It was a light reading month, but I had some pretty decent reads!
His Royal Highness by R.S. Grey**** - ARC, ebook
3.5 Stars - I might recommend if you enjoy contemporary romance.
When Whitney starts an internship at a major theme park she is assigned a current cast member to be her mentor. When she is partnered with Derek Knightly, heir to the Fairytale Kingdom fortune she is star struck and a bit smitten. When he discontinues their partnership unexpectedly she never hears from him again, and is then partnered with his grandfather the genius behind Fairytale Kingdom itself. When Derek shows up again 10 years later, Whitney doesn't know what to think. She's no longer a teenager, and no longer the underdog. She now plays the part of Princess Elena in the castle, and mentors students herself, but finding out that Derek has been assigned to play the part of her prince charming will throw her off her game.
I loved this behind the scenes imagining of what it would be like to be a cast member at a big theme park! It was so fun to imagine working there, and all of the commitment, creativity, and genius that goes into creating such a place! I loved reading about Whitney's journey from balloon seller to intern to Princess Elena. She was such a fun character and had so much passion for the park and her job. I loved her mentor program experience and being partnered with Derek. I especially adored that she later got paired with Cal, and her relationship with him. It was so sweet to me that she found her family and her home at Fairytale Kingdom, when her own family hadn't been able to be there for her. I found myself really invested in her crush on Derek in the past, even though it wasn't based on mutual attraction. I felt for her when she re-read her emails to him, oh to be eighteen! LOL My favorite parts of this book took place in the park. I adored the scenes where she was in costume greeting children for photos with her various princes. There were so many funny moments of tension, banter, and ornery kiddos. I thought that the chemistry between Whitney and Derek was great when they were paired together, and I liked seeing them grow closer after years apart. I didn't 100% identify with the way Whitney approached present day Derek, she was a little hot and cold, and I didn't really care for the way that she had kind of started spending time with Ryan and then led him on a bit before ending up with Derek. However, once that was all over I loved Whitney and Derek together, and all of the moments leading up to the parade had me swooning! I also adored anything to do with Cal and their sort of family bond. So sweet! The parts related to her family and NYC almost felt a bit separate from the rest of the book, it broke the immersion a bit for me. Overall I would recommend if you enjoy contemporary romance, and of course if you are a Disney fan. :)
One and Only by Jenny Holiday - own, physical book
5 Stars - I highly recommend if you enjoy contemporary romance.
When Jane's best friend gets married she becomes a bit of a bridezilla. When the wedding is about a week away, Jane gets the news that her task is to babysit the groom's wayward younger brother and keep him from ruining everything. Jane can't wait to get out of bridesmaid duties so she readily agrees. However, she finds that Cameron embraces not only civilian life back on Canadian soil, but being babysat as well. He also helps her test her type A and play it safe nature. After a week together, they have bonded, but still have to make it through the wedding and all of the side effects that come with it.
Ugh, this book was so cute. I loved it so much. I could really relate to Jane's character in how much she wanted to get out of the wedding craziness. I'm also very much the planner, the type-A person, so I definitely felt like I "got" Jane from the beginning. I'll be honest and say that I was wary of Cameron. I'm not one for military romances, and his personality is soooo bad at first... BUT you really come around to him, and I felt like all of his military moments and ideals expressed were incredibly commendable. I loved seeing Cameron and Jane bond over shared experiences and risk taking, it was so fun and unique. I loved the way they slowly (and quickly) got to know each other and care for each other. I thought it was really sweet how much they fought their attraction, and he mostly let her call the shots. I thought that his PTSD was handled really well and while he was a bit of an angsty character it made sense and added depth to the story without being too angsty. The chemistry in this book was so good. So much banter, tension, sweet moments, and unexpected pet names. Ugh I just loved it. I am super excited to say this has broken me out of a mini reading rut, and I can't wait to read the rest of this series, and more books by Jenny Holiday!
The Secret Garden Cookbook by Amy Cotler* - ARC, ebook
4 Stars - I recommend if you enjoy cookbooks and classic novels.
A cookbook with recipes and tibits from the time period of The Secret Garden. AUTHOR has spent time researching the foods mentioned in the book, and cookbooks written during the time period to share similar recipes to the ones Mary, Colin, and Dikon would have enjoyed. She also includes an entire section on Indian food and Anglo-Indian food as during this time period India was colonized by England. Some of the recipes are updated versions for modern cooks, while others are fairly true to their original recipes.
The cover drew me to this cookbook. The illustrations are absolutely darling, and made me want to dive back into the world of the The Secret Garden. I was especially excited to read this one after enjoying The Little Women Cookbook so much! I love that the author of this book did a lot of research related to not only which dishes were mentioned in the book The Secret Garden, but also into recipes from cookbooks written in that time period. While some of the recipes are updated for modern cooks and palates, some are also fairly true to their original versions. I loved learning more about the world during the time of the book through tidbits of history and every day life that were shared in these pages. I also enjoyed that she talks a lot about the history of colonizing India and how that influenced both the book but also the culinary history of England. The excerpts from The Secret Garden containing the particular dishes were also so sweet and brought a lot of nostalgia to the cookbook. I think that flipping through this lovely book will definitely inspire readers to have an Anglo-Indian tea or classic English breakfast of their own. From recipes for English crumpets, to fresh mango chutney, Welsh rabbit, and Cornish pasties this book has many tempting recipes. I will definitely be picking up a copy of this for my own shelves after it publishes on 1/14/20.
The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams - library, physical book
4 Stars - I highly recommend if you enjoy contemporary romance.
When Gavin and Thea have trouble with their marriage, the men on Gavin's baseball team inaugurate him into their secret book club, where they read romance novels to fix their relationships. Though skeptical at first, Gavin joins in and makes a serious effort to win back Thea's affection, but it will take a lot more than seducing her and copying the book, he has to work on his issues, and their issues too.
I really enjoyed this book! The idea behind it is very charming, I just loved this book club full of men reading romance novels. The concept is funny, and all of the bromance that happens throughout the book is so charming. I loved hearing their commentary which was hilarious and very thoughtful. It was an awfully feminist group of men, but I loved that, and their discourses on what was or was not feminist. It was very interesting. I did find it pretty distracting that the one guy was just "The Russian" up until the end of the book. I don't think it's mean to be derogatory at all, but it did feel weird to me. I can't speak to whether or not this would be offensive to anyone... but it did sort of stick out at me each time I read it. This might be one of the first romance novels about a couple that is already married, and I really enjoyed that aspect. It definitely sheds some light on marital issues, and how you can't become complacent within your marriage which I felt was very realistic. I thought that this book had a lot of funny and swoony moments, but it also touched on some more serious topics. A lot of those topics hit home for me, so I was probably a bit more emotional while reading than other readers would be. I loved all of the characters, especially Liv and Gavin and Thea's twins. I was rooting for everyone, and I'm excited that there will be another book in this series already! :)
Monthly totals:
Read - 4
Owned - 1
Ebook - 2
Physical book - 2
ARC - 3
Library/Borrowed - 1
Bought - 26 (6 physical books, 20 ebooks) - 10 books were freeee! :)
To Let Go - 0
Yearly Totals:
Read - 86
Owned - 23
Ebook - 51
Physical book - 42
ARC - 41
Library/Borrowed - 21
Bought - 200 (142 physical books, 64 ebooks) - 38 books were freeee! :)
To Let Go - 55
Linking up with Jana and Steph for Show Us Your Books today. :)
* Asterisks denote titles that I was given advance access to by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. These reviews are my own opinion, and based on the edition of the book I was given at the time. Thank you Netgalley
What have you been reading? What do you hope to read this month?!
XO,
Alexandra
**Double asterisks denote books won via a goodreads giveaway!
***Triple asterisks denote titles that I was given advance access to by Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. These reviews are my own opinion, and based on the edition of the book I was given at the time. Thank you Edelweiss!
****Quadruple asterisks denote titles that I was given advance access to by the author of the book in exchange for an honest review. These reviews are my own opinion and based on the edition of the book I was given at the time!
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