The Romance Bookie

 Hey Everyone! Happy New Year! I can't believe we are already on day 5 of the New Year, but here we go! I just finished my third book of 2023, and am thoroughly enjoying this time off to recuperate after a surgery I had a couple of weeks ago, and getting lots of time to work on my planner and read! For today's review I have a new release!   Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman, which was just officially released this past Tuesday!  I was able to find a copy last week during the annual 50% off hardcovers sale at Barnes and Noble, so I was super excited to have it in my hands early.  I love the Heartstopper series, and am looking forward to the last volume, set to hopefully release next month?  Not sure though if that's official, because there still isn't a cover, and it's hard to believe an author could have two releases within such a short time...but weirder things have happened, and I'm really hoping the last volume comes out next month, because I'm looking fo...

 Hey Everyone! It's been a minute, and for once it isn't because I haven't been reading!  In fact, I have A LOT of catching up to do!  Like a lot! I have been reading a lot! In fact, every time I finish a book, I just roll right into the next one, instead of updating The Romance Bookie, working on the Bookstagram, or even updating my Always Fully Booked Planner.   So here goes the updating! This review is for Last Chance Books  by Kelsey Rodkey. From Goodreads: Don't you just love the smell of old books in the morning? Madeline Moore does. Books & Moore, the musty bookstore her family has owned for generations, is where she feels most herself. Nothing is going to stop her from coming back after college to take over the store from her beloved aunt. Nothing, that is--until a chain bookstore called Prologue opens across the street and threatens to shut them down.  Madeline sets out to demolish the competition, but Jasper, the guy who works over at Prologue...

 Hey Everyone! I haven't had the opportunity to read an ARC in years, and this was my first time getting to listen to an ARC via audiobook, so it was pretty exciting.  Years and years ago I made a Netgalley account, and I honestly became horrible at keeping up with all the books I was requesting.  I just found out that Netgalley is doing audiobooks now too, and that got me very excited, because audiobooks and physical books are my jam!  So I am swearing to myself that I will only request one book at a time, so I make sure to actually review it! My first Netgalley review in many many years is for Josh and Gemma Make a Baby by Sarah Ready which will be released on January 25th! From Goodreads: New Year's Resolution: Have a baby Preferably with Josh Lewenthal. Meet Gemma Jacobs. She's driven, energetic, and a positive thinker. She has a great career working for famed self-help guru Ian Fortune, she lives in a cute studio apartment in Manhattan, and her fa...

 Hey! Here for another review! This one for the third book in the Dash and Lily  series, Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily  by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan! From Goodreads: For Dash and Lily, it's beginning to look a lot like...distance! Just in time for the series release of Dash & Lily on Netflix comes a new helping of love -- this time across the pond as best-selling authors Rachel Cohn and David Levithan send Dash and Lily to England. Dash and Lily were feeling closer than ever...it's just too bad they're now an ocean apart. After Dash gets accepted to Oxford University and Lily stays in New York to take care of her dog walking business, the devoted couple are struggling to make a long distance relationship work. And when Dash breaks the news that he won't  be coming home for Christmas, Lily makes a decision: if Dash can't come to her, she'll join him in London. It's a perfect romantic gesture...that spins out of Lily's control. Soon Dash an...

 Hey! I know it's been a while!  It's been super busy in my house.  We will be moving this coming Monday, and some HUGE changes coming to my family.  My husband and I are very excited, but of course with moving comes stress.  It's taken us a few months to get ready, and my head just hasn't been there for reading.   But anyway, I FINALLY finished a book yesterday!  This one caught my eye this summer during a rare solo trip to Barnes and Noble, where I actually had time to browse at my leisure.   So here's my review for Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade! From Goodreads: Olivia Dade bursts onto the scene in this delightfully fun romantic comedy set in the world of fan fiction, in which a devoted fan goes on an unexpected date with her celebrity crush, whose secretly posting fan fiction of his own. Marcus Caster-Rupp has a secret. While the world knows him as Aeneas, the star of the biggest show on TV, Gods of the Gates,  he's know...

 Hey! I finally finished an actual novel this month!  It's been a rather odd month.  I'm feeling off at the moment, can't really explain it, but my head has been in the clouds so to say.   But anyway, finished an actual book in July, instead of another graphic novel. The Girl Least Likely by Katy Loutzenhiser was released on June 29th, so a new release! From Goodreads: To All the Boys meets The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (with a dash of Dumplin' ) in this funny, romantic, and heartfelt coming of age story about a teen stand-up comic learning how to be her truest self, from the author of If You're Out There . Gretchen has always been more of a "least likely" than a "most likely" kind of girl. So how does she somehow find herself living out every trope from her favorite rom-coms...? The Best Friend Crush: Why is it suddenly so hard to act normal around her childhood BFF, Samuel? Must be time for a -- Makeover(!): Black leather pants and some red lipstic...

 Hello! I hope everyone had a nice weekend! I can't believe it is Monday again and that we are approaching the midway point for 2021 already!  It is seriously blowing my mind how fast time is passing by!   Last night I finished Nicola Yoon latest release Instructions for Dancing ! From Goodreads: Evie Thomas doesn't believe in love anymore.  Especially after the strangest thing occurs one otherwise ordinary afternoon: She witnesses a couple kiss and is overcome with a vision of how their romance began...and how it will end.  After all, even the greatest love stories end with a broken heart, eventually. As Evie tries to understand why this is happening, she finds herself at La Brea Dance Studio, learning to waltz, fox-trot, and tango with a boy named X.  X is everything that Evie is not: adventurous, passionate, daring. His philosophy is to say yes to everything -- including entering a ballroom dance competition with a girl...

 Hey Everyone!   So I finished another book! I actually just upped my  Goodreads  reading goal, because I had it set to 10, and I've already surpassed it! I have it now set to 25, which if I keep going the way I have been these last few months, I shouldn't have a problem at all!  :).  It was a long week for us!  We had appointments after appointments.  And then on Friday I did the most horrible thing...dropped my phone into our pond.  😭😭😭😭😭 It is gone.  We can't find it.  Our pond is super deep, and you can't see to the bottom.  My husband tried for hours!  He went in, and swam around, and then I ran from store to store to find a huge magnet and rope, and then he went fishing for it for hours and hours.  But no luck.  So Friday we got to run to the Apple Store in the evening and get me a new phone.  I'm just super bummed, because normally I would love a new phone, but I truly love my XS Max.  And t...

 Hello! Today's review is on Sophie Kinsella's Love Your Life ! Sophie Kinsella is also the author of Confessions of a Shopaholic and  Undomestic Goddess   (which I reviewed back in early 2011!) I hope everyone is having a good week so far!  It's been a little rough for me, but getting through it slowly.  Taking it one day at a time. :) From Goodreads: From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of I Owe You One , an utterly delightful novel about a young woman who ditches her dating app for a writer's retreat in Italy -- only to find that real love ones with its own filters. Call Ava romantic, but she thinks love should be found in the real world, not on apps that filter men by height, job, or astrological sign.  She believes in feelings, not algorithms. So after a recent breakup and dating app debacle, she decides to put love on hold and escapes to a writer's retreat in remote, coastal Italy. She's determined to finish writing the novel s...

 Hey! Today's review is for Four Days of You and Me  by Miranda Kenneally! I am enjoying reading so much again, I am just on a roll!   From Goodreads: A new swoon-worthy romance following a couple's love story on the same date over four years. Every May 7, the students at Coffee County High School take a class trip.  And every year, Lulu's relationship with Alex Rouvelis gets a little more complicated.  Freshman year, they went from sworn enemies to more than friends after a close encounter in an escape room.  It's been hard for Lulu to quit Alex ever since. Through breakups, makeups, and dating other people, each year's class trip brings the pair back together and forces them to confront their undeniable connection.  From the science museum to an amusement park, from New York City to London, Lulu learns one thing is for sure: love is the biggest trip of all.  My Thoughts: This one was cute!  I'll be honest, it wasn't my favorite Mi...

 Hey Everyone! I took a little break from reading this weekend, to go the opening of Disneyland.  My husband and I took our son and got to be there from Thursday through Monday.  We had the best time, and it didn't leave much time (or any) for reading.  But today, I ended up just reading every chance I got, and just zoomed through Meg Cabot's second book in the Little Bridge Island Series . From Goodreads:  A broken engagement only gave Molly Montgomery additional incentive to follow her dream job from the Colorado Rockies to the Florida Keys.  Now, as Little Bridge Island Public Library's head of children's services, Molly hopes the messiest thing in her life will be her sticky-note covered desk.  But fate-- in the form of a newborn left in the restroom-- has other ideas.  So does the sheriff who comes to investigates the "abandonment".  The man's arrogance is almost as distracting as his blue eyes. Almost... Recently divorced, John has been...

 Hey Everyone! I finished another book! I'm on a serious roll, and I don't want to lose my momentum!  Three books in April, so far!  That's crazy, unheard of for me, in the last few years.  I'm really excited, to have possibly gotten out of this long a** reading slump I've been on for way too long!  And I finished a NEW Book!  Like from this year!!!  I know crazy, right?! 😄 I finished Crystal Maldonado's debut novel, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, which came out in February.   From Goodreads: Coming of age as Fat brown girl in a white Connecticut suburb is hard.  Harder when your whole life is on fire, though. Charlie Vega is a lot of things.  Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat. People sometimes have a problem with that last one.  Especially her mom.  Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it's hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn't help.  The world and everyone in it ha...

 Hey! So I finished Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer!  I really enjoyed this one! I haven't gotten to enjoy a book like this in probably easily over a year, so it was really nice. From Goodreads: Chronic overachiever Prudence Barnett is always quick to cast judgement on the lazy, rude, and arrogant residents of her coastal town.  Her dreams of karmic justice are fulfilled when, after a night out with her friends, she wakes up with the sudden ability to cast instant karma on those around her. Pru giddily makes use of the power, punishing everyone from public vandals to mean gossips, but there is one person on whom her powers consistently backfire: Quint Erickson, her slacker of a lab partner.  Quint is annoyingly cute and impressively noble, especially when it comes to his work with the rescue center for local sea animals.   When Pru resigns herself to working at the rescue center for extra credit, she begins to uncover truths about baby otters, environme...

 Hey Everyone! Being a new mom my schedule is super sporadic!  I never know how my day is going to go, because it all depends on how my baby feels.   When I do have "free time" it consists of holding him, or having him sleep next to me, while I watch TV.  We've been working on his sleep schedule, but since he is still so very young (7 weeks old), there isn't too much we can do.  One thing that has been a slight problem, but is slowly getting better, is that he doesn't like being alone when he is sleeping.  He somehow always knows when we have left his side, and he freaks out almost immediately and starts crying.  It can be a bit difficult when you're trying to do something (like go to the bathroom! 😂), but I'm enjoying my time so much with him.  And who am I to argue that he is letting me catch up on shows and movies! So yesterday a new show was released on Netflix... Dash & Lily .   It's based on the book by David Levithan and Rachel Co...

Hey Everyone! I honestly didn't think I would be approved, but holy moly NetGalley approved me!!! I got approved for Meg Cabot's latest adult novel No Judgements !!  She hasn't released a new series in years, especially an adult one, so I have been really looking forward to this one!!!   From Goodreads : The storm of the century is about to hit Little Bridge Island, Florida -- and it's sending waves crashing through Sabrina "Bree" Beckham's love life... When a massive hurricane severs all power and cell service to Little Bridge Island --as well as its connection to the mainland -- twenty-five-year-old Bree Beckham isn't worried...at first.  She's already escaped one storm -- her emotionally abusive ex -- so a hurricane seems like it will be a piece of cake. But animal-loving Bree does become alarmed when she realizes how many islanders have been cut off from their beloved pets.  Now it's up to her to save as many of Littl...

Hey Everyone! I'm back again!! Did you miss me? Of course you did! ;)  All three of you reading this... Oh who am I kidding, my mom! "Hi Mom!!" 😄 Just kidding! I hope, to who ever is reading this, that you have had an awesome kick start to your summer!  I know some of you might not have a summer break, because if you're an adult, like me at the almost age of 28, then you probably have work!  Or, if you're an adult, and really like me, you chose to go in the teaching children profession, and therefore you do have a summer break!  Either way, whether you have the summer off or not, I hope you are having a wonderful start to the new season! I just got back from a fun week long road trip with my husband.  We tried to do cross country, but man is it tough being on the road for a week, let alone the three weeks we had originally planned!  We had a great time, and saw some incredible places; but road life is not the life for us!  We got home on S...