too great a risk. But no risk, no reward! And she really needs that reward. So putting up with Finn is necessary, or is it welcomed? Is there perhaps some chemistry there beneath the tension?

Sure, Natalie prefers her twelve-step skincare routine to roughing it on the Appalachian Trail while competing in challenges against other college kids, but that scholarship prize money is calling her name. High risk, high reward, right? Enter Finn Markum, her randomly assigned, capital- O Outdoorsy teammate whose growl could rival a black bear. These partners have more friction than a pair of new hiking boots. Or is it flirtation? Turns out falling in love might be the wildest adventure of all...

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As someone who is outdoorsy lite, I love living vicariously through people who do big hikes like the Appalachian Trail. Therefore, reading a rom com set there via a reality show is just that much more fun. This has some fun side characters and relationships, but at the core Finn and Natalie were easy to root for and continually made me giggle with their back and forth. 

If you like the Amazing Race, Emma Lord books, or just want an outdoorsy rom com, give this one a shot. 

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Content Warning: This is a closed door rom com. Intimacy is implied. There is also use of adult language, talk of anxiety, and characters dealing with grief. 

Thank you to Netgalley and Delacorte Romance for the gifted book. All opinions are my own. 

One day Kelsey wakes up in the hospital and learns a car jumped the curb and hit her. That event turns out to be a major life interrupter. Before the accident she was a workaholic with a clear career goal. Her life wasn't exciting or fulfilling but it was safe and calculated. But post accident she is realizing that if she doesn't change her ways she may end up at the end of her life full of regret.

Part of this shift of perspective comes from her hospital roommate Georgina. Georgina Tate is an iconic business woman who has risen to the top in a truly inspiring manner. But she's sick in the hospital with a pair of failing kidneys with no one but her assistant showing up for her.

Kelsey feels compelled to not only make sure she doesn't live with regrets, but convincing Georgina to join her on a Summer of Yes. But Kelsey has more up her sleeve than just fun adventures, she wants to reunite Georgina with her estranged family.

And when Georgina's son and not so ex-husband enter the picture, the Summer of Yes gains much more gravity than anyone expects
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What a fun ride! This is not the book I expected, but I still enjoyed it so much. 

This book has two big themes that I think played out so well.

1. Saying yes, i.e. living without regret. As someone who likes to stay on the "safe" side of life...
2. Forgiveness. The power of forgiveness in this book will make you feel all the feelings.

For readers who go into this thinking it's a pure rom com you might not love the first half, but if you think of it more as women's fiction with a rom com storyline you will not be disappointed! You will get your butterflies over flirty lines (x2), but you don't want to miss the set up because it makes it that much sweeter! 
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This is a women's fiction book with a side of closed door, kisses only rom com. 

Thanks to Thomas Nelson and Netgalley for the gifted book. Coming out on July 2nd!  

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you for the gifted book Macmillan Audio! 

This series is always a fun time as you jump back into Finlay and Vero's crazy world. They seem to be digging themselves out of the giant hole of trouble they have found themselves in, but as always, there are things and people that pop up and complicate matters. I like how more and more the secondary characters are becoming further integrated into the plot. It makes things that much more interesting!
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Content Warning: This book is more suggestive about sexual encounters than previous books in the series. Still no graphic descriptions.

This is book #4 in the Finlay Donovan series and needs to be read after you read the first 3 books to fully enjoy it. 

Grace and Hope are identical twins. They share the same face, and the same ability to live concurrently in two timelines. When they go to sleep in 1692, they wake up in 1912 and vise versa. But on their 25th birthday, they each to choose just one timeline.

In 1692, they live and work in their father's tavern and have a front row seat to the Salem Witch Trials. As the drama amplifies in the village, the twins, with the help of a handsome childhood friend, begin to search for the truth about their mother and try to avoid losing themselves in the hysteria.

In 1912, Grace is an investigative journalist, and Hope is an aspiring female pilot. When their parents' orphanage falls under threat by someone Grace exposed for wrong doing, Hope decides to enter a cross-country contest in search of the cash prize. As the girls travel with the help of a dashing French aviator, emotions get complicated when tradegy strikes.

Grace and Hope had decided which timeline they would choose, but when life circumstances complicate each timeline, they are left with many decisions about when and who to choose. Will they be able to stay together, or will their desires pull them apart?
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I was iffy going into this book knowing that the 1692 timeline centered on the Salem Witch Trials, but Meyer's deft hand crafted a story that was engaging, empathetic, and entertaining. With a mystery that had me really contemplating the ramifications of the revelations, this timeline added so many layers of nuance to this series as a whole. 

And the 1912 timeline had me literally gasping several times. I did prefer this timeline mostly because it makes more sense to my modern sensibilities. But also because the personalities of the girls really shone here. Free from the extreme weight of Puritan ideals, the girls are more free to be their authentic selves here and we get to experience them unfettered. 

I don't cry easily in books and I'm pretty sure this book made me teary twice. I'm so excited to see where this series goes. They are fantastic as standalone books but they are immensely better read in light of the journey Gabrielle Meyer is taking us on in this world of time crossers. 
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This is a closed door, kisses only historical time travel romance. It is part of a series but can be read as a stand alone. 

Thank you Netgalley and Bethany House Fiction for the gifted book!

Maggie lives each date three times a year, one on each of her 3 timelines: 1861, 1941, and 2001. Each night she goes to sleep in one time and then wakes up in another. She inherited this gift from her time-crossing parents so she knows that when she turns 21 she will have to choose only one life to live, leaving behind everything she knows and loves in the others.

In 1861, it the outbreak of the Civil War and as the the daughter of an influential senator, she is having to juggle her desire to help with her role in society.  

In 1941, she is a Navy nurse figuring out how to handle the knowledge of the future she has as she is agreed to join a hospital ship headed for Pearl Harbor. 

In 2001, Maggie is a standout medical student, working to become a surgeon. And she struggles not to use her modern medical knowledge in her other paths. 

As her 21st birthday approaches, she isn't looking for romance but a man finds a place in her life in each era. Will love complicate or clarify which path she should take?
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I was nervous that this book couldn't love up to my expectations after I adored the first one, but I was proven wrong because it was just as excellent. 

I am a sucker for a Civil War setting, but all three of the timelines here were so good. I was never sad when the chapter changed and I switched to a new timeline. 

Maggie has so much to contend with here in these three lives, but she handles her life with grace and faith in a way that was continually making me like her more. Plus the romantic interests in every timeline were so appealing and I wasn't sure who to root for! 

I recommend this series to everyone and haven't had someone come back yet and say they don't love them!
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This is a closed door, kisses only historical time travel romance. It is part of a series but can be read as a stand alone. 

Thank you Netgalley and Bethany House for the gifted book!