Can’t Wait Wednesday – THE EX VOWS by Jessica Joyce

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“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 since I first started blogging, 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 The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce.  I adored this author’s debut novel so I’m beyond excited to read this new one from her.  I’ve seen it being compared to Happy Place and Love and Other Words, two books I loved, which makes it even more appealing.

THE EX VOWS by Jessica Joyce

by Berkley Romance

Publication Date: July 16, 2024

 

Goodreads:

Estranged exes must stick close together to save their best friend’s wedding after a string of disasters in this swoony and steamy second-chance romance from the USA Today bestselling author of You, with a View.

Georgia Woodward lives by her lists, none more so than the one about her ex, Eli Mora. It’s full of the ironclad dos and don’ts they’ve been following since she returned to the Bay Area after their cataclysmic breakup five years ago.

With the wedding of their mutual best friend, Adam, looming, and them about to step into their roles as best woman and man, Georgia’s never needed it more. She refuses to threaten their tight-knit friend group with her messy—and still very present—feelings. The rules on that list will keep her cool, calm, and compartmentalized.

What’s not on her list? Eli arriving from New York with a new rule-breaking attitude or the all-inclusive venue burning to the ground, leaving the bride and groom in dire straits. Nor does she anticipate Adam asking her and Eli to help him make a miracle happen. Together.

As Georgia and Eli rush up to Napa Valley to pull off the perfect wedding, their old chemistry comes back in technicolor. Somewhere between cake tastings gone wrong, disastrous DJ auditions, and Eli’s heated attention, Georgia starts recognizing the man she fell in love with before. And if she lets herself break her rules, she might find what they’re building isn’t the something old that ruined them—it’s a chance at something new.

 

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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 – Spring is in the Air & Flowers are on My Book Covers

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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 Covers/Titles with Things Found in Nature (covers/titles with things like trees, flowers, animals, forests, bodies of water, etc. on/in them).  I love flowers on covers so I decided to share some floral covers that I have coming up on my TBR.

 

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Books on My TBR with Flowers on the Covers

 

1. THIS COULD BE US by Kennedy Ryan

2. THE PARADISE PROBLEM by Christina Lauren

3. BUSINESS CASUAL by B.K. Borison

4. AN ENCHANTING CASE OF SPIRITS by Melissa Holtz

5. FIRST COMES MARRIAGE by Laila Rafi

6. HEDGING YOUR BETS by Jayne Denker

7. LATE BLOOMER by Mazey Eddings

8. OLD FLAMES AND NEW FORTUNES by Sarah Hogle

9. ONLY AND FOREVER by Chloe Liese

10. THE TAKEDOWN by Lily Chu

 

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Are any of these on your TBR?

Can’t Wait Wednesday – THE LOST STORY by Meg Shaffer

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“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 since I first started blogging, 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 THE LOST STORY by Meg Shaffer.  I just read this author’s debut novel The Wishing Game last month and fell in love with her storytelling.  This new book sounds like it has the potential to be just as whimsical and as a huge Chronicles of Narnia fan, I’m beyond excited to read it.

THE LOST STORY by Meg Shaffer

by Random House – Ballantine Books

Publication Date: July 16, 2024

 

Goodreads:

Inspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia, this wild and wondrous novel is a fairy tale for grown-ups who still knock on the back of wardrobes—just in case—from the author of The Wishing Game.

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell vanished in a West Virginia state park, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they’d gone or how they’d survived.

Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Jeremy is a famous missing persons investigator with an uncanny ability to find the lost, while Rafe is a reclusive artist unable to stop creating otherworldly paintings and sculptures he shows to no one. He bears scars inside and out from his disappearance but has no memory of what happened while they were gone.

Jeremy alone knows the fantastical truth behind their time in the woods. While the rest of the world was searching for them, the two missing boys were in a magical realm filled with impossible beauty and terrible danger. However, Jeremy has kept Rafe in the dark since their return for his own inscrutable reasons.

But the time for burying secrets comes to an end when vet tech Emilie Wendel hires Jeremy to find her long-lost sister . . . the long-lost sister he and Rafe knew while living in that hidden kingdom. Now the former lost boys must confront their shared past, no matter how traumatic the memories. Alongside the headstrong Emilie, Rafe and Jeremy return to the enchanted world they called home for six months . . . for only then can they get back everything and everyone they’ve lost.

 

 

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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 – Valentine’s Freebie – Books with Heart in the Title

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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 a Valentine’s Day Freebie so I decided to share some of my favorite book with “Heart” in the title.  I don’t know if my brain just wasn’t working or what, but it was surprisingly hard to find ten even though I primarily read romance.

 

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Books with Heart in the Title

 

 

1. ONCE UPON A BROKEN HEART by Stephanie Garber

2. THE HEART PRINCIPLE by Helen Hoang

3. WILD AT HEART by K.A. Tucker

4. HEARTLESS by Elsie Silver

5. HEARTSTOPPER by Alice Oseman

6. THE KEY TO MY HEART by Lia Louis

7. HEART BONES by Colleen Hoover

8. OUR MISSING HEARTS by Celeste Ng

9. THE TRAIL OF LOST HEARTS by Tracey Garvis Graves

10. JAR OF HEARTS by Jennifer Hillier

 

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Have you read any of these?

Can’t Wait Wednesday – RIGHT WHERE WE LEFT US by Jen Devon

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“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 since I first started blogging, 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 RIGHT WHERE WE LEFT US by Jen Devon. A couple of years ago I fell in love with Bend Toward the Sun, this author’s romance debut, so I was thrilled to hear she has a new book coming out this year.  This one sounds like it has the potential to be just as good as her first too so I’m very excited to read it.

RIGHT WHERE WE LEFT US by Jen Devon

by St. Martin’s Griffin

Publication Date: June 18, 2024

 

Goodreads:

Perfect for fans of Carly Fortune and Lucy Score, Right Where We Left Us is a searing and unforgettable romance.

Temperance Jean Madigan and Duncan Brady have never gotten it right. After one radiant, secret summer together when they were eighteen, they’ve been on-again off-again ever since. Now, despite red-hot chemistry and TJ’s closeness with Duncan’s family, they’re virtually strangers, only capable of adversarial banter, awkward small talk―and the occasional messy hookup.

When a wedding at the Brady’s vineyard lands TJ there for the summer, their mutual avoidance strategies prove impossible. The last thing TJ wants is to be under those angsty, heated glances Duncan thinks he hides. And for Duncan, having fiery TJ constantly close is the ultimate distraction that he absolutely can’t afford. When forced proximity begins to chip away at their armor, buried tensions resurface, old wounds urge confrontation, and once-in-a-lifetime love demands one last chance to finally get it right.

 

 

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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: New-to-Me Authors I Read for the First Time in 2023

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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.

This week’s TTT topic is Top 10 New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2023. I read a lot of great new-to-me authors last year, and today I’m sharing my favorites from the bunch.  I’m definitely looking forward to reading more from all of them.

 

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Top 10 New-to-Me Authors in 2023

(in no particular order)

 

 

1. LUCY SCORE

 

2. ELSIE SILVER

 

3. CATHERINE COWLES

 

4. ANASTASIA RYAN

 

5. KATEE ROBERT

 

6. KENNEDY RYAN

 

7. KAREN ROSE

 

8. LAUREN ASHER

 

9. FREIDA MCFADDEN

 

10. MARIANA ZAPATA

 

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Who were some authors that were new to you in 2023?  Do we share any?

Can’t Wait Wednesday: THE TRAIL OF LOST HEARTS by Tracey Garvis Graves

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“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 since I first started blogging, 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 THE TRAIL OF LOST HEARTS by Tracey Garvis Graves.  I always enjoy reading this author’s books, but I especially love them when I’m in the mood for a heartbreaking but hopeful read and it sounds like this one will definitely deliver in that respect.

THE TRAIL OF LOST HEARTS by Tracey Garvis Graves

by St. Martin’s Press

Publication Date: March 26, 2024

 

Goodreads:

New York Times bestselling author Tracey Garvis Graves takes readers on a life affirming journey, where two lost souls find the unexpected courage to love again.

Thirty-four-year-old Wren Waters believes that if you pay attention, the universe will send you exactly what you need. But her worldview shatters when the universe delivers two life-altering blows she didn’t see coming, and all she wants to do is put the whole heartbreaking mess behind her. No one is more surprised than Wren when she discovers that geocaching―the outdoor activity of using GPS to look for hidden objects―is the only thing getting her out of bed and out of her head. She decides that a weeklong solo quest geocaching in Oregon is exactly what she needs to take back control of her life.

Enter Marshall Hendricks, a psychologist searching for distraction as he struggles with a life-altering blow of his own. Though Wren initially rebuffs Marshall’s attempt at hiker small talk, she’s beyond grateful when he rescues her from a horrifying encounter farther down the trail. In the interest of safety, Marshall suggests partnering up to look for additional caches. Wren’s no longer quite so trusting of the universe―or men in general―but her inner circle might argue that a smart, charismatic psychologist isn’t the worst thing the universe could place in her path.

What begins as a platonic road trip gradually blossoms into something deeper, and the more Wren learns about Marshall, the more she wants to know. Now all she can do is hope that the universe gets it right this 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 – Books I Meant to Read in 2023 but Didn’t Get To

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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 Books I Meant to Read In 2023 but Didn’t Get To.  This topic actually made me chuckle when I saw it because I actually have a list of 50-60 books I meant to read last year but couldn’t fit in.  The ones I’m sharing today are books that I’m most hoping to get to sometime in the next few months.

 

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Books I Meant to Read In 2023 but Didn’t Get To

 

 

 

1. DIVINE RIVALS by Rebecca Ross

2. THE BALLAD OF SONGBIRDS AND SNAKES by Suzanne Collins

3. INDIGO RIDGE by Devney Perry

4. POWERLESS by Elsie Silver

5. HOME FRONT by Kristin Hannah

6. THE HOUSEMAID’S SECRET by Freida McFadden

7. THE WISHING GAME by Meg Shaffer

8. MILE HIGH by Liz Tomforde

9. ROCK BOTTOM GIRL by Lucy Score

10. THE CONNELLYS OF COUNTY DOWN by Tracey Lange

 

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What books are you hoping to read soon that you didn’t get to in 2023?

Can’t Wait Wednesday: THE ROM-COMMERS by Katherine Center

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“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 since I first started blogging, 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 THE ROM-COMMERS by Katherine Center.  Katherine Center is one of my auto-buy authors so I didn’t even have to read the synopsis to know this one was going on my TBR.  Once I read it though, I could already tell that I’m going to love Emma, especially because she’s so passionate about standing up for rom-coms and the importance of love stories. Cannot wait to read this one!

THE ROM-COMMERS by Katherine Center

by St. Martin’s Press

Publication Date:  June 11, 2024

 

Goodreads:

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.

Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. 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.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script—it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.

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?

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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 – My Reading and Blogging Goals for 2024

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Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June 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 Bookish Goals for 2024.  I think most of these are repeats of goals I had for 2023, either because I failed at them last year or because I did well and really want to continue to work on that same goal in the coming year.

 

via GIPHY

My Reading and Blogging Goals for 2024

 

1)  My number one goal this year is pretty much a forever goal at this point and that’s to read more of the books I own.  ARCs will always have my heart so I’m not even going to say I’m cutting down on how many I read because we know that’s not true, but I’m determined to keep putting a dent in the unread books I own either by finally reading them or else purging them if I’m no longer interested in reading them.  I’m setting a personal goal for myself of reading and/or unhauling 70 books I already own, starting with the 24 in 2024 list I posted on Bookstagram last week.  I’ve already read 3 of those books, DNF’ed 1 other, and unhauled 6 others I was no longer interested in reading so hopefully that bodes well for a good year.

 

2)  This is also a repeat goal for the past 3 years.  I really want to continue to only participate in blog tours where I have already requested a review book.  I’ve done really well with that the past two years, mainly sticking with Berkley Romance tours, but it’s always so tempting when someone reaches out with a tour opportunity.

 

3)  This is also an ongoing goal since my struggle to finish series continues.  I did actually complete several from my list last year, but there are always more. For this year, I have 6 series on my shelf that I want to finish and 7 sitting on my shelf that I want to start.

Series I Want to Finish or Get Caught Up On: 

  • Bridgerton (5 books left)
  • Outlander (4 books left)
  • The Bergman Brothers (4 books left)
  • Chestnut Springs (3 books left)
  • Dreamland Billionaires (1 book left)
  • Legendborn (1 book left to get caught up)

Series I Want to Start:

  • Windy City
  • The Off Campus Series
  • Heartstopper
  • Slammed
  • Twisted
  • The Edens
  • Hoops

 

4)  This is also a repeat goal from the past two years.  I really want to continue to grow my Bookstagram account.  When I started having so many tech issues and glitches on my blog in 2023, I really started pushing hard to grow my bookstagram account and post almost everyday since I knew I needed a reliable way to still get my reviews, etc. out there if my blog went down.  I also discovered I really like taking bookish photos and having a word limit that I can’t go beyond since I can be long-winded in my reviews. In my mind, I have an unofficial goal of reaching 20,000 followers this year, but all of the tech issues seem to be on that platform this year so we’ll see how it goes.   If you have a bookstagram account and are not already following me, you can give me a follow at https://instagram.com/thebookishlibra

 

5)  Re-reading more.  This is also a repeat goal and one I mostly failed at in 2023, aside from re-reading Fourth Wing and Crescent City 1 to get back into the swing of things before their next books came out.  I have a few old favorites that I’d like to try to read this year, but we’ll see how it goes.

  • To Kill a Mockingbird
  • Pride and Prejudice
  • ACOTAR series
  • The Handmaid’s Tale
  • The Invisible Life of Addie Larue
  • Throne of Glass
  • Jane Eyre
  • The Winternight Trilogy

 

6) I am aiming to keep my Netgalley percentage at 90% or above in 2024.  I did very well with this goal in 2023, finishing the year at 93%.  I know I can’t keep it that high, but if I could maintain 90, I’d consider that a success.

 

7)  I say this every year, but in 2024, I want to read more Nonfiction.  Last year I failed miserably and only read one nonfiction book, but this is the list of books I’d like to read.

  • What Unites Us by Dan Rather
  • Oath of Honor by Liz Cheney
  • We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win WWII by Liza Mundy
  • D-Day Girls: The Spies Who Armed the Resistance, Sabotaged the Nazis, and Helped Win WWII by Sarah Rose
  • Spare by Prince Harry
  • Untamed by Glennon Doyle
  • Where the Light Enters, Building a Family, Discovering Myself by Jill Biden

 

8)  This is also a forever goal, haha.  In 2024, I really want to work on being better organized, particularly when it comes to blogging ahead and with scheduling my instagram posts.  I’m usually frantically writing posts the night before I want to post them and I would love to be able to get most, if not all, of my posts for the week done the weekend before.

 

9)  Blogging More Consistently.  I used to be pretty good at this, but 2023 proved super challenging with all of those tech issues. I got so frustrated and would just abandon my blog for days at a time. I wondered for a while there if it was time to dump the blog, but I still love it so much and the fact that I was mad that I couldn’t blog and interact with this community I’ve grown to love, told me I just needed to resolve the issues once and for all.  With the exception of this week, which started off a little crazy (as you can tell since I’m posting my TTT post on Wednesday, haha), I’ve been trying to blog a little more consistently to make sure things are working properly. They seem to be so fingers crossed that I’ll be back on track for my weekly 3-4 blog posts.

 

10) I am doing the Goodreads Challenge and have set my goal at 175 books again this year.  I read 210 books in 2023 and could probably replicate that this year since we have cancelled our cable TV.  I stream a few shows here and there, but for the most part, I spend almost all of my downtime reading.  But to keep it from being too stressful, although still challenging, I’m aiming for 175.

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Do we share any bookish goals this year?