alexatthelake's reviews
717 reviews

Well - this will be a 3 star review but one of those 'still read this it was good 3 star reviews'. Hear me out though.. I think if I didn't have high expectations from this author because of her previous two books I would have liked it a whole lot more? This one felt quite juvenile, then it almost lost me, and the end left me mega confused. I really don't want to spoil anything with my review, so I won't explain why I was confused or what I didn't like all that much about it, but it didn't hold up to her previous two books. 

Now, in saying that, it was still fairly good. It was super dark, super twisty, the writing was phenomenal and it was hard to figure out what characters to like or trust. It was a fairly slow burn, but it weaved the dark tale to set you up for the blow out ending.

As per usual, Kristin Hannah absolutely destroys all of our emotions in every way. This book was simply unbelievable. It is powerful, raw, terrifying, sad and a little heartwarming just to keep us going. I ugly cried way too many times while reading this book. 

The Women follows a Vietnam Veteran who served as a nurse, then returned home to find absolutely no support for female veterans. That’s really all you need to know about this book, and I highly suggest you read it soon. 

If you have a chance to listen to this book on audio, definitely check it out as the amazing Julia Whelan is the narrator. I read most of it, but listened at parts just to get the Whelan experience.

Yes, yes, YES! This book hit ALL the marks and was absolutely phenomenal. This book might quickly be a contender for romance of the year. First thing - the audio was incredible, both narrators were perfection. 

I'm usually a really hard sell on wedding related books/plot lines, maybe because it just is too real for me (having spent so many years in the wedding/hospitality industry), but Forget Me Not blew me away and every other wedding plot line book out of the water. I didn't cringe at all, and actually totally fell in love with both characters and all their side friends! I really enjoyed how strong and independent both the characters were, this plot line really brought an extra element to the romance for me as well.

Wow, that a book. I can't believe I waited this long to get around to, and I don't even really know why. I can tell you that I immediately want to pick up Dear, Edward that has also been on my shelf for way too long for no good reason. Hello Beautiful was heartbreaking, beautiful and so deep on so many levels. 

It has been a really long time since I've despised a character (or two) as much as I did in this book. However - this is a case where that anger and frustration added to the book instead of took away from it. The unlikeable characters added to the story and explained why and who they are, and explained so much of the story on its own. These characters were so easy to connect with and get absorbed right into their lives, it makes you feel like you personally know them.

To start this review off I must say I truly love books that are set in Canada! This one was definitely my favourite of Amy Lea's so far. It was sweet, silly and steamy! Unfortunately I do feel like all 3 books in this series are extremely similar, and I couldn't really differentiate between the main characters much, except for a few things for each. 

I really enjoyed a lot of what this book had to offer, but a little bit of the third-act was too much for me. That's what took away from the fourth star here. I didn't really buy the chemistry as much as I wanted to either, it felt a little forced and didn't seem like it was natural. 

Overall, it was cute enough to recommend, but not memorable enough to call a favourite.

I binged this book in one afternoon on audio, it was so silly and so sweet. It won’t be super memorable, but it was still pretty close to perfection. The characters were sweet and lovable, despite their flaws. I had small hangups with some of it but overall it was just sweet and a perfect second chance love story.

Lynn Painter is definitely a favourite auto-buy author, whether it's her YA or romance books. Her YA as usually total hits for me, and while I did really enjoy this book, I found it a bit similar to the last YA of hers I read. 

Regardless, I loved the characters and the story. It didn't feel too cheesy or cringe, which I usually feel with YA books, but had real emotions and issues that would arise in real life without being too dramatic. I loved the dynamic between the two and their families - as a child of divorce, I really loved seeing it represented and the emotions the two along with it.

Thank you to Samantha Bailey for my arc copy! Available today - March 1st!

I have loved the previous 2 books from Audrey Blake I've read immensely, so I had quite high hopes for this book. Unfortunately it didn't live up to the expectations, but there are a few reasons for that, I think. First, I listened to the audio and while the narrator was fantastic, I don't think I paid as close attention as I should have to fully grasp the story and understand what was going on. The second was how different the previous books were and how original the stories were, where as with this book it feels like there's been many books with a similar storyline. It didn't feel the SAME as all the other books, but just similar. 

For the good parts, because there were a lot - the writing was fantastic as usual from Blake. I found there were a lot of characters that were a little hard to keep track of, especially on audio, but once I could straighten them all out, it was much better. I thoroughly enjoy historical fiction novels that are based on real events/people and this one hit the mark in that sense. The author's note really caps off the book, make sure to take a minute to read it!

Ouf this book was not for me. I really don’t want to be mean because it was cute and I get that it was a different idea/concept but no thank you.

The narrators were not it. I won’t be listening to more by them. The fact that I could hear them swallow and their lips smacked together when they talked it was a hard pass for me.