All Booked Up

Happy Ever After by Nora Roberts My rating: 3 of 5 stars Carter and Mac's wedding was the highlight of this book for me. A sweet way to end the series since it began with them. As for the rest, I just found Malcolm extremely annoying and that kind of ruined it for me. Hell, it ruined Parker for me. Still, I enjoyed the series a lot. NR is a master of her craft. View all my reviews

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn My rating: 2 of 5 stars #PopsugarReadingChallenge2019 Prompt - a book recommended by a celebrity you admire: The incomparable Felicia Day (actress, author, all around good egg) rated this 5 stars in her active Goodreads library. ...and I won't hold it against her. Once upon a time, Modern Millie travelled back in time and did a bunch of things that were not possible for women during the Victorian era. Along the way, she met an android disguised as a human that could slice and dice and speak every language. He also had a superpower: to annoy this particular reader to the point of pain. Literal pain, mind you. I rolled my eyes so hard and often that I gave myself a headache. Together, they set out to alternately annoy and bore the shit out of me, as it was also her superpower; and solve a murder that I, myself, solved before 40% of the book had been read. Unfortunately, they survived to annoy and angst me into...

Dirty Money by Liliana Hart My rating: 5 of 5 stars This really wasn't long enough. The story stops at 88% for some reason, but fine. I'll accept that because it was awesome! The stakes were extremely high this time around after the cliffhanger in the last book. I'm happy that Jack and Jaye are evolving as a married couple while dealing with old ghosts. This book wrapped up a 4-book story arc, and while it feels like a good place to end, I hope that it doesn't. View all my reviews

Stranger on the Shore by Josh Lanyon My rating: 3 of 5 stars #PopsugarReadingChallenge2019 Prompt - A book about a family I feel like I blinked and missed something that would have made a huge part of this narrative make sense. Apart from that, other aspects were enjoyable...ish. It's not the best JL, but it's not the worst either so *shrugs* View all my reviews

Challenge the Darkness by Dirk Greyson My rating: 3 of 5 stars #PopsugarReadingChallenge2019 Prompt - A book with "pop", "sugar", or "challenge" in the title This started off great and then was bogged down and repetitive to the point of nausea. It was fun though for a shifter romance, and that's usually all I ask for in my UF escapes. I'll check out the other two in the series. View all my reviews

Heart Trouble by Josh Lanyon My rating: 3 of 5 stars Sweet, but also really creepy. If a doctor showed that level of interest in me, whether I found them attractive or not, after pretty much just meeting me, I would run - not walk - the other way... fast. View all my reviews

On the Edge of Love by Shay Rucker My rating: 1 of 5 stars Interracial A to Z Reading Challenge: O This was a pain to get through. The only , - ONLY - reason I finished it is because I was absolutely not in the mood to find another book for this letter; because of this book, mind you. I was so annoyed from the first page that I didn't want to find anything else for fear that this book would taint it since it put me in such a foul mood. And yes, that has actually happened to me before. There is nothing, absolutely nothing , even remotely attractive let alone sexy about a borderline rapist psychopath. N O T H I N G! View all my reviews

Lovers and Other Strangers by Josh Lanyon My rating: 3 of 5 stars Great story, truly; I actually do mean that despite the 3 stars. It's only receiving 3 stars from me because of the HEA. (view spoiler) [I would have been happier with Finn telling Con to go (bleeeeeeeep) himself. Cheating on him with his twin - his TWIN! - because you were a coward is not a forgivable offense to me. (hide spoiler) ] View all my reviews

Waiting on a Bright Moon by J.Y. Yang My rating: 4 of 5 stars #PopsugarReadingChallenge2019 Prompt - A book written by an author from Asia, Africa, or South America: JY Yang is Singaporean A beautiful, hauntingly lyrical mix of The Handmaid's Tale, Native Tongue, and V For Vendetta. I'm really just struck speechless because, apart from being beautiful, it's relevant. View all my reviews

Murder at Cold Creek College by Christa Nardi My rating: 3 of 5 stars #PopsugarReadingChallenge2019 Prompt - A book set on a college or university campus Cute and engaging enough for me to want to check out the rest of the series. View all my reviews

Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh My rating: 2 of 5 stars #PopsugarReadingChallenge2019 Prompt - a book with a question in the title Let me start by saying that if you want to read this, read it. Don't let my 2 star rating dissuade you. I am extremely particular when it comes to my science fiction. That said, this was a very ambitious book. That's great, honestly. Artists should reach for the stars with their creations. Unfortunately, to me, this book crashed and burned. It's ambitious, and hard, to create a science fiction/space opera book that is solely character-driven. I think that had these characters not been annoying, one-dimensional, cookie-cutter archetypes, I would have at least liked it. It had all of the makings to be something amazing. Six young adults choosing to embark on a 23 year space expedition to a new Earth-like planet. Given the potential for everything that could go wrong, this could have been one intense...

Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs My rating: 5 of 5 stars Interracial Romance A to Z Challenge: M (for Mercy who is Native American/white biracial married to a white man) This is everything that makes urban fantasy such a fun genre and everything I've come to adore about this series. It was darker than some of the previous novels (which had already touched on some pretty gruesome topics) and the stakes are definitely higher now. I can't wait to see what unfolds in the next two (confirmed) books in the series. Adam is still the sexiest shifter alive, by the way. ;) View all my reviews

The Gemini Hustle by Kathleen McClure My rating: 3 of 5 stars #PopsugarReadingChallenge2019 Prompt - A book with a zodiac or astrology term in the title I really wanted to love this; but I didn't. It was a fast-paced, enjoyable spy-fi space opera, but I just couldn't love it the way I wanted to. It was fun though, which I guess is all I usually ask of my space operas in the first place. View all my reviews

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling My rating: 2 of 5 stars #PopsugarReadingChallenge2019 Prompt - a book you think should be turned into a movie This would have been so much better as a short story because the characters leave a lot to be desired and it was annoyingly repetitive. The idea was awesome though; which I why I chose it for this prompt. View all my reviews

Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley My rating: 4 of 5 stars Completely worth the wait I had to endure after reading, and falling in love with, The Rook . 5/7/2019 Re-read update #PopsugarReadingChallenge Prompt - a reread of a favorite book Just as funny the second time around. Great characters, great world-building (I didn't even mind the infodumps which are usually a serious pain), and just a fun time. I really hope there's a third novel at some point in the future. View all my reviews

Hard Target by Rhonda Laurel My rating: 3 of 5 stars #PopsugarReadingChallenge2019 Prompt - A book with a two word title Interracial Romance A-Z Challenge: H A cute little soap opera like sports romance with romantic suspense elements thrown in as well. I'll check out all of the others in this Blakeverse. You all know how much I love soapy books. View all my reviews

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams My rating: 1 of 5 stars #PopsugarReadingChallenge2019 Prompt - an "own voices" book: Both the main character and author are Jamaican-born Londoners that work in publishing. I never thought that I would find a character that annoyed me more than Holden Caulfield but I was wrong. Queenie is worse, if you can believe it. A grown woman, infantile in behavior and thought, and just a chore to be around. It took me almost a month to finish this. That's how much I didn't want to be in her head. View all my reviews

And Never Let Her Go: Thomas Capano: The Deadly Seducer by Ann Rule My rating: 4 of 5 stars #PopsugarReadingChallenge2019 Prompt - a novel based on a true story: The murder of Anne Marie Fahey I chose this particular true crime novel because I really do remember the case. I was a freshman in high school and lived through Amy Fisher and the OJ trial, but this one (and others like it) always stick with me the most because of how easily it could have been someone I know. Or even me. A young girl charmed, used, and discarded. How often does that happen? Exactly. Ann Rule, of course, did an amazing job of filling in all of the gaps that were missing. View all my reviews

Ariel by Sylvia Plath My rating: 1 of 5 stars #PopsugarReadingChallenge2019 Prompt - a book published posthumously. Yeah, this wasn't even thinly veiled racism. This was in your face. Her casual use of an ethnic slur here, almost as an afterthought even, lets me know how comfortable she was in saying it while alive. View all my reviews

Savor the Moment by Nora Roberts My rating: 5 of 5 stars Oh, Delaney Brown, you are one romantic, classy man. If Carter wasn't already my one true love in this series.... On to Parker and Mal to finish out the series. View all my reviews

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger My rating: 1 of 5 stars #PopsugarReadingChallenge2019 Prompt - a book with at least one million ratings on Goodreads. Listen, I'm going to be really honest with you here for a second; if this book wasn't on the list of books that fit this prompt, I would have never read it again. And I know you're saying, "but there are other books on the list though, Ariel." Look, every book on that list fell into two categories: I'd either read it and didn't want to read it again or I'd rather burn my eyes out than actually read it. Harsh, but true. This book now falls into both categories. So, there's me, not being able to choose and I asked one of my friends to choose from the list and she picked this one. Fine. I read it as a teenager for English class and hated it, but then I hated every book labeled as "classic" as a teenager. They're all boring as hell. So, I think (...