Tag: book blog

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Regretting You (Colleen Hoover)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I did finally take a break from thrillers! (I know you are shocked!)

This one was actually recommended to me through Kindle Unlimited, and I did know there is also a movie for it. I saw the trailer for it, and when I saw it was based on a book, I wanted to read it before I saw it. I tend to see movies before I find out they are based on a book.

Plus, my friend had read the book and seen the movie and said it was definitely worth giving it a go. Mind you, this was the same friend who recommended all the thrillers I’ve been reading!

Before I go any further, I will be comparing both the book and the movie, so if you haven’t read or seen either one, a spoiler alert is in place!

The book first starts out with Morgan, Chris, Jonah, and Jenny when they were teenagers. Morgan is dating Chris, while her younger sister Jenny is dating Jonah. You can tell that Jonah has feelings for Morgan, and to be honest, they seem more compatible with each other than Chris and Jenny.

Anyway, Morgan finds out she’s pregnant after she graduates high school; Chris and her get married and raise their daughter, Clara, together. It fast-forwards to Clara being 15; Morgan and Chris are still happily married, and her sister, Jenny, ends up having a baby with Jonah, and they are engaged to be married.

It starts back out at Morgan’s birthday, where they are all gathered to celebrate. While they are waiting, Clara is running late because she helped her crush, Miller, get home. He was moving the speed limit sign closer and closer to his grandfather’s house, just so they would be able to get pizza delivered.

Clara ends up calling her Aunt Jenny to tell her all about it, just like any other teenager; they would rather tell anyone else but their parents because, in their minds, they don’t understand what it’s like to be a teenager.

Which is something I used to say to my mother when I was a teenager. Granted, when I look back now, she did understand, to a point; however, she was a teenager in the 90’s while I was a teenager in the 2010’s.

Moving forward to the following day, Morgan ends up watching her nephew since Jenny is going back to work, as her maternity leave is over, since Morgan is a stay-at-home mom. So, Chris, Jonah, and Jenny all go off to work. It’s all fine until Morgan gets a call saying that Chris has been in an accident.

When she gets to the hospital, she sees Jonah there, and she finds out he was called because Jenny was in a car accident. Come to find out, Chris and Jenny were both in the same car that killed them both.

At first, both Morgan and Jonah were confused about why they were in the same car together because they thought that Jenny was going back to work today at the hospital and Chris was going to work as well.

However, after they got calls from the hotel saying that Chris’s vehicle was still there and Jenny’s bag was waiting to be picked up, they found out that Chris and Jenny were having an afair that no one knew about. Of course, Morgan doesn’t want to believe it and tells Jonah not to tell Clara why Chris and Jenny were in the car together.

As a mother myself, I understand exactly why Morgan wanted to keep that information hidden from Clara. She always thought of her dad and aunt so highly, and if she found out that they died in a car crash because they were having an affair, it would crush her. However, telling her what happened would’ve prevented Clara from acting out against her mother.

Since Morgan didn’t want to tell Clara the truth about what happened, she started to resent her mother. This is when Miller comes into play. At first, he has a girlfriend, but is off and on with her until it finally ends; that’s when they start getting closer, not just as friends, but more.

So doesn’t Jonah and Morgan- Jonah finally confesses that he’s always had feelings for her and that he knows deep down she did too as well. Of course, Morgan is too stubborn to admit them, but over time she finally does. Clara ends up catching them kissing and thinks that her mother and Jonah were having an affair, and ends up convincing Miller to have sex with her for the first time.

Which I give props to Miller because he asked several times before they got ready to do the deed, and she just told him yes. Of course, Clara wasn’t ready, and Miller was more mad that any time her mother pissed her off, she would use him to get back at her. Which any other guy would just leave and not talk to her about it, but he ends up staying with her and comforting her.

Finally, both Morgan and Clara sit down and talk about what really happened between Jenny and Chris, not to mention that the “baby” Jonah and Jenny had, Chris was actually the father. They really had a heart-to-heart about it.

Now, the movie does follow the book fairly well; the only thing that it missed, which I’m glad it missed, was the film project Miller and Clara were working on. I honestly didn’t really care about it when I read it, but the prom video Miller made for Clara was perfect.

Overall, both the book and the movie were really good. I honestly loved the mother-daughter relationship and them both learning how to cope with not only the death of their loved ones, but also having to learn to move on without them in their lives.

I did watch the movie with my mom; she didn’t read the book, but she liked the movie as I did. We both ended up crying at the end too. I actually preferred the movie over the book. The book also was slow getting into it, and it did take me longer to really get into versus other books that I’ve flown right through.

What did you think about the book? Or did you see the movie first and then read the book? Let me know in the comments down below!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – The Housemaid (Freida McFadden)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I know I said I would be taking a break from thrillers, but I just couldn’t help myself! I actually saw the movie trailer, and when I found out it was a book, I wanted to read it before seeing the movie, especially since it looked really good!

Thankfully, the book series is all on Kindle Unlimited, which was even better! I also got this one recommended; it was more the movie than the book, and normally I don’t do thrillers, but I figured if the book was okay, I could handle the thriller.

Plus, since I read the book before the movie, I can review both and tell you if the movie followed the book. I also did find out the second one is also going to be a movie, so I really need to get started on reading the second one before the movie comes out!

So, before I go any further, I want to put in a spoiler alert because I will be talking about both the book and the movie, and if you really want to read or see the movie before, I highly suggest you do!

The book goes back and forth between Nina and Millie’s POV. Nina is the one who is looking for a housemaid and ends up giving Millie an interview to see if she can hire her for a live-in position to help clean, cook, etc. Nina also has a daughter, Cece, whom she didn’t have with her husband Andrew, but he has pretty much been a father figure for her since she was a baby.

Millie gets hired, and that’s when Nina starts changing from being the happy homemaker to being a bitch to her, telling her the wrong information, and being a complete bitch to her on purpose. Nina also does this stuff in front of Andrew, and he starts to take pity on her.

Little does Nina know that she planned for all of this to happen. She wants out of her marriage because Andrew is an abusive asshole who has been treating her like crap, and if she were to try and leave, he already has evidence against her that he would take her own daughter away from her.

The amount of gaslighting Andrew has done to Nina is insane! As soon as they were married is when the fairytale ended, and his control started to take over. Whenever she does something that he doesn’t like, he locks her up in the room in the attic, and she doesn’t get out until she does what she’s told.

Of course, Millie has no idea of it because he seems like a wonderful husband and father. She starts to fall for him, and they have a night where he takes her out to a show, they have dinner, and of course, they both end up sleeping together.

Which was exactly Nina’s plan. Hire an attractive housemaid, treat her like crap in front of her husband, have them be together alone so they sleep with each other, and then have her husband kick her out and leave her for the housemaid.

So, when Andrew admits that he has feelings for Millie, he ends up kicking Nina out of the house. Thankfully, Cece wasn’t there; she was staying at an overnight camp, so she didn’t see or witness anything. Nina acts upset and angry at both of them and finally leaves, but when she does leave, it’s a breath of fresh air because she’s finally free.

Now, if you were like me, you were probably questioning, “Is Andrew going to do the same things to Millie?”

If you answered yes, you are correct!

However, this part is where details are a little different from the book and movie. In the movie, when Millie gets locked in the attic, it’s because she broke his mother’s china set by accident, and he has her cut herself on the stomach with one of the pieces of china that she broke. In the book, she forgets to put away some of the books she borrowed from his library and makes her hold them on her stomach for 3 hours straight.

I know what you are thinking: history is going to repeat itself, and Millie will now be stuck with the abusive Andrew. Well, Nina had this all figured out because little did Andrew know was that Millie had a criminal record.

When she was younger, she saved a friend of hers from being raped, but ended up killing the guy that she saved her friend from and ended up serving time in jail for it. Nina picked her because she knew that if Andrew did the same things to Millie, she would take him out for her.

Now, the way everything happens at the end of the movie is very different from the book. I think the only reason why they switched it up was to make it more of a “thriller” vibe, plus it got Millie and Nina working against Andrew too, which was a nice touch since he treated both of them like crap. I won’t spoil it by going into details, but all I’ll say is justice was served.

Overall, it was a great read! I loved how sucked into this one, I think I finished this one in two days? Once you started reading, you wanted to know how it ends. I also liked the movie; it’s not for everyone. If you’re not a huge fan of blood or abuse, then I don’t recommend watching it.

If you are like me and have watched true crime or crime shows in general, it’s about the same. The book is a little bit tamer, I feel, so if you’d rather not see all that, then the book might be better for you than the movie.

Honestly, the movie did a great job sticking with the details of the book, other than the end. Plus, the actors did a great job of portraying the characters in the book, as well. I know a lot of people don’t like Sydney Sweeney, but I think she did really well in the movie.

They are making a second movie for the second book as we speak; it won’t be out until December of 2027. This gives me and anyone else time to read the second book before it comes out!

Did you see the movie first? Or did you read the book before the movie was even a thing? Let me know down below what you thought!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – The Happy Family (Daniel Hurst)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

This is the last book of the thriller series that has caught me on the edge of my seat. The way the last one ended, I had to know if Luna is actually getting away with all this. I will be recapping the second book.

If you haven’t read that one, a spoiler alert is needed!

So, the second book starts off with Sadie trying to figure out who had done all this, and the only reason she could think of was Reid. He was the closest to her who would make the most sense to cause all of this.

She meets Gemma in prison, and they decide that they both agree that Reid had to be the one to falsely put her in prison and cause Sadie to get a DUI. They start working together to see if Reid will slip up and reveal he did this it all.

However, they are looking at the wrong person.

Luna is living her best life as she got what she wanted, but the man who saw her start the fire, she’s still sleeping with him, and comes up with the idea to murder him. In her first attempt, she tries to give him sleeping pills so that once he is out, she can pour alcohol down his throat to make it seem like he has drunk himself to death.

When that fails, she tries again by giving him these sex pills that will supposedly help with making sex more “pleasurable”, but she makes him take 4 dosages in one pill that she crushes up. He gets a heart attack while in the middle of having sex, and he dies right there.

Luna then finds his phone and erases all his contacts with her so it won’t be traced back to her when they find him dead. She thought all was well, but someone saw her leave his apartment. Reid’s son, Arthur, did, and he ended up telling his mom.

Sadie found it strange that she was leaving a man’s apartment and thought that Luna might be cheating on Reid, but she started to think something else had happened when it came out in the news that he was found dead in his apartment. She ends up telling the same detective who helped with the fire at her parents’ house.

Luna was able to talk out of it by saying she was a friend of his and that they used to go to AA meetings, and before he died, he checked in on him, saying he was heavily drinking again. Of course, she walks away from that scot-free, but she was pissed when she realized that Sadie was the one who told the detective to check her out.

What do you think this crazy woman ends up thinking she needs to do next? If you guessed murdering her, you are right on the money.

While Luna is planning on coming up with a way to get rid of Sadie, Reid caves and visits Gemma in prison. Gemma also tells Reid that she and Sadie are onto him about everything he’s done lately. Of course, Reid is too stupid to believe Gemma since he still thinks she is the one who started the fire.

Then he tells her she needs to leave him alone for the sake of his family and new girlfriend. Gemma is shocked by this information and tries to question if Luna had anything to do with this all, but he leaves before she can get any more information.

Meanwhile, Luna tries to lure Sadie into the forest in the middle of the night, claiming Reid and the kids wanted to go looking for foxes. Sadie doesn’t come alone and ends up leaving because of the bad feeling she has about this whole situation, but she wants to make sure Reid is telling the truth, so she decides to stop by and see the kids.

However, Luna gets there as soon as she pulls up and asks her how the trip with the kids and Reid was in the forest, before Sadie can knock on the door, since Reid and the kids are all inside and it would’ve blown up in her face if Sadie saw them all inside.

That’s not even the craziest part! Reid finds a positive pregnancy test in the bathroom trash. You read that right, Luna is pregnant! Reid gets all excited to have another baby, which shocks me because little did he know that the mother of his new unborn son is a complete and crazy monster!

That same night, Sadie gets a message from Gemma saying why didn’t she tell her about Reid dating someone new so quicky and then everything starts to make sense to Sadie that Reid wasn’t the one to do this, but Luna.

Sadie goes to confront Luna and get both her kids and her ex-husband out of the house. Little did she know that Luna was up, and they got into this fight, which ended with Luna being stabbed in the arm and Sadie falling down the stairs and hitting her head.

The way the second book ends, Luna gets stitched up at the hospital, and Sadie had a bad head trauma, so she ended up in a coma so her brain could heal.

So, the third book starts out after Luna has had the baby, a son. Sadie is still in a coma, and Ruby, Reid, and Sadie’s daughter, isn’t handling it well. I felt so heartbroken for those kids because they have been through so much stuff in the past 2 years.

Anyway, Luna thinks she is in the clear until a month after she had her baby, the doctors let Reid and Sadie’s parents know that she has started to show brain activity and might wake up any day now. This puts Luna in a panic because she’s afraid Sadie will tell everyone about what she has done.

Gemma finds out that Sadie’s been in a coma and knows that Luna did it. She gets help from one of the prison guards to try and tell Reid that this was all Luna’s doing, but of course, Reid doesn’t believe them because Luna has him wrapped around her finger.

Not only does Luna have to worry about Sadie, but she also finds out Gemma is onto her. Luna is willing to do anything and everything to protect what she’s gotten so far. I mean, anything, she’s already gotten away with killing one person, so fair.

She tries to kill Sadie when she gets admitted to the hospital, but when she unplugs everything that is attached to Sadie, Sadie wakes up. Of course, the nurses rush in; they question why Luna is in there, but they are attending to Sadie. So far, Sadie doesn’t remember anything that happened before she went into the coma.

Of course, Reid, the kids, and Sadie’s parents come to the hospital when they find she’s awake. Luna also sees that her luck hasn’t quite run out yet, as she sees Gemma visiting one of the patients with a guard. Turns out Gemma’s mother is dying from cancer and was released so she could say her goodbyes.

The amount of luck Luna gets at that happens is ridiculous. Nurses don’t really question her about Sadie or the fact that she had a pillow in her hand that she was going to smother Sadie with. Then, to be in the same place as the other person who suspects you, it was like she was handed this golden opportunity.

I won’t say anything else because I really don’t want to ruin it, but the way the story ends, it’s just shocking how dumb Reid is about all this. It’s like he doesn’t believe that Luna would do what she did just to get him and his kids. Karma is a bitch, and boy, she delivers at the end of it.

Overall, this series kept me on my toes, waiting to see what the next crazy thing she is going to do next. It just blows my mind how unhinged she gets, even towards the end. This series was also a quick read for me; I pretty much read the last two books in less than a day.

I also honestly didn’t think I would be able to get into a thriller, but it was more enjoyable than I thought! Plus, with books like these being page-turners, I will no doubt be on my way to completing my reading goal for the year!

What did you think of this unhinged character? Were you just as shocked as I was with some of the stuff she did? Let me know in the comments down below!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – I Stole Your Family (Daniel Hurst)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

After finishing the first book, I Want Your Family, I just had to know how much more this crazy chick would get away with. If you haven’t read the first one, I would highly recommend doing so since I will be spoiling some of the parts of the last book to catch up with what the second book is about.

So, a spoiler alert, for those who haven’t read the first one.

In the first book, Luna is a delivery driver who delivers packages and has been stalking a family. She wants to take over Sadie’s role as the mother/husband and become her. Well, if you were just as shocked as I was, you’ll find that she did get away with doing so at the end of the first book.

Which is crazy, I honestly thought she’d be caught by now, but nope, not yet! Anyway, how did she manage to do so?

First, Reid, the husband, and Sadie were already having problems in their relationship, with Reid sexting one of his co-workers, Gemma. They decided to take a weekend to go off and try to see if there was a relationship left to save. However, little did they know that there was a third party listening in on this conversation they were having. Luna.

Luna ends up using this to her advantage and decides to ruin their little mini vacation to make sure they will get divorced. Well, she did just that. When they were at the spa retreat, Luna paid off one of the bartenders to say he recognized Reid and asked if he was with the infamous “Gemma” to his wife, Sadie.

Sadie didn’t end up taking that well and told him she wanted a divorce because, as far as she was told by Reid, he never slept with Gemma. So, she cuts the trip early and takes a taxi to her parents’ house to get their kids. Little did she know, Luna had SET THE HOUSE ON FIRE.

I’m not kidding, she set the house on fire with both the kids and Sadie’s parents inside. Luna thought they weren’t home, and once she realized they were, she banged on the glass window to get them to get out of the house. Thankfully, all of them were able to get out.

Of course, Sadie is pulling up to watch her parents’ house on fire and is freaking out, which I don’t blame her for; I would be too. That’s a sight you would never want to see as a parent. Coming back from a trip away with the kids and coming home to find that, I couldn’t imagine how I would feel other than I was going in there to get my family out.

Now, do you think Luna got away with this? The answer is YES, but someone caught her leaving the scene of the crime, holding all the evidence of her starting the fire in her hands. She ends up SLEEPING with this man to keep him quiet. You heard that right. Then she pins the entire fire on Gemma, Reid’s mistress.

Not only does she have to deal with this man, but she ends up getting Reid to sleep with her while he is undergoing his divorce from Sadie. Since she wants both the kids and the house they grew up in, she comes up with a plan to make sure custody is taken from Sadie.

She switches Sadie’s multivitamins for alcohol powder. Then, after making sure Sadie has already taken them, she calls the cops on Sadie, saying she’s drunk-driving with kids in the back, when Sadie is trying to take the kids to school. Of course, the cops pull her over, and because she ends up failing the breathalyzer test, she ultimately ends up losing full custody of her kids.

At the end of the book, you find out that she and Reid have a full-blown relationship now, and she is currently living in the house, raising Sadie’s kids. You’d never think she would actually get away with all this, right?

Sadie is the only one who starts to realize that she had to be targeted by someone to not only lose her husband, but her kids, too. The one thing she knows isn’t true is how she managed to get a DUI when she was completely sober.

So, the start of the book happens about a year after they had been officially divorced. Luna and Reid are living together. Sadie is shocked that Reid moved on as fast as he did and that she is being replaced by the same person who delivered packages to her.

If you think the first book she was crazy, just wait to find out what she does in this second book.

She is living her dream; however, there is one thing that is in the way of her happiness. The man who saw her leaving Sadie’s parents’ the night she started the fire. She is still sleeping with him WHILE dating Reid. Of course, she has to get rid of him, and the first thing that comes to her mind is murder.

So, while she is trying to come up with a plan to end him, Sadie thinks that the only person who could’ve made her lose everything was Reid, so she visits Gemma in prison, and they start to try to figure out why this was all happening to both of them.

Meanwhile, the kids are not taking a liking to Luna, and she is pissed because of this and is trying so hard to get them on her side. They are also 5 and 9, just watched their parents go through not only a divorce, but finding out their father’s mistress tried to kill them, and their mother only gets to see them once or twice a week.

Plus, their father already has a new girlfriend living with them all at the same time. That’s a huge adjustment for the kids to have to go through in a short amount of time. Of course, they start acting out because of it. The oldest, Arthur, is causing more of the issues, but he also catches Luna leaving another man’s house when he skipped school.

The same man who caught her starting the fire.

Of course, he tells Sadie, and she starts questioning if Luna is cheating on Reid. However, she starts to suspect Luna when the news comes out that this man had “suddenly” passed away. While that is happening, Gemma finally gets Reid to visit her in prison, and she tells him that she and Sadie suspect him of everything that has happened.

Reid, this idiot, refuses to believe her and thinks that she has lost it, but he lets it slip out that he has a girlfriend. Which Gemma had no idea of, and immediately emailed Sadie asking why she didn’t tell her that Reid was seeing someone right around the same time as all the bad luck started happening to them.

Wait til you find out what happens in the end, it’s just so crazy what Luna does to keep this fantasy of hers a reality. After I finished the second book, I had to know what happened in the last one. It leaves you on a cliffhanger for sure!

Overall, it keeps you on your toes and wanting to find out what happens next. I really didn’t believe I could get into a thriller series like this, but I had to know if this crazy Luna really gets what she wants.

What do you think of this mini-series? Are you just as shocked as I am that she is getting away with this all? Let me know down in the comments!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – I Want Your Family (Daniel Hurst)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

Have you ever read a book and asked the question, “What the actual fuck am I reading?” I definitely asked this question after finishing this book. I had no idea what I would be reading until I actually read the book.

One of my friends recommended this one as well; she talked a little bit about it, and since it was on Kindle Unlimited, I figured, why not try something different? Especially since I was pretty bummed with the last romance novel I read, I figured taking a break from the romance novels to something different might help me.

Oh, but little did I know what I was reading until I actually read this. Let me get one thing straight: this chick is CRAZY. Not to mention, this is the first book; two others come right after. I also finished the first book so quickly and started right away on the other ones in just this week.

Anyway, let’s talk about what this story is really about. The POV is in Luna’s and Sadie’s. So, Luna is the crazy one who wants what Sadie has: her husband, her kids, and her life. She delivers packages to her daily and fantasizes about removing Sadie from her home and pretty much becoming her.

The thing that really shocked me is how she plans on doing it. I thought for sure she would get away with it, but I swear, she had all this planned out. Which when reading this, it makes me question where the author actually came up with this because this type of thinking is NUTS.

Usually, this isn’t the type of book that I would just randomly pick up and give it a go, but once you start reading, you just want to know how far she is willing to go to get this family. I wanted to know how she planned on doing it and if she’d get away with it all.

One of the key things that happened that makes this all go down is that Sadie and Reid, her husband, are having problems in their marriage. Sadie catches Reid sexting his co-worker, Gemma, which is causing tension between them.

Of course, once that trust is broken, it’s hard to get it back, and in this case, they decided to try and work on their marriage to see if there was anything left to save. Which is when the whole shit-show starts, when they leave to go to a spa retreat.

Luna overhears the conversation and uses it to her advantage. It also didn’t help that they decided to have this conversation when she was delivering a package to them the same day. I think this is when she started her plan.

I really don’t want to spoil it for you all because it’s just crazy what she does to not only get Sadie and Reid to divorce, but also to have Sadie lose custody of the two kids. Plus, she manages to get Reid wrapped around her finger once the divorce is all official.

I have to give her credit, she’s motivated to get what she wants, but why you would want to steal another person’s family is beyond me. She could’ve had one herself, you would’ve thought, but she mentions that she had tried, but nothing had worked out. Not to mention, she tried to do it with another family BEFORE!

I was shocked she was trying to do it with this family, but she did it to another family and got caught? Well, she had to get a whole new ID and life, which is why you find out that her real name is Sarah, not Luna.

Overall, this book keeps you on your toes for sure, and this was my first, I guess you can call it a thriller. Normally, I like cheesy romance or fantasy stuff, but I couldn’t put this book down. Especially when you find out what happens in the end, you want to read the second book just to find out what she does next.

Have you read this series, or is this something that has piqued your interest? Let me know if your curious to know how crazy Luna gets and I mean she gets even more unhindged than you think!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Obsession Falls (Claire Kingsley)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I have started to finally work on my saved book list on Amazon. This was one that I was really excited to see on Kindle Unlimited. I had really high hopes since it was a small-town romance, and after the Story Lake series, I really had some high hopes that this would be a good one.

So, this is a series, and I’m debating if I want to test out the second one, but you’ll see why when I talk more about the first one. The story is based on Audery moving back home after getting laid off from her job and struggling to find another one, until she was hired at a small town newspaper.

She ends up living with her mother, but realizes that her dog, Max, and her mother’s cat don’t get along well, and ends up quickly moving out into her own place. That is also when she meets Josiah Haven. The way they end up meeting each other is hilarious, to say the least.

Josiah was working on the place next to where Audery moved to and thought she was a squatter, since his little sister didn’t tell him she already signed a lease with them. He pretty much walks in on her naked in the bathtub. Which I found hilarious!

Reading his POV, he was completely embarrassed and was upset that his sister didn’t tell him someone had already moved into the place. Anyway, as you can tell, the POV is not just in Josiah’s, but Audrey’s as well.

Once she starts living there, that’s when she starts getting random calls from restricted numbers, dead squirrels appear on her front porch, and she has the feeling that someone is stalking her. She has Josiah help her when she finds the dead squirrel on her front porch and tells her that squirrels don’t just up and die randomly while being drained of all their blood.

Audrey and Josiah make a police report, but since there wasn’t enough evidence, she has to keep her guard up. She has no idea who could be doing this since she never had any enemies, to her knowledge, although Josiah thinks it might be her ex-boyfriend.

I honestly thought it was the ex-boyfriend was the stalker, just from the two interactions that she had with him. He drove from the town over, just to go to a bar to see her and supposedly “catch up”? It just seemed suspicious to me, plus he was getting kind of handsy with her, that’s when Josiah actually stepped in and became her “knight in shining armor”.

That’s when he starts to have feelings towards her, but is hesitant to act on them since at the beginning of the book, it starts with him about to propose to his girlfriend of 3 years, but she ends up dumping him because she got a promotion to another state and knows he would never leave the small town he grew up in, so instead of proposing, he just lets her dump him.

Which would make sense why he is very cold and closed off to any type of female interaction. Even the blind dates his aunt tries to set him up with, he wants nothing to do with them. He actually starts to realize that he can’t stop thinking about Audrey, and when she sees him with another woman, she thinks that it’s his girlfriend, but he drives back to her house and kisses her.

I love it when the author builds the tension between two love interests, and they finally kiss after reading several chapters, waiting for the “will they or won’t they” moment. It got me excited to see how she would write their first intimate moment, especially how she built up their attraction to each other. I was hoping for fireworks!

Well, to say I was disappointed was an understatement. It was like reading about a one-night stand with little to no detail. I was hoping for something more exciting, but it was very lackluster. Maybe it’s because the last small town novels really went over the top with what I was expecting, who knows?

I figured maybe the author was waiting for a better moment to go into detail with their next intimate moment, and unfortunately, I was still disappointed. Granted, that wasn’t the reason that kept me reading, I really wanted to know who this stalker was, but why build up the tension with two characters and give them a subpar sex scene?

Overall, I think what really drew me in was not just the small-town romance, but the side of mystery with who this stalker was and why they were targeting Audrey. I won’t spoil it, but it threw me off the path to who it was, but I will let you all read on to find out who it actually was.

This book wasn’t too bad. It’s not something I’ll be buying for my shelf anytime soon, it was an interesting read overall. Would I read it again? Possibly. Will I read the second one? I’m still unsure, but I might give it a try to see if the next book, which is about Josiah’s brother, Zachary.

Oh, I forgot to mention, Josiah has 5 other brothers. Which is why there are other books based on each of the Haven brothers. I’m getting the sense that most of these small-town book series I’ve been reading have been about each brother finding love. Nothing wrong with that, as long as they have some kind of drama or mystery going on that keeps your interest going.

Have any of you read this book or this series? What did you think? Or is the small-town romance not your cup of tea? Let me know down below!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Story of My Life (Lucy Score)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

Don’t worry, this week’s book will not leave you in tears! I’ve had this one saved for a little bit, and I finally said screw it and jumped right into reading it. It is a bit longer book than the others I’ve read in the past, 510 pages. That’s also nothing compared to her second book of this series, which is over 600 pages long!

However, it was so worth it! I loved every minute of reading it!

The story is about Hazel, who was once a famous romance writer who hasn’t written anything since her divorce, and needed a new inspiration to get back to being on top. She decides to move to this small town in Story Lake, Pennsylvania. After realizing the house she bought is in desperate need of being fixed up, she hires the Bishop brothers’ company to get her house in order.

Since Hazel bought the house from the mayor, who is 17 years old, she also got a seat on the town council, as the small town itself is struggling to gain more tourists and people who want to move there.

Anyway, her first few days don’t go as well as planned, between getting attacked by the eagle, known as Goose, crashing her car into the town sign because of said eagle, and being accused of murdering Goose. She didn’t have the warmest welcome, but the Bishop brothers and their family helped her clear her name.

Campbell, otherwise known as “Cam”, Bishop is the oldest and grumpiest Bishop brother who starts to warm up to Hazel, especially after she asks if he can take her out on a fake date, since she needs some more inspiration, and she didn’t start getting some until she met him.

Of course, he declines at first, but then, when she says she would ask one of his other brothers for help with this, he agrees. Their first date starts off as rocky as Cam thought she would be one of those girls who loves the fancy restaurant he chose, but she then tells him she wanted him to take her out on a “Cam Date”, so she can see if this grumpy man was capable of being romantic under all that brooding.

Honestly, I loved Cam’s idea for a first date, simple yet romantic! Got subs, stole, or, as he called it, “borrowed” his brother’s boat, and they ate subs under the stars with some beers. Cam actually treated it like a date, too, because he opened up to her and she opened up to him. She did bring her notebook with her to write notes, but he wanted her to enjoy the date in the moment, which I thought was sweet.

Then, towards the end of the date, his brother, Levi, caught them in the boat, and they both fell in the water together. When Cam brought Hazel home, he took a second to decide whether or not he was going to kiss her, and then he did, which I was waiting for! You can’t go on a good date like that and not have a good night kiss!

This is the start of Hazel getting back into writing her new book. Her best friend, Zoey, is all excited, since she is also Hazel’s literary agent and just lost her job because she was helping Hazel get back on her feet.

Without getting further into it, I thought this was a very cute and hilarious rom-com book! I haven’t found another one of these in a while, and I’m really glad I did! I’m currently working on reading her second book, which is about her best friend Zoey, and there is a third one that is coming out next year, which I’m wondering who it will be about this time.

I also love how the relationship builds with Hazel and Cam, the book is in both their POV, which is my favorite! I loved how Cam was not about Hazel, and over time, he grew to like her. There are some scenes that get a little spicy, but again, I like it when it doesn’t take over the entire book.

They grow to like each other, even after all the bickering and fighting they do; it’s so funny what they are arguing about. They are a very much opposites attract couple, especially since she is a writer and he’s a contractor. Plus, he does an over-the-top romance notion to get her back, as most romance novels tend to do!

I think the star of the book and most of the humor comes from the small town shenanigans and how nosy they all are. Of course, can’t forget all the trouble the eagle, Goose, does to Hazel and Zoey, and other people that upset him.

Honestly, after reading this book, I wouldn’t mind living in a small town. Especially, one like this one. Everyone is always so friendly and helpful, but if you do anything to upset them, they have your back, or if you have pissed them off, you’ll end up getting potatoes thrown at you.

Although I was shockingly surprised to see a lot of mixed reviews about this book, like I know it’s a long book and not a lot of people are fans of “rom-com” stuff, but I honestly think it depends on what type of books you like to read. I was zoned in once I started reading it.

Plus, you have to like the author’s writing style too, which I found out she’s got a lot more books that she’s written that I will need to check out for sure! Some people say she has better ones than she has written before, which has me curious.

Overall, I loved this book, and it will be going on my bookshelf for sure! I also really love cheesy romance stuff like this, too. Plus, the bickering between Hazel and Cam is hilarious, not to mention that when you see Cam bickering with his siblings is even more entertaining!

I really can’t wait to find out how the second one turns out and what the author is planning for the 3rd one, since that one won’t be out until next year in March. What did you think of this rom-com book? Is it something you’d want to read, or if you have read it, what are your thoughts? Let me know down below!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – The Last Letter (Rebecca Yarros)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

So, this book was recommended by my friend, and she told me it was a good read, but man, I was bawling at the end of this book! Normally, this isn’t a book I would choose on my own, but I’m honestly glad I did.

I’m going to do my best and not spoil it for those who want to read it. What happens in the end, it was not what I was expecting, and I think it hit me harder because of what I’ve been through, again, trying my hardest not to spoil it for you!

The book starts out in both Ella and Beckett’s POV. So, each chapter switches back and forth, and they also begin with a letter they have been writing back and forth to each other. Ella’s brother, Ryan, is Beckett’s best friend; they are both in the military together, and Ryan gets his sister to write Beckett a letter.

Beckett was also completely against having a pen pal or opening up to anyone emotionally, but after losing someone else in the army, he finally decides to open up and reply to her. They start being pen pals, but Ella only knows Beckett as his military nickname “Chaos”.

They build this friendship through writing back and forth to each other and start to grow feelings for each other. Then, Ryan dies in battle and leaves a letter for Beckett asking him to be there for Ella and her kids. Beckett also doesn’t send Ella another letter as he feels guilty for what happened to her brother.

The letter Ryan gives Beckett, I thought that was sad because I got teary-eyed reading that! Anyway, Beckett goes to the cabin resort that Ella owns, she took over from her grandmother when she passed, rents a cabin, and meets Ella and her twins. He doesn’t tell her that he’s “Chaos” right off the bat.

When he does meet Ella, he tells her he knew his brother and gives her the letter her brother left for him. Ella, of course, refuses his help as she is dealing with a lot. Her daughter, Maisie, is going through treatment for cancer, and she’s trying to manage keeping the business afloat while drowning in medical bills for Maisie’s cancer treatment.

Plus, you also find out that Maisie and Colt’s biological father walked out on Ella when she was 8 weeks pregnant, and then ended up getting divorced. This makes me understand why Ella has trust issues and has issues with people lying to her. Which makes sense why she doesn’t want to trust Beckett right off the bat.

Of course, Ella starts to fall for Beckett, especially when he starts helping Ella with the kids and being there for her, whether she asks for it or not. Of course, the kids start welcoming Beckett into their lives, and my heart warmed when Colt told Beckett, “This is what having a dad feels like.” They had never had a dad in their life and Beckett was the closest thing they had to a father.

Eventually, he offers to adopt Ella’s kids, so they can have his military insurance since the treatment Maisie needs is covered under his insurance, versus Ella having to pay out of pocket for it. The way he gets the twins’ biological dad to sign his rights out was just badass!

Without spoiling it, I will let you guys read it for yourself. Tissues are recommended towards the end because I was bawling. I ended up waking up early and figured that I would read since the kids were still sleeping. Little did I know that I was at the end of the book, and I couldn’t stop crying.

My poor mother heard me crying from the other room and thought something was wrong with me, and all I could tell her was “It’s my book.” Of course, she started laughing because I’m also currently pregnant and wasn’t sure if it was something else that had me crying. Which made me so overemotional when I read the end of the book.

I honestly loved the love story that builds between Ella and Beckett. I also haven’t read a lot of books that shows how a single parent finds someone that not only there for them, but also for their kids as well. I do have a few saved in my Pinterest Board to check out; this was the first one that I truly felt was an amazing book.

Overall, I loved the story, hated the ending, but you do have to give the author credit that she did an amazing job building up the relationship between Ella and Beckett and didn’t rush right to it, like some other authors tend to do. There is one spicy scene, but it was well needed because you could cut their sexual tension with a knife!

It also talks about how hard it is to get your life back on track when you lose a loved one in the military, like with Beckett, how losing his best friend affected not only him, but also how it affected Ella and the twins.

Let me know down below if you have read this book and what your thoughts are! Also, I did find out they are turning this book into a movie and I honestly can’t wait! Hopefully, they won’t screw it up, but I know I’ll be crying for sure at the end!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – If He Had Been With Me (Laura Nowlin)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

I’m so sorry for missing last week’s post! We had a beautiful weekend that I couldn’t pass up, and plus, I hadn’t finished a book yet either, I completely forgot! Don’t worry, I’m back! I’ll make sure I have some others pre-planned just in case I space it again!

Since I got Kindle Unlimited, this title came up as a recommendation, and I figured, why not? I’ll give it a go. Then, when I mentioned to one of my friends that I was reading this, she was like, “Oh man, you are going to lose it when you get to the end.”

Mind you, I just started the book, and the way the beginning started, I kind of figured out what might be happening. Then she showed me some TikToks of people absolutely losing it when they got to Chapters 84 & 85. When I mean they were losing it, I mean like balling uncontrollably.

I also had no idea this was even popular. I don’t have TikTok, never installed it, or signed up for an account because anything that was shown on TikTok showed up on Facebook or YouTube, so I didn’t see the need to have it. Plus, most of my book recommendations come from Pinterest or Kindle Unlimited.

Anyway, this book wasn’t what I was expecting, but it is something I would reread again. So, it’s about Finn and Autumn, how their mothers were best friends and pretty much were raised together. Its best friends turned to lovers, but it doesn’t happen right off the bat.

The book is completely in Autumn’s POV, so you start to see that he’s more popular than her, and she backs away from their friendship, which can happen, especially during middle school and high school. That’s when you start finding groups of friends more like you.

By the way, this only happens when Finn kisses her, and she doesn’t know how to react and doesn’t want him to use her, which I completely understand, but she basically pushes him away and stays with her little group of friends.

Then, at the beginning of freshman year, you see Finn start dating Sylvie, eventually Autumn meets Jamie, and they start dating as well. They still see each other a lot, but this distance has been created, which makes it difficult for them to co-exist and still be the best of friends that they once were.

Without trying to spoil the entire thing, they don’t confess their feelings until the summer that they graduated, and that’s when they both realized that Finn had been in love with her since they were 11. Autumn didn’t start feeling it until 2 years before, but doesn’t say anything since she’s with Jamie.

One thing I want to point out about Jamie is that he had so many red flags that she just ignored, but I do understand because of the fact that they were in high school, and when it’s your first love, you tend to look over everything.

Anytime he didn’t agree with something she said, he would argue with Autumn about it, as if he didn’t care about her opinion. Kept pushing her to have sex with her when she told him she wasn’t ready. He was a douche bag anyway because of what he did to Autumn in the end.

I was waiting for her to break things off with this guy from the moment he started treating her like crap. Then again, you do dumb stuff when you’re young and have to learn from your mistakes. Plus, I’m pretty sure he was love-bombing her too.

Of course, when the book starts in the beginning, I kinda had a feeling that something happened with Finn, that we weren’t going to know for sure until the end. If you have read as much as I have, then you would be able to put two and two together about what happened.

I did get teared up when I read Chapters 84 & 85, but not as bad as I saw others do. Which is shocking because when I read that part, my 1-year-old was sleeping on my chest and my eyes watered, but I didn’t full-blown cry over it. I’m also pregnant, so it really didn’t hit me as hard as I expected.

It could have had to do with the fact that the TikToks kind of gave it away, which is one of the reasons why I don’t have it, because it spoils a lot of books for people. I mean, I get ideas from Pinterest on different book suggestions, but I haven’t run into a pin that has spoiled it for me.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad book; the writer’s style was something to get used to, but it was readable for sure. I highly recommend it, although once you finish that one, there is a sequel that gives you Finn’s POV for a few chapters, which gives you more of an inside on how he was feeling about Autumn.

What did you think of this book? Did you happen to read it because it was on TikTok, or were you like me and happened to have it recommended? Let me know in the comments!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Of Earth and Flame (Elayna R Gallea)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

So, I kind of went down a rabbit hole and found that there are books that are sort of similar to one of my favorite franchises that my siblings and I used to watch, which happened to be the Barbie movies.

Thanks to Pinterest and some research, I found books inspired by those movies. Of course, I made a list of each of these books and which movie they are inspired by. I also decided to get Kindle Unlimited because it just made sense for me to have that versus buying books that I may or may not like.

I will be making a post with all the books and which movie was inspired by them in the future, but let’s get started with this one!

Now, this book is actually a series, which I didn’t realize until I looked more into it, and it’s fantasy, which has been rare for me lately because I’ve been reading more romance/smut stuff recently.

This book is actually an inspiration for Barbie as Rapunzel!

If you haven’t seen this one, let me give you a brief overview of what the plot is about.

Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t seen the movie!

So, in some of the Barbie movies, there is a conflict before the story is told, which in this case is Kelly talking about how she doesn’t know what to paint and thinks that she won’t do a great job. That’s when Barbie tells the story about a girl who loves to paint, Rapunzel.

Rapunzel is stolen and lives in a manor with Mother Gothel, who has strong magical powers that she uses to keep Rapunzel trapped in the manor. She also treats Rapunzel like crap and uses her as a maid. Then Rapunzel finds a secret staircase that goes down into a basement, where she finds a hairbrush that’s engraved with:

“Constant as the stars above, always know that you are loved. To our daughter Rapunzel on her first birthday. With love forever, mother and father.”

Which confuses her since she’s only known Gothel as her mother figure. Then her friend dragon breaks a hole in the floor, and they find an underground tunnel that leads directly to the village. She saves one of the princesses, and the prince thanks her.

She goes back to the manor, and overnight, the hairbrush turns into a magical paintbrush where she can paint anything and magically appear. She does this with dresses, and she is able to paint a portrait of the village where she can walk into it and be in the village.

Since the prince invited her to the ball, Mother Gothel finds out and ends up locking her away in the tower, and goes as Rapunzel to the ball to trick the prince. Rapunzel escapes and then confronts Mother Gothel and finds out that she stole her as a baby to get back at her father.

That’s just a brief overview of the movie, but I highly recommend checking it out because, honestly, it was a different twist on the Rapunzel story. This wasn’t my all-time favorite Barbie movie, but it’s up there as one that I would rewatch over and over again.

Anyway, back to the book, it starts out as any other Rapunzel story does, locked in a tower. When the book first starts, Aileana is literally escaping the tower as she has been locked in there for 23 years and is arranged to marry the prince of an evil king, who is even more evil.

Aileana is also an elf, which I was really excited about because I’ve never read a book where the main character is an elf. So, once she escapes, she meets this guy Xander, whom she happens to stab when they first meet, since she doesn’t want to be captured like she was before.

They team up, since the land they are in, females can only be accompanied by a male figure, and in order for them to lead the country, they pretend to be a fake husband and wife. They also find out they are soulmates too.

The more time they spend together, the more they start to fall for each other, which I love! I honestly think more authors should do this, like just because their soulmates build up the chemistry!

Plus, their pretending to be husband and wife makes the connection, I think, stronger in a sense. Not to mention the interesting thing, you find out what Xander really is because he heals quickly. I honestly thought he was going to come out as a werewolf, but boy, was I wrong!

There was also a lot of other stuff that happened in the book, but I really didn’t want to spoil too much. The way the book ended, it really makes me want to read the second one, which is also on Kindle Unlimited!

Overall, between the book and the movie, they only have a few things in common: the Rapunzel factor of being locked in a tower, magic, dragons, and, of course, it takes place in a kingdom. It’s a different spin on Rapunzel, but I really like it!

I also wanted a break from the smut I’ve been reading. I just finished a quick series that I’m going to do a review on, but this was a breath of fresh air for me. I’m also a big fantasy fan, so it’s been nice to read something different for a change.

I’m also really excited to read the next book from the list! Let me know how you liked this book and if you were big fans of the Barbie movies when you were a kid.

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – One Last Chance (Reno R. Mist)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies! I was so excited to do a review on this book because I literally finished it less than 2 days! One of my co-workers actually was the one that told me about this book and I was very interested in it right away.

So, the story is about a man named Levi, where he ends up leaving his wife to be with his mistress and then wakes up after dying in a car crash to find out he is back where he was 12 years ago when he first left his wife and realizes this is his second chance to fix everything that he knows will happen if he stays on the path he was before.

Now, I’m not the type who enjoys reading about affairs or cheating, but when the book mentions about pretty much bending over backwards to fix his marriage and his kids lives, I was so intrigued.

It shows a lot of character growth of Levi when he talks about the past 12 years he’s already lived and shows his wife, Sloane, the effort and williness to make the marriage work the second time around. Plus while he is trying to fix his marriage, his mistress, Angie, is causing hell to get Levi back for herself.

Angie is one of the reasons that makes this read worth it because you really want to know how far she goes to try and win back Levi. When I mean this chick is crazy, I mean shes CRAZY. The amount of stuff she does to Levi and his family is just unreal.

The whole waking up back after dying and giving a second chance is what really intrigued me because I haven’t read a lot of books that have that factor in them. Not to mention, it got me thinking about writing a story with the similar concept of what a second chance would look like.

The author really did keep me glued to every word she wrote, I mean I was so zoned in and invested to find out what happened that if I would’ve started it on a rainy day first thing in the morning, that it would have been finished the same day.

I will mention, there are some spicy scenes, which I didn’t know were in the book, but its not like its every other page. Its what I like to call a happy medium. I honestly don’t mind spicy scenes or ‘smut’ in books, however, I don’t like it when it takes over the entire book.

This author did it perfectly, there was enough going on drama wise and the spicy scenes inbetween was like a bonus honestly. Overall, I really enjoyed the book and I can see myself rereading this book over and over for sure.

I also did want to mention that this is also a series! Of course, this is the first book of the series and I really can’t wait to see what is next! I ended up following her on Amazon, so that when the next book is out, I’m going to be buying it as soon as it is out!

Let me know in the comments if you’ve read this yet or want to start reading it!