Can’t Wait Wednesday – A NOVEL LOVE STORY by Ashley Poston

 

“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 A NOVEL LOVE STORY by Ashley Poston.  Two of my absolute favorite reads in the past two years, The Dead Romantics and The Seven Year Slip, have come from Ashley Poston so it’s a no brainer that I’m excited for her latest novel.  It sounds magical too, just like I’ve come to expect from Poston!

A NOVEL LOVE STORY by Ashley Poston

by Berkley

Publication Date:  June 25, 2024

 

Goodreads:

A professor of literature finds herself caught up in a work of fiction…literally, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Year Slip and The Dead Romantics.

Eileen Merriweather knows a thing or two about romance.
As a professor of literature, she teaches prestigious courses on history’s greatest romantics, but one week out of the year she abandons her dusty textbooks and makes a pilgrimage to the Hudson Valley with her best friend Pru to meet their Super Smutty Book Club in person, and celebrate the romance series that brought them together—Quixotic Falls. It’s a week of wine and happily-ever-afters.

Or it’s supposed to be.

Pru bails at the last minute, and Elsy winds up lost in Hudson Valley—alone. In a thunderstorm. When she takes shelter in a bookstore, she immediately gets on the bad side of its grumpy (and infuriatingly sexy) owner, and finds herself in a quaint town that feels like it’s right out of a book…

Because it is.

Eloraton can’t be real, and yet… she’s here. The town is everything she imagined from her favorite series, where the candy store’s honey taffy is always sweet, and the local bar’s burgers are always a little burnt, and rain always comes in the afternoon. It’s perfect. A place built on meet-cutes and storybook endings.

Except, there’s something off in Eloraton. Because nothing changes, nothing moves, trapped in the last place the late author of Quixotic Falls left them. Which must be why Elsy is to find an ending to this last story, the one the author never finished.

The only problem? The bookstore owner never wants the story to end, and he might be the one person who can help her imagine this final happily-ever-after.

And maybe find one for herself.

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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 Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the First Half of 2024

 

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?

Top Ten Tuesday – My Ten Favorite Books of 2023

 

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

5. HEARTLESS by Elsie Silver

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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Question:  Did we share any favorite reads in 2023?

Top Ten Tuesday – Books I Really Hope Santa Brings Me This Year

 

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 Hope Santa Brings This Year.  This is probably the easiest topic of the year for me since books and preorders are the main things I ask for every year for Christmas.  Based on this list, I think it’s safe to say that I’m entering my sports romance era so if you have any recs in addition to the ones I’ve already listed here and on my Amazon Wish List, please feel free to drop them in the comments below. And I’m only sharing this for fun, so please, no one needs to actually buy me any of these.

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Books I Hope Santa Brings This Year

 

 

1. ABSOLUTELY NOT IN LOVE by Jenny Proctor

2. BUTCHER & BLACKBIRD by Brynne Weaver

3. ECHOES OF YOU by Catherine Cowles

4. FIRST DOWN by Grace Reilly

5. HOOK SHOT by Kennedy Ryan

6.  INTO THE TIDE by Laura Pavlov

7.  THE OFF LIMITS RULE by Sarah Adams

8.  REWRITE OUR STORY by Kat Singleton

9.  SAY YOU SWEAR by Meagan Brandy

10. PUCKING AROUND by Emily Rath

 

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Question:  What books are you hoping to get this holiday?  Did any of these make your list?

Top Ten Tuesday – Books On My Winter 2023-2024 To-Read List

 

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 On My Winter 2023-2024 To-Read List.  I decided this week to just share ARCs that I am planning to read this winter but may share another post in the near future about books from my shelves that I also want to prioritize.  As always, it’s a mix of romance, thrillers, historical fiction, and whatever else has caught my eye.

Books On My Winter 2023-2024 To-Read List

1. BRIDE by Ali Hazelwood

2. THE CATCH by AMY LEA

3. EVER AFTER ALWAYS by CHLOE LIESE

4. THE GETAWAY LIST by Emma Lord

5. THE WARM HANDS OF GHOSTS by Katherine Arden

6. HAPPY MEDIUM by Sarah Adler

7. THE HEIRESS by Rachel Hawkins

8. LAST CALL AT THE LOCAL by Sarah Grunder Ruiz

9. ONLY IF YOU’RE LUCKY by Stacy Willingham

10. THE WOMEN by Kristin Hannah

 

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Question:  Are you planning to read any of these?

Can’t Wait Wednesday – THIS COULD BE US by Kennedy Ryan

 

“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 THIS COULD BE US by Kennedy Ryan. I absolutely loved the first book in this series and was thrilled to find out that we’re now going to get Soledad’s story.

THIS COULD BE US by Kennedy Ryan

by Forever

Publication Date:  March 5, 2024

 

Goodreads:

“Heart-searing, sensual, and life affirming.” ―EMILY HENRY, #1 New York Times bestselling author

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?

For fans of Tia Williams and Colleen Hoover comes a deeply moving and personal novel about sacrifice, self-reliance, and finding true happiness from “one of the finest romance writers of our age.” ― Entertainment Weekly

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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 – Some of My Recent Favorite Books Set in NYC

 

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 Set In X (Pick a setting and share books that are all set there. This could be a specific continent or country, a state, in outer space, underwater, on a ship or boat, at the beach, etc.).  I decided to go with my favorite city in the world, New York City, and since I’ve probably done a similar topic in the past, I decided to focus on more recent favorites.

Ten of My Recent Favorite Books Set in NYC

 

 

1. BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CHRISTMAS by Mary Kay Andrews

2. THE SEVEN YEAR SLIP by Ashley Poston

3. THE SPECTACULAR by Fiona Davis

4. ONE LAST STOP by Casey McQuiston

5. STAY AWAKE by Megan Goldin

6. MADE IN MANHATTAN by Lauren Layne

7. THE AMERICAN ROOMMATE EXPERIMENT by Elena Armas

8. EMMA OF 83RD STREET by Audrey Bellezza & Emily Harding

9. A WINTER IN NEW YORK by Josie Silver

10. IN A NEW YORK MINUTE by Kate Spencer

 

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Question:  Do you have a favorite city, state, or country for book settings?

Top Ten Tuesday – Reasons Why I’m Thankful for Books

 

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 Reasons Why I’m Thankful for Books.  This is a great topic for this week since we’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving here in the U.S. later this week.

Reasons Why I’m Thankful for Books

 

1. Books provide me with the ultimate escape when reality is just too much to deal with. I think they saved my mental health during the pandemic.

2. Books have led this introvert to find her people in the online bookish community. I’m so thankful for all of you!

3. Audiobooks have given me a way to make even the most mundane tasks like driving and folding laundry less tedious.

4. Because of books, we have libraries, which are one of the greatest community resources we have.

5. Along similar lines, because of books, we have bookstores, which are my favorite places to quietly browse when I’m out and about and decide I need some downtime.

6. Books of all genres always give me food for thought, which I think is so important.  Sometimes they reaffirm something I already believe, but often times, they challenge me to think about something in a different way.

7. Books appeal to my sense of wanderlust and allow me to travel to places I’ll probably never make it to in my real life.

8. Even though books provide me great comfort, they have also led me to expand my horizons technologically speaking, in terms of creating this blog and constant troubleshooting it, starting a bookstagram account, etc.  I never could have imagined myself doing any of that if not for my intense love of books.

9. Books teach me so much. I read a lot of historical fiction and I love that I’m always learning new things about historical events that I thought I was pretty well-schooled in.

10. I’m speaking mainly of my own community here, but I love when people are passionate enough about books that when someone in a position of authority advocates the banning and burning of books, they can band together and vote that person out of office.

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Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating and I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Can’t Wait Wednesday – CANADIAN BOYFRIEND by Jenny Holiday

 

“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 CANADIAN BOYFRIEND by Jenny Holiday.  I’ve been getting more and more into sports romances lately so this fun one between a hockey player and a ballet teacher caught my eye, especially since it’s written by Jenny Holiday, whose Christmas novels I’ve really enjoyed.

CANADIAN BOYFRIEND by Jenny Holiday

by Forever

Publication Date:  January 30, 2024

 

Goodreads:

Fate brings together a ballet teacher and a hockey player in this big-hearted novel about second chances and taking risks by the bestselling author Entertainment Weekly calls the “master of witty banter.”

Once upon a time teenage Aurora Evans met a hockey player at the Mall of America. He was from Canada. And soon, he was the perfect fake boyfriend, a get-out-of-jail-free card for all kinds of sticky situations. I can’t go to prom. I’m going to be visiting my boyfriend in Canada. He was just what she needed to cover her social awkwardness. He never had to know. It wasn’t like she was ever going to see him again…

Years later, Aurora is teaching kids’ dance classes and battling panic and eating disorders—souvenirs from her failed ballet career—when pro hockey player Mike Martin walks in with his daughter. Mike’s honesty about his struggles with widowhood helps Aurora confront some of her own demons, and the two forge an unlikely friendship. There’s just one problem: Mike is the boy she spent years pretending was her “Canadian boyfriend.”

The longer she keeps her secret, the more she knows it will shatter the trust between them. But to have the life she wants, she needs to tackle the most important thing of all—believing in herself.

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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 – Book Titles That Would Make Great Newspaper Headlines

 

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 Book Titles That Would Make Great Newspaper Headlines.  This is such a fun topic but also one that I found to be super challenging. I’m not sure the ones I picked would actually make good newspaper headlines, but I’m going to try to explain what my thought process was for picking each of the titles I chose.

Book Titles That Would Make Great Newspaper Headlines

 

1. CHECK & MATE  –  In my head, I see this one as possibly being political in nature, particularly with some of the manueverings we’ve seen lately.

2. THE FRAGILE THREADS OF POWER   – This one also made me think of politics, but something more global. Russia immediately came to mind.

3. BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CHRISTMAS – This title made me think of a either an article advertising an upcoming holiday event or perhaps reviewing the event.

4. CARRIE SOTO IS BACK  – I imagine this was probably TJR’s intention, but this one definitely feels like it could be a news headline announcing a big comeback.

5. THE FINE PRINT – I could see this being the title of one of those buyer beware kind of articles warning people about scams.

6. NONE OF THIS IS TRUE – My local paper prints so many downright heated letters to the editor about local politics and other local hot button issues and I could easily see this one being a title to one of those letters.

7. HOW NOT TO FALL IN LOVE  –  This just screams headline in the Style/Leisure section of the paper to me.

8. THIS SPELLS DISASTER – I can easily imagine this one as an op-ed headline since so many of those seems to predict doom and gloom lately.

9. THE GIRL WHO COULD MOVE SH*T WITH HER MIND  –  Minus the sh*t obviously, this sounds like it could be a headline announcing a scientific discovery.

10. BETTER THAN FICTION  –  This one jumped out at me as perfect for one of those stories you read about where something so outlandish has happened, you can hardly believe it’s true.

 

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Question:  Do you agree with my selections and rationale for choosing them?