Top Ten Tuesday: Cover Love – Mardi Gras Style
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is Purple, Yellow, and/or Green Book Covers (in honor of Mardi Gras, which is today!). I don’t usually do much for Mardi Gras honestly. Back in college, we would have Mardi Gras themed parties and pre-COVID, my office would get a King Cake every year to mark the occasion. But that’s about it. My favorite colors are purple, green, and yellow though so I’m happy to share some of my favorite book covers that feature those colors in honor of Mardi Gras.
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Cover Love – Mardi Gras Style
Books Featured:
1. A HEART SO FIERCE AND BROKEN by BRIGID KEMMERER
2. YOU SHOULD SEE ME IN A CROWN by LEAH JOHNSON
3. THE UNHONEYMOONERS by CHRISTINA LAUREN
4. THE HAND ON THE WALL by MAUREEN JOHNSON
5. GEEKERELLA by ASHLEY POSTON
6. RECURSION by BLAKE CROUCH
7. HEIR OF FIRE by SARAH J. MAAS
8. WICKED LIKE A WILDFIRE by LANA POPOVIC
9. THE RULES OF MAGIC by ALICE HOFFMAN
10. SORCERY OF THORNS by MARGARET ROGERSON
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Question: Do you do anything to celebrate Mardi Gras? Have you read any of these books?
Romance Reviews: FIRST COMES LIKE & THE WEDDING GAME
If you saw my Top Ten Tuesday post last week, you’ll remember that I shared ten rom-coms I’m excited to read this year. Well, in honor of Valentine’s Day, I got a jump on reading them this past week and have reviews to share for the first two I read, First Comes Like by Alisha Rai and The Wedding Game by Meghan Quinn.
First Comes Like (Modern Love, #3) Goodreads Author: Alisha Rai
Publication Date: February 16, 2021
Publisher: Avon
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Even though I’m only reviewing First Comes Like, the latest book in Alisha Rai’s Modern Love series, I actually binge-read all three books in the series last month. Usually I’m terrible at keeping up with series, but once I started this one, I just couldn’t stop reading. What hooked me on Modern Love is the way Rai writes her main characters. I love the mix of strength and vulnerability she infuses them with and of course, the chemistry is always off the charts. I also love that, as the title of the series implies, all of the books are modern and focus on where many people turn these days when they are looking for love, social media.
First Comes Like follows Jia Ahmed, who is a very popular beauty influencer on social media. She’s busy making connections and trying to build her brand and has no time for men, although she’s willing to make an exception for Dev Dixit, a sexy Bollywood soap opera star, who has recently slid into her DMs and started flirting with her. Jia decides to score an invite to a party for his new film so that she can finally meet Dev in person. All is going swimmingly until she meets Dev face to face and he says he has no idea who she is. Awkward! It quickly becomes clear that someone has used Dev’s social media account to catfish Jia; the question is who. Things between them take an even more awkward turn when paparazzi photos of Dev and Jia embracing become public. Even though the photos are in actuality way more innocent than they seem, the public and both of their families flip out and that’s where things got really fun.
I had so much fun with this book. I loved the chemistry between Jia and Dev, especially watching their relationship evolve from her wanting to kill him at that first party to the two of them working together to concoct a plan on how best to deal their families. I also really loved the focus on their beliefs and culture, in particular the respect Jia and Dev each gave to the other’s beliefs as their relationship grows. I also thought it was wonderful that Dev was so respectful of Jia’s career. He didn’t think it was silly or shallow at all and even watched all of her videos and even helped her film and take photos. The two of them were just really sweet together and I was of course rooting for them to continue to grow closer.
I wouldn’t call this a hot and steamy romance, but it’s definitely a sweet, slow burn and I enjoyed every page of it. 4 STARS.
The Wedding Game Goodreads Author: Meghan Quinn
Publication Date: March 1, 2021
Publisher: Montlake
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Amazon First Reads. All opinions are my own.
Meghan Quinn’s new novel, The Wedding Game is one of the most charming and entertaining romances I’ve read in a long time. I laughed, I cried, and I honestly loved every single character in the book. Okay, well two of them I loved to hate, but you know what I mean!
Set in New York City, the story follows Luna Rossi, a self-professed jack of all trades when it comes to crafting. There’s pretty much nothing Luna can’t do when it comes to crafts and she even has her own very popular social media accounts where she offers tips and tricks to others who share her passion for all things crafty. About the only thing Luna loves more than crafts is her brother, Cohen, so when she learns that a DIY reality TV contest called The Wedding Game is coming to NYC and is seeking contestants, she takes it upon herself to sign her brother and his fiancé up. Luna lives to make sure the people she loves are happy and so can’t resist the idea of giving her brother and the love of his life a perfect wedding day. Plus the grand prize of a NYC penthouse apartment for whoever designs the best wedding doesn’t hurt either. With the Queen of Crafts in their corner, how can they lose?
The Wedding Game also follows Alec, an attorney who, like Luna, has a brother, Thad, who is about to get married. Unlike Luna though, Alec is not especially close to his brother and has no interest in his wedding plans. Alec and Thad used to be incredibly close, but have drifted apart in recent years. Thad sees the ad for The Wedding Game and begs Alec to do it with him and his fiancé. For Thad, it’s a great opportunity to get his family started off on the right foot, but even better, it’s a chance for he and Alec to reconnect. Alec reluctantly agrees and it’s off to the races.
The bulk of the story focuses on the contest itself and an unexpectedly fierce rivalry that develops between Luna and Alec. Oh my goodness, you guys! I don’t want to give away any spoilers but these two have such intense chemistry from their very first hostile encounter. It was hard to tell if they were going to kill each other or rip each other’s clothes off, haha! I thoroughly enjoyed every scene they had together and some of their banter truly had me laughing out loud. The evolution of their relationship had me captivated more and more with each turn of the page and before long, I was rooting for them to have a happy ending of their own.
It wasn’t even just the relationship between Luna and Alec that had me so invested in The Wedding Game either. Honestly it was all of the relationships. Yes, this is a sexy, steamy enemies-to-lovers romance with a hilarious reality TV show as its backdrop, but it’s also a beautiful and heartwarming story about love, family, and forgiveness that left me with a big smile on my face. 4.5 STARS
Reviews: Pretty Little Wife and Three Single Wives
Happy Valentine’s weekend everyone! It’s Sharon here again. What better way to kick off Valentine’s Day than with a couple of reviews that the themes are wives killing their husbands LOL! And that is just what I have for this week’s Thriller Thursday. This week’s reviews are domestic thrillers: Pretty Little Wife and Three Single Wives. When I picked these two books to read for Thriller Thursday, I did not even make the connection about murdered husbands and Valentine’s day until Suzanne mentioned what a fun theme for Valentine’s weekend 🙂
Pretty Little Wife Goodreads Author: Darby Kane
Publication Date: December 29, 2020
Publisher: William Morrow
Pretty Little Wife is Darby Kane’s debut thriller novel and what a debut it was! It follows Lila Ridgefield and her husband Aaron Payne who live in a small town in New York. They seem to have a great life together. Lila is a real estate broker who works mostly from home, while Aaron is a beloved High School teacher and coach. He has never missed a day of school so when he does not show up one day, everyone is concerned and worried. Lila is concerned and worried as well, but for very different reasons.
When the book opens, Lila discovers some disturbing videos of her husband and some of the teen girls he coaches. Aaron lies and makes it seems like Lila is in the wrong for blowing this out of proportion when she confronts him, so she decides to take matters into her own hands to stop Aaron from hurting anymore children. She kills Aaron and leaves him in his car at the school. If he’s now missing, where did his car and his body go? If he’s not really dead like she thought he was, then he’ll be coming for Lila and she needs to be prepared.
The book then jumps ahead to where the investigation starts. Not only the police investigation, but also Lila’s. And not only do we have the mystery of what happened to Aaron, but there are also excerpts of a podcast that is investigating the disappearance of 3 college women from the surrounding Ithaca area. Coincidence or are they somehow related? As the investigation into Aaron’s disappearance continues, the police uncover more than they ever thought they would. The lead detective on the case is Ginny Davis, and she is sure that Lila is responsible for whatever happened to her husband. But trying to prove it is harder than she thinks. Lila is smart and has covered her tracks, well except for the missing dead body (lol). I loved the game of cat and mouse between these two women. They are both smart and determined and neither is going to be outsmarted by the other.
This book had so many twists and turns that I was on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading. Just when I thought I knew what was going on, Darby Kane threw in a curve ball and took it in another direction. By the time I got to the end I was like “Whoa! Wait! What?! Holy Crap!”
I also thought the author did an excellent job in writing and fleshing out the characters in this book, especially Lila. She was such a complex character. Yes, she killed her husband, but I still had a lot of sympathy for her and wanted everything to work out for her in the end. 4 Stars
Three Single Wives Goodreads Author: Gina LaManna
Publication Date: September 1, 2020
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
I have never read anything by Gina LaManna before, but when I saw the synopsis of Three Single Wives, where it states: a book club, wine, and murder, I knew I had to read it. And I am glad I did. This was a fast read that kept me guessing until the very end.
Eliza Tate has started her own Public Relations firm and her one big client is Marguerite Hill, a self -help guru and author of the bestselling book “Take Charge” and soon to be released sequel “Be Free”. On February 13th, Eliza hosts a book club with two of her friends, Anne Wilkes, and Penny Sands, to discuss Marguerite’s new book “Be Free”, but then the discussion moves to cheating husbands and revenge and how they would kill their husband if given the chance. But they don’t really mean it, it’s just the wine talking. Or is it? On February 14th one of their husbands is found murdered. And so, the mystery begins, who took their discussion seriously?
The book is told from the POV of Eliza, Anne, and Penny, with transcripts of the trial in between. When the story opens it is the day of the book club, then it jumps back 9 months and we get to learn more about these women and the circumstances that lead up to the night in question. We do find out pretty early in the book which husband is dead, but we don’t find out until the very end who killed him. I was all over the place on who I thought the killer was.
With each chapter we learn more about Anne, Eliza, and Penny. And let me just say these women have some serious issues. They are all so flawed and they all have secrets and oh the lies they tell. But even though none of them were very likable, I did enjoy getting to learn more about them and their secrets. And the more I learned about them, the more I suspected them all.
In addition to the mystery that surrounded the whodunnit, this book also had some make- me-chuckle moments. Especially on the transcript portion. Man, even on the witness stand these women were being snarky and, in some cases, cocky.
A few of some of the funny moments from the transcripts:
“Who’s the son of a bitch that spilled the beans?” – Anne’s response when the defense told her they had evidence she was being blackmailed.
“Then it’s my word against his, and he’s dead. I guess that means I win by default.” – Penny’s response when the defense said the victim called her a psychopath in his restraining order.
“Is it really a book club without wine?” – Eliza’s response when the prosecution asked if she served wine at the book club.
“I wouldn’t say it’s stealing. It’s adopting certain items that other people no longer need.”- Penny’s response to the prosecution asking about her “little hobby” of stealing things from others.
I don’t want to say too much and spoil anything, but I was happy with the ending and in no way did I figure it out. 3 ½ stars