emileereadsbooks's reviews
1120 reviews

Thank you Netgalley and Bethany House Fiction for the gifted book! All opinions are my own.

It's 1904 Daniel is trying to live up to his last name, Goodman. He has made some mistakes, suffered the consequences, and now is trying to atone for his wrongdoings. So when the opportunity presents itself for him to make things right with his estranged Mother by traveling to her homeland of Italy to capture the essence of Venice in his sketchbook as he also translates a rare Italian storybook to English, he convinces himself it is the beginning of a new life for himself.

The book Daniel is trying to translate begins in 1807 when a baby boy, Sebastian, is found in a basket floating along the canals in Venice. Taken in and raised by a group of artisans, he struggles with his identity and when a woman washes ashore in his life, he must contend with not only who he is, but who he wants to be. 
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This book is beautiful. I may have highlighted the most number of passages ever in a fiction book that I have read. Sometimes I would read something four times to just appreciate how Dykes crafted a beautiful description in place of what could have been very ordinary. I love how the two storylines were woven together. I loved each story equally and we all know how rare that is. 

I don't think I have said this before but DO NOT read this on audio. I tried this on audio and felt lost and distracted the whole time. I could not engage my brain to care. And this was my IRL book club book in June and everyone who read it on audio didn't love it. But those who read it with our eyes did. There is just something about reading this lovely prose with your eyes that pulls you into the story. 

Thank you to the author for the review copy. All opinions are my own.

Remy loves her solidarity life on a remote island off the coast of Maine. She found refuge here after a past trauma, and she has built her life around routine and certainty. But when she sees a man bobbing in the ocean out her window, she throws her day's plans out to go save him. Bringing him back home, she realizes he's not only injured, he is also very handsome and has no memory! She embarks to get him healed and connected back to who he is, but she may have to confront who she is along the way. 
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This book is so endearing. Remy and the unnamed mystery man (I'll let you discover his identity with him) are opposites even before he starts to gain back his memory, and their banter was so fun. 

The amnesia trope is really growing on me. And this one was done so well! The way his memorys are unfurled as he recovers serves the plot so we'll and never feels unearned. Extra fun is there is a side romance in this one that really could have been it's own fun book. Maybe Becky, you can give us a novella from their perspective?!

But back to the main story, I love how the book has multiple points of view through out, and from people other than just the two main characters so that there are layers sprinkled into the plot. Bonus: it sets us up for the next books in the series!

Content Warning: This books touches on murder, sexual assault, and infidelity. DM me if you want more information. 

Thanks to Netgalley, PRH Audio, and Ballantine Books for the gifted book. All opinions are my own.

Becca and her husband Blake are participating in a themed murder mystery weekend at a glamorous manor hotel. She loves mysteries so even though she feels a bit duped by her husband surprising her with this element on their weekend away, she decides to stay and play along. The murder mystery element of the weekend is super cheesy, but she's game to play. However, when one of the main actors doesn't show up, Becca gets suspicious that something else is going on, but the rest of the staff chalks it up to flakiness. Is there a real mystery afoot during this fake one?!

I messaged my friend in the middle of this book and asked if I should DNF it. I should know when I ask that that I should go ahead and quit. This book was terrible (and I normally can find something to redeem a book to give a semi favorable review, but not here). The main character, Becca, is a whiny entitled insecure woman who I wanted to stop talking (too bad she's the only POV you get). Plus this book is rife with all kinds of infidelity. All kinds. And in various degrees of celebrating vs distaining infidelity, often by the same characters. In addition, the actual mystery of this book was so predictable that it just made me roll my eyes when it was actually revealed. Do not read this book. There are much better locked door mysteries.

Thank you to Jenny Proctor for a free copy of this book! All opinions are my own.

Lennox and Tatum were rivals in culinary school. So competitive that they were happy to get 10th out of 11th place if the other one got 11th. But now that's all behind them, or is it? Lennox is running his own restaurant on his family's farm and Tatum is hired as the catering chef. Can they put the past behind them, or must they face the tension that is boiling over between them in the present?

What an absolutely fun read. The way they have to lean on one another even when they don't think they even like the other one as a person is so good and makes sense why they are drawn to one another. I also like the way they are willing to stand firm in what they want while being willing to compromise for the other. Their relationship has so much fun banter but isn't over the top and it feels natural. Plus reading this book made me very hungry!

This is a closed door romance.

Thank you to the author for the wonderful signed copy she sent me! All opinions are my own.

Olivia is the poster child for a type A personality. She has a 10 year plan and nothing will get in the way of her achieving her goals. Not even her college nemesis Lachlan Hayes. Even when she wakes up in Vegas and realizes she is somehow married to him! And when Lachlan proposes that they stay married because it will benefit both their careers, even though they despise each other, she agrees, because it helps with that 10 year plan. But as they fake their way through the relationship, they learn new sides of each other. So who will be the first to fall?

I will forever be grateful for Jenny B Jones introducing me to the works of indie sweet rom coms but I am also grateful to be an internet friend and a major fan girl. She is funny and charming and sincere as a person and that comes across as chemistry and sparkle on the page.

I think she is one of the best at weaving in character arcs where the characters are dealing with hard things into her funny and swoony books. They are books you can devour but they aren't just popcorn rom coms, they have feeling. And they have some scrumptious book boyfriends! This book in particular did the push and pull of enemies to lovers so well, paired with a marriage of convenience trope. The chemistry and flirtation just leapt off the pager.

This is a closed door, sweet rom com.

Thank you Melanie Jacobson the ARC! All opinions are my own.

Sami is a nurse at a nursing home. But she has a second secret life as a rockstar. And to complicate her life further, her roommate Ruby makes her a bet that she can find her a man to love. Little does Ruby know, Sami has no capacity in her life right now for a man, and their new neighbor Josh, whom Ruby picks, is a terrible choice anyway.

Josh, on paper, has a great life. He has a new condo, a great job as a corporate lawyer, and a great family. But he isn't really happy. When circumstances facilitate having his new neighbor, Sami, pose as his girlfriend, fake feelings may just be turning into more.

I thought this was a fun and pretty original rom com. Both characters realty had to explore their past traumas and learn to deal with them to make way for a new path. I liked how organic their relationship felt from the beginning.

This is a closed door rom com.

Beth Moore is perhaps the most famous evangelical Bible Study author, especially for Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials. People think they know her because of her bubbly personality, big hair, and controversial Twitter presence, but Beth Moore is more than meets the eye. Her journey to following Jesus and navigating through Christian fame, acclaim, and cancellation, is long and complex and in this memoir she reveals things never before shared with the public. 

The first thing I will say about this book is that Beth Moore can write! And not just a book that entertains, but she crafts sentences, and paragraphs, and whole chapters that cause you to pause and reflect and marvel at how she is weaving together truth and emotion to paint her story as she remembers it. And there are some hard parts of her past, including sexual abuse in her childhood. But she writes about it in such a way that you feel her pain without having to know the nitty gritty details.

This is in my top 5 memoirs I have ever read, and I am even considering rereading with my eyes so I can highlight all the beautiful sentences she crafted. But I also highly recommend the audio because Beth reads it with her delightful accent that feels like a warm hug. 

Marshall, Texas is known for being the home of the "rocket docket", a court known by patent lawyers for its speedy trials and massive punitive payouts. And when big companies with their fancy law firms come to town, they have found that having a local on their team is to their benefit, so they hire Jame Euchre. 

Euchre's latest client, Amir Zawar, is hot under the collar about the patent trial he finds himself a part of, and in the heat of the moment during his preliminary hearing, he threatens the judge. Later that night, the Honorable Judge Gardner is found murdered in the courthouse parking lot. Zawar is the obvious suspect, but he swears he's innocent and insists Euchre defend him. 

So now, Euchre, a patent lawyer, has to switch tactics and defend this hotheaded stranger who is accused of killing his friend and mentor. With the help of a former prosecutor and larger than life PI, Euchre dives deep into the world of criminal law and has to face his own history in the process. 

This book will transport you to small town East Texas and have you wrapped up in the story and place that Hartstone has created. And I should know, this book takes place down the highway from where I grew up and the courthouse at the center of the book is steps away from where I got married. It is an extra delight to read a book where you have driven all the same streets and eaten in all the same restaurants. But even if you haven't spent any time in Marshall, you will be taken there through this book and entertained along the way. 

I hope that this book is the first in a series because I see lots of potential in these characters and know that East Texas has a lot of stories to tell. 

Bonus: if you want to watch a movie based in Marshall, check out The Great Debaters with Denzel Washington. 

Thanks to Amazon First Reads for the free book.
 

Deborah has an impressive lineage. She is the decent of known Puritans, but her parents are less impressive and she is indentured out at a young age. But when a kindly Reverend takes interest in her and helps her world to expand, she is set on a journey to pursue her independence as America is on it's own as well. And when the time comes for her life to either go down the expected path or for her to pivot and change her destiny, she pivots hard and disguises herself as a solider, enlisting in the Continental army.

This book had me contemplating staying up past my bedtime which is a huge deal with you have a 2 month old. And I really enjoyed Deborah as a character. I even enjoyed the symbolism used to parallel her journey with that of our nation's. Which is saying a lot because I'm not normally a super literary reader. 

All that being said, as much as I love a romance in a book, and this one was very worth it, I think I would have loved this book more had it stayed more true to the real life story and empowered Deborah without a man. When I read the author's note I was a bit let down instead of intrigued like I normally am with historical fiction author's notes. But even with that caveat, I still really loved this book and recommend it.

Trigger warnings: horrors of war, some descriptions of sex (although mostly closed door) 

Thanks to Remi Carrington for the free digital copy of this book! All opinions are my own.

Bluebonnet finds herself pregnant with a broken engagement. But Parker, her best friend's little brother, and the boy who followed them around her whole childhood steps in and proposes so she doesn't have to face being an unwed single mom in their conservative Texas town, she accepts despite the guilt she feels at ruining his chance at real love. But even though they are just friends, this is the best relationship she has ever been in, maybe a happily ever after with Parker is possible?

I flew through this book in a day. Which in this season of my life is very impressive! A captivating sweet rom com, it made me swoon over sweet Parker who is thoughtful and kind and, except for the cowboy part, reminds me of my own sweet husband.

My only slight quibble I have with this book is that it can be a stand alone book but I could feel the holes in my knowledge from not reading the rest of the series. I wish there had been a little more context about some of the side characters to flesh out my understanding a bit more. 

This is a closed door romance. 

Content Warning: <SPOILER>  miscarriage <SPOILER>