Top Ten Tuesday – My Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the First Half of 2024
/17 Comments/by Suzanne
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 Most Anticipated Releases of the First Half of 2024. This is always an easy topic just because, of course, there are always so many books that I’m excited to get my hands on. I have ARCs for several of these so I’m glad I don’t have to wait too long to dive into them. As always, it’s mostly romance with just a hint of historical fiction and fantasy.
My Most Anticipated Releases of the First Half of 2024
1. BRIDE by Ali Hazelwood – “A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love, Theoretically and The Love Hypothesis.”
2. THE CATCH by AMY LEA – “A grumpy lobster fisherman tosses a fashion influencer’s impeccably curated life overboard in the next romantic comedy from international bestselling author Amy Lea.”
3. FUNNY STORY by Emily Henry – “A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.”
4. JUST FOR THE SUMMER by Abby Jimenez – “A sharp and scintillating summer novel that will make readers laugh out loud and cry happy tears from the New York Times bestselling author of Yours Truly.”
5. THE PARADISE PROBLEM by Christina Lauren – “Christina Lauren, returns with a delicious new romance between the buttoned-up heir of a grocery chain and his free-spirited artist ex as they fake their relationship in order to receive a massive inheritance.”
6. THE ROM-COMMERS by Katherine Center – “She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own? Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies—good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates—The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!—it’s a break too big to pass up…But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone—much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.”
But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter—even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules—and comes true?”
7. THIS COULD BE US by Kennedy Ryan – “Soledad Barnes has her life all planned out. Because, of course, she does. She plans everything. She designs everything. She fixes everything. She’s a domestic goddess who’s never met a party she couldn’t host or a charge she couldn’t lead. The one with all the answers and the perfect vinaigrette for that summer salad. But none of her varied talents can save her when catastrophe strikes, and the life she built with the man who was supposed to be her forever, goes poof in a cloud of betrayal and disillusion.
But there is no time to pout or sulk, or even grieve the life she lost. She’s too busy keeping a roof over her daughters’ heads and food on the table. And in the process of saving them all, Soledad rediscovers herself. From the ashes of a life burned to the ground, something bold and new can rise. But then an unlikely man enters the picture—the forbidden one, the one she shouldn’t want but can’t seem to resist. She’s lost it all before and refuses to repeat her mistakes. Can she trust him? Can she trust herself? After all she’s lost . . .and found . . .can she be brave enough to make room for what could be?”
8. THE WARM HANDS OF GHOSTS by Katherine Arden – “During the Great War, a combat nurse searches for her brother, believed dead in the trenches despite eerie signs that suggest otherwise, in this hauntingly beautiful historical novel with a speculative twist from the New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale“
9. THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah – “From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah’s The Women—at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.”
10. A HAPPIER LIFE by Kristy Woodson Harvey – “With “her signature warmth and Southern charm” ( E! Online ), the New York Times bestselling author of The Summer of Songbirds and the Peachtree Bluff series presents a tender and touching novel about a young woman who discovers the family she has always longed for when she spends a life-changing summer in North Carolina.”
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Question: Are you planning to read any of these?
Romance Review – LAST CALL AT THE LOCAL by Sarah Grunder Ruiz @berkleyromance
/16 Comments/by Suzanne![Romance Review – LAST CALL AT THE LOCAL by Sarah Grunder Ruiz @berkleyromance Romance Review – LAST CALL AT THE LOCAL by Sarah Grunder Ruiz @berkleyromance](http://thebookishlibra.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/last-call-th.jpg)
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Series: Love, Lists & Fancy Ships #3
Published by Berkley Romance on January 2, 2024
Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Romance
Pages: 368
Source: Netgalley
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Last Call at the Local is the third installment in Sarah Grunder Ruiz’s Love, Lists & Fancy Ships series and it honestly might be my favorite one yet! What I love about this series is that each book makes me feel so much. Whether I’m laughing at some hilarious banter or shedding tears about a sad turn of events, my heart is just always full the entire time I’m reading. Last Call at the Local was no exception to that and I thoroughly enjoyed my reading experience.
Set in Ireland, the story follows Raine, a young American woman who has run into some bad luck that has left her broke and with little more than the clothes on her back. She stops in at a pub called the Local, where she has a very one-sided conversation with the pub’s cat, Sebastian, and meets Jack, who is not only Sebastian’s charming owner but he’s also part owner of the Local. Jack and Raine hit it off immediately and once he hears about the predicament she is in, he offers her a temporary job at the pub to help her get back on her feet. Neither Raine nor Jack realize how life changing this chance encounter and temporary job will turn out to be.
I cannot even express how much I adored both Jack and Raine. They were just so perfect together and it was a joy to watch them interact and explore their growing feelings for one another. I also admired them as individuals though because they’re both facing some mental health challenges. Raine initially comes across as a free spirit, and while she is to a degree, she is also living with ADHD, which makes it hard for her to buckle down and focus. That’s why, when we meet her, she has been working as a traveling musician all over Europe. She figured it was the best of both worlds, a way to make money from her passion for music, but also no set schedule, no boss to answer to, and no family to be disappointed in her. Jack, on the other hand, is dealing with the challenges of living with severe OCD. Ruiz handles the exploration of both ADHD and OCD thoroughly and respectfully, and I felt like I learned so much by having access to Jack’s and Raine’s inner thoughts and experiencing ADHD and OCD from their perspectives.
I loved being back in this world and was absolutely thrilled to bump into Ollie and Nina again and see what they’ve been up to. Everything about this book was just perfect and I can’t recommend it and the whole series highly enough. If you’re looking for a book that will leave you with a full heart and a smile on your face, be sure to check out Last Call at the Local.
Thanks so much to Kristin Cipolla from Berkley Romance for the opportunity to take part in this blog tour.
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About Sarah Grunder Ruiz
Sarah Grunder Ruiz is a writer, educator, and karaoke enthusiast. Originally from South Florida, she now lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with her husband and two children. She holds an MFA in creative writing from North Carolina State University, where she now teaches First-Year Writing.
Top Ten Tuesday – My Ten Favorite Books of 2023
/36 Comments/by Suzanne
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!
Happy New Year, everyone! I want to start off by apologizing for my lack of blogging and blog hopping for the past few weeks. Time got away from me, and I was planning to use my vacation to get all caught up and that just didn’t happen. All plans went out the window when I ended last week by face-planting on my neighbor’s concrete sidewalk one night while taking a mis-delivered package to their house (Thanks USPS!). I’m okay aside from a busted chin and sore jaw, but needless to say, I spent the rest of my vacation on the couch reading. I don’t think I have it in me to backtrack and try to get caught up on comments, so I hope it’s okay if I just start fresh this week.
Okay, back on topic. This week’s TTT topic is Favorite Books of 2023. The hardest part about this topic is narrowing down to just ten favorites. I did it here to fit the topic’s criteria and the ten I selected are ones that just really resonated with me and have stuck with me in many cases for months after I read them. I really do have so many more favorites though and if you want to see more, later this week I’ll be posting my top 23 reads for 2023 on my Bookstagram account.
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My Favorite Reads from 2023 (in no particular order):
1. YOURS TRULY by Abby Jimenez
2. FOURTH WING by Rebecca Yarros
3. THE SEVEN YEAR SLIP by Ashley Poston
4. THE PARIS DAUGHTER by Kristin Harmel
6. NONE OF THIS IS TRUE by Lisa Jewell
7. THE FRAGILE THREADS OF POWER by V.E. Schwab
8. THE SUMMER OF SONGBIRDS by Kristy Woodson Harvey
9. ALWAYS ONLY YOU by Chloe Liese
10. THE UNMAKING OF JUNE FARROW by Adrienne Young
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