Can’t Wait Wednesday – ONE LAST STOP by Casey Mcquiston
/15 Comments/by Suzanne
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about. It is a meme that I have loved participating in for over a year now, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.
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My selection for this week is ONE LAST STOP by Casey Mcquiston. Ever since I fell in love with Red, White & Royal Blue, I’ve been anxiously awaiting Mcquiston’s next novel. The synopsis for this new one sounds absolutely perfect too and I’m already hardcore rooting for a happy ending for August and June.
ONE LAST STOP by Casey Mcquiston
Publication Date: June 1, 2021 by St. Martin’s Press
From Netgalley:
From the New York Times bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue comes a new romantic comedy that will stop readers in their tracks…
“Dreamy, other worldly, smart, swoony, thoughtful, hilarious – all in all, exactly what you’d expect from Casey McQuiston!” – Jasmine Guillory, New York Times bestselling author of The Proposal and Party for Two
Cynical twenty-three-year old August doesn’t believe in much. She doesn’t believe in psychics, or easily forged friendships, or finding the kind of love they make movies about. And she certainly doesn’t believe her ragtag band of new roommates, her night shifts at a 24-hour pancake diner, or her daily subway commute full of electrical outages are going to change that.
But then, there’s Jane. Beautiful, impossible Jane. All hard edges with a soft smile and swoopy hair and saving August’s day when she needed it most. The person August looks forward to seeing on the train every day. The one who makes her forget about the cities she lived in that never seemed to fit, and her fear of what happens when she finally graduates, and even her cold-case obsessed mother who won’t quite let her go. And when August realizes her subway crush is impossible in more ways than one—namely, displaced in time from the 1970s—she thinks maybe it’s time to start believing.
Casey McQuiston’s One Last Stop is a sexy, big-hearted romance where the impossible becomes possible as August does everything in her power to save the girl lost in time.
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I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂
Top Ten Tuesday – 10 Book Quotes That Resonate
/44 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 Favorite Book Quotes (these could be quotes from books you love, or bookish quotes in general). I’ve done a few quote posts in the past where I’ve listed my all time favorite quotes, so I’m tweaking the topic a bit. Today I’m sharing quotes from some of my favorite 2020 reads that have really resonated with me.
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10 Book Quotes That Resonate
- “To make real friends you have to put yourself out there. Sometimes people will let you down, but you can’t let that stop you. If you get hurt, you just pick yourself up, dust off your feelings, and try again.” ― Kristin Hannah, Firefly Lane
Quotes about friendship always resonate with me anyway, but this one really stuck with me just because it’s so true.
- “Life is too short to be unhappy, to play it safe. To do what is expected of you rather than follow your heart” ― Chanel Cleeton, Next Year in Havana
This is one that I agree with, although I know I’m often guilty of playing things too safe and always doing what’s expected of me.
- “When you don’t know what to do for yourself, do something for somebody else.” ― Katherine Center, How to Walk Away
I love this quote and it has really hit home with me during this pandemic. When I’m feeling a little lost or down and can’t shake the feeling, sometimes doing something for someone else is exactly what I need to get myself back into the right head space.
- “You have to make peace with the past or you can never move into the future,” ― Diane Chamberlain, Big Lies in a Small Town
This has definitely been my experience.
- “An AK-47 in a white hand has more rights than a Black kid with Skittles.” ― Kim Johnson, This Is My America
This quote broke my heart when I read it, but at the same time, it had me nodding my head because it unfortunately just feels so true right now. This quote speaks volumes as to why there is a Black Lives Matter movement.
- “I wanted that November feeling, you know, when you suddenly remember the holidays are coming and your tummy gets all excited and it’s like being seven again.”
― Abbi Waxman, I Was Told It Would Get Easier
This quote jjust made me smile because for me, that November feeling is everything. Although, to be perfectly honest, I start feeling it in October, lol.
- “The thing about mental health was, you couldn’t take a course of antibiotics and be magically healed. Some people’s brains just thought too much or felt too much or hurt too much, and you had to stay on top of that.” ― Talia Hibbert, Take a Hint, Dani Brown
This one really resonated with me as well, especially since so many people are struggling with their mental health even more than usual because of the pandemic.
- “There’s some kind of peace that comes with knowing that for every person who is waiting to be found, there’s someone out there searching.” ― Julie Murphy, Dumplin’
The cynic in me doesn’t want to believe this one, but the romantic in me tells cynical me to shut up and go sit in the corner because this quote is just so lovely to think about and hope it’s true.
- “Relationships are a lot like houses: without a good foundation, they’ll crumble. When a light bulb goes out, you don’t buy a new house, you change the bulb. When the faucet drips, you don’t start mopping the floor before you fix the leak. In other words, no matter how much digging it takes, it’s important to get to the root of a problem.” ― Christina Lauren, The Honey-Don’t List
I think pretty much anyone who has been in a relationship is probably reading this and nodding their head because it’s just so relatable.
- “That was what I’d always loved about reading, what had driven me to write in the first place. That feeling that a new world was being spun like a spiderweb around you and you couldn’t move until the whole thing had revealed itself to you.” ― Emily Henry, Beach Read
You knew I had to include a quote about the power of reading and books, right?
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Question: Do any of these quotes resonate with you?
Reviews: TIES THAT TETHER & ALL THIS TIME
/18 Comments/by Suzanne
Today I’m sharing the last of my reviews for September book releases. Both of these novels feature a bit of romance as well as characters who are struggling to figure out who they are supposed to be. I enjoyed them both and I hope you will too. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Ties That Tether Goodreads
Author: Jane Igharo
Publication Date: September 29, 2020
Publisher: Berkley
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Jane Igharo’s debut novel Ties That Tether is a thought-provoking and heartfelt story about a young woman who finds herself caught between the man she loves and the expectations her family has for her. Azere is originally from Nigeria but emigrated to Canada at the age of 12 when her father died. Azere made a promise to her dad that when she grew up, she would do her best to preserve her Nigerian culture and therefore would only marry a Nigerian man. Azere’s mother has held her to this promise and has gone so far as to play matchmaker every time she thinks she has found a suitable Nigerian suitor. There’s just one problem – Azere’s mom is a terrible matchmaker and Azere has hated every man she has been set up with so far. After a particularly disastrous setup, Azere finds herself drinking alone in a hotel bar and this is where she meets Rafael, a man she feels truly has the potential to be Mr. Right. What starts off as a scorching hot one-night stand quickly evolves into a more serious relationship, but there’s one major catch – he’s not Nigerian, he’s white and he’s Spanish. As much as Azere wants to pursue a relationship with Rafael, she knows to choose Rafael is to break her mother’s heart. The bulk of the story follows Azere as she is caught between what her heart wants and what her family wants.
I felt for Azere right away. What an impossible choice to have to make. Of course she doesn’t want to crush her mother, but she also doesn’t want to crush her own heart. I was rooting for her so hard to find a way to get her mom to come around to seeing what a wonderful guy Rafael is and how great he treats Azere. I could understand where Azere’s mom was coming from in terms of not wanting Azere to forget her roots, but she was just so frustrating and unyielding about it. There were times I just wanted to yell at her to just let Azere be with someone who makes her happy and that it’s totally possible to marry someone from another culture without losing yourself. Azere’s mom has Azere so conflicted that instead of achieving clarity on what to do, she is more torn than ever. One of the things I really loved about this story is that it’s a journey of learning and growth for all of the major characters, Azere, Rafael, and yes, even stubborn mom.
Even though Ties That Tether is being promoted as a romance, I honestly think it’s so much more than that. The family expectations and the preservation of culture drive the story along, just as much if not more than the romance. I loved the chemistry between Azere and Rafael, and I always devour books that feature family drama of any kind so all of the tension between Azere and her mother had me flying through the pages. There were also lots of rom-com references that added a fun element to offset some of the more dramatic moments. I really enjoyed that aspect of the story as well.
If you’re looking for a moving story about following your heart versus following your family’s desires, be sure to check out Ties That Tether. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading whatever Jane Igharo writes next! 4 STARS
All This Time Goodreads
Author: Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott
Publication Date: September 29, 2020
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
All This Time by Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott is a unique and heart-wrenching story about family and friends, love and loss, and a story about guilt, healing and forgiveness. All This Time follows Kyle Lafferty, a young man who is graduating from high school. He and his longtime girlfriend Kimberly have been making plans to attend UCLA together in the fall and he’s very excited for what the future holds. That is, until the night of their graduation party when Kyle’s life is turned upside down. At the party, Kimberly informs Kyle that she is not attending UCLA and then tells him she doesn’t want to be his girlfriend anymore. They fight in the car on the way home and end up in a horrific car accident that leaves Kyle in the hospital with a brain injury and Kimberly dead.
Kyle is struggling to move on from the accident, both in terms of his physical recovery and because he is wracked with guilt about Kimberly’s death. When he is at his lowest, Kyle meets a girl named Marley at the cemetery. She’s there mourning the death of her twin sister and, like Kyle, she feels guilty and responsible for the death of her loved one. Slowly Kyle and Marley get to know each other as they open up about everything they’re feeling, especially the guilt. They begin the healing process together, but Kyle is plagued by this nagging feeling that the happiness he is finally starting to feel is too good to be true and that something is going to happen to take it all away from him. Are his fears justified or is this just more guilt about Kimberly?
What a tearjerker of a book this was for me! I actually lost track of how many times I cried while I was reading. My heart just broke for Kyle from the moment we meet him. It’s like no matter what he does, he just can’t catch a break. The writing is so powerful and vivid too, especially with respect to Kyle’s emotions. His heartbreak, his confusion, his grief, and even his hope were just palpable as I was reading. As much as I adored Kyle though, I think it was Marley who really stole my heart. She’s just such a unique character and I was truly captivated by her. Marley loves to write original fairytales, she has a small army of ducks that follow her at the park because she feeds them popcorn, and she also nurtures small creatures like snails, moving them off of foot paths so they won’t get stepped on. Marley is almost too pure for this world, which made it all the more heartbreaking that she was carrying around so much grief and sadness for her dead sister. I loved Marley and I loved the person Kyle started to become when he was around her.
My only real issue with All This Time is that there’s a major unexpected plot twist about two-thirds of the way through the book and it completely changes the direction the story is going in. I’m always up for a good dramatic plot twist, but I just didn’t find this twist and subsequent events to be all that believable. It didn’t hamper my overall enjoyment of the story very much; it just felt like one twist too many and that the story didn’t really need it. Even with that issue, however, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend All This Time to anyone who enjoys heartfelt stories about love, grief, and healing. If you need a good cry, this is definitely your book! 3.5 STARS.