Jun 27
Ryunosuke was never hotter than the episode where he told off Ryo and I stand by that 😤😤
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Ryunosuke was never hotter than the episode where he told off Ryo and I stand by that 😤😤
Hehe, while writing this, it's still 2024 where I live, so I'm still on time. After the excellent reading month of October, I decided to go back to a book I started in September and didn't finish. Turns out I didn't finish this time either. So next to three anticipated reads and two spontaneous picks is my only DNF of the year!
Fallen Thorns (Harvey Oliver Baxter): I started this on a 12-hour-flight and continued to slog my way through it the next two weeks in October and then another week in November and then I realized I still had about 100 pages left - and I just couldn't do it. I just did not care one ounce about the characters. It's so slow and tedious and while I think the writing and pacing is fitting for the protagonist's personality, I guess we just don't match. I didn't hate this book the way I loathe Saint Sinner Sorrow (which I read in September), mind you, there's levels between, I was just bored and there were passages written in a way I just didn't understand (like the one when the leader of the group puts down two captives and suddenly there's a monster. But where did it come from and why was is just one and not two and why was is written that way?) and other passages (from the 'other's' pov) that I just felt exhausted by. It's a real shame, though, because it's another book with an aroace main character this year that I didn't like. /D That being said, I do want to encourage you to take a look for yourself if you're interested in vampires, found family, some sinister conspiracy and a character grappling with his lack of attraction.
Don't let the Forest in (C.G. Drews): Well, this was wild. In a good and also a disturbing way. Andrew is so not okay (honestly, why did they ever let him go back without therapy or a councillor?). It's an interesting book and makes you want to know what's going on/how they deal with it in the end and if it's real or just some hallucination. Just that at some point, it was very obvious where the monsters came from and I wanted to shake the boys for not drawing the last conclusion. (There were still things I didn't anticipate.) It was still good and the writing with all its forest-related imagery is pretty. Fun fact: The cover illustrator went to art school with my best friend and they still talk once in while. When I told my friend about the books I wanted to read, she was like "Oh, I think Jana did the cover!" and I was like "Oh, that's fitting. This one has monsters!" (Because she's always been drawing creepy shit). Even if I only know her second-hand, I'm always proud when a fellow German artist is actually being successful. :D
Nox Winters and the Midnight Wolf (Rochelle Hassan): Another forest-book with more pretty forest-similes. It's a solid adventure story with good character growth. Nox is fun, because he is so grumpy (which I can relate to so much). Compared to the author's other middle grade book I probably like that one more, just because the twist of that one is good, but Nox is also pretty good and I enjoyed reading it. Thinking back to it, all I see is dark forest and stars and I like that.
Fall for Him (Andie Burke): Hmm, I was looking forward to reading this and then I almost forgot to add it the list of books I read. :'D I think it was good? Like very down to earth with money problems, work, nosy neighbors. A story that's probably easy to relate to. There's a bit of on and off between the characters while they sort themselves out, but ultimately everything does get sorted out. Yeah, it was good. Just for the love of cats, don't use names for your characters that spell so similarly. Even if the characters looks are different, I can't see them! I only see the written characters on the page and both start with D and have 5 letters in 2 syllables (Derek and Dylan) and that was actually really hard for me. For half of the book, everytime one of them spoke I had to take a moment to ensure which one it is. (Maybe that's also why it's so difficult for me to remember what happenend in this book. I'm trying hard here.)
They hate each other (Amanda Woody): I was sick again and thought, it'd be the right time for another audiobook from the library. Just that I really didn't want another adult romance with adult scenes. /D I was reluctant to pick this up, because the summary sounds incredibly shallow. They start fake dating to show their friends that they don't fit. Woah. Ugh. I wanted something easy to read, though, being sick and all, so I went along with it. The thing is, the summary is a blatant lie of omission. Because half of the book isn't even about the dating thing but about the family issues of the one guy. His mother is dead, his father an alcoholic and he has to care of his younger sisters, earning the money, next to keeping up in school. It doesn't go well and he is on the point of breaking. And then his estranged aunt starts poking her nose in. It's really tough, actually, and mean at times. Like when the aunt asks the (not so fake anymore) boyfriend to provide her with information when he doesn't really know her intentions and has to decide if he is ready to lose his boyfriend's trust forever over it. I liked that the book has an actual story that is not at all shallow but I still felt betrayed. xD
Fake Dates and Moon Cakes (Sher Lee): I picked this one up, because I read the author's second book Legend of the White Snake a little earlier and still needed something light, this time for traveling not being sick. But after the betrayal of They Hate Each Other, I ended up reading this a week before the actual travel. :'D What I didn't realize at first is, that it's another fake dating story with a rich guy. xD This one was fun, though. It did exactly what it promised and I really liked it. The author's shtick for giving a lot of background facts is in here as well, like about the Chinese calendar and the food. It's sweet, the protagonist is not an idiot and family is important. Fun fact: This is the third book with a Dylan in a row. Yes. And remember Fall for Him with Derek and Dylan? In here, there's a random girl approaching the protagonist Dylan and can't remember his name and asks "What was your name? Derek?" Not surprisingly I laughed out loudly. I'm not the only one mixing them up!
That's it for all the backlog!! (Finally!) As of writing this, I still have about 80 pages left of my last book of the year, so I'll get back to that. Happy new year!
New Releases: September 3, 2024
Cool Cat by Jazz Taylor This is the third book in the Wish series Nova doesn’t lie — she tells hopes for the future. That’s why she tells her mom she got an A on her math quiz, even though she got a B. It’s also why she doesn’t tell her mom about her secret Instagram that she’s almost old enough to have. When a viral video of her cat pushes her into the popular crowd, and next to her crush, Lily,…
Fall for Him by Andie Burke
Official Blurb:
Dylan Gallagher’s hot neighbor loathed him from the second he moved in, and causing a flood, falling through the floor, and landing directly onto that same neighbor’s bed probably means that’s unlikely to change. The poorly timed “It’s Raining Men” joke didn’t help. Meanwhile, ER nurse Derek Chang’s life is a literal when-rains-it-pours nightmare. A man he hates dropped into his life along with an astronomically expensive problem originating from Derek’s own apartment’s plumbing. Also, the local HOA tyrant has been sniffing around trying to fine him for his extended, illicit banned breed dog-sitting. Since Dylan also wants to keep the catastrophe quiet, he offers to fix the damage himself. Dylan’s sure he’s not Derek’s type, so he focuses all his ADHD hyper fixation energy on getting the repair job done as quickly as possible―avoiding doing anything stupid like acting on his very inconvenient crush. Meanwhile Derek tries to ignore that the tattooed nerd sleeping on the couch is surprisingly witty, smart, and kind, despite the long-term grudge Derek’s been holding against him. But will squeezing all their emotional baggage plus a dog into a tiny one-bedroom apartment be a major disaster…or just prove they’re made for each other? Fall for Him combines banter, hijinks, and heart in a story of finding out what it means to fix things after your life crumbles.
My Thoughts:
I really enjoyed Fall For Him. I've read some great romance books this year and this one is certainly going on my list of favorites. I always love it when a romance can make me laugh, cry, and swoon along with the characters. I want to feel like I went on a full emotional journey by the end! Fall For Him gave me all those feelings.
Dylan and Derek are great characters and their emotional journeys throughout the book were really well done. Some scenes seriously made me want to cheer because I felt so proud of their fictional growth.
I also loved the cast of supporting characters, Gus, and the book's humor. I really had the best time reading this! It's delightful and the ending made me shed some happy tears.
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Tropes/Tags: romance, rivals to lovers, forced proximity, slow burn
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5. There are multiple sex scenes that are “Open Door”.
Content Warnings: Nothing major but it does focus slightly on grief. Grief is not a heavy theme in the book but it does factor into why one character is behaving a certain way and e processes this grief throughout the book.
If you liked this I think you will like Fall For Him: I think fans of Alexis Hall's contemporary romances should enjoy this book!
Other Notes: Fall For Him is a companion novel to Andie Burke's Sapphic romance from last year called Fly With Me.
Links: Storygraph | GoodReads | AndieBurke.com
Fall For Him will be released on September 3, 2024, and is available for pre-order!
I received an advanced copy of this book for free thanks to NetGalley. The above are my honest feelings on the provided book.
Rating: 2/5
Book Blurb:
In Fall for Him by Andie Burke, seven-hundred-fifty square feet isn’t enough for the home-renovation-fueled hatred and the building sexual tension.
Dylan Gallagher’s hot neighbor loathed him from the second he moved in, and causing a flood, falling through the floor, and landing directly onto that same neighbor’s bed probably means that’s unlikely to change. The poorly timed “It’s Raining Men” joke didn’t help.
Meanwhile, ER nurse Derek Chang’s life is a literal when-rains-it-pours nightmare. A man he hates dropped into his life along with an astronomically expensive problem originating from Derek’s own apartment’s plumbing. Also, the local HOA tyrant has been sniffing around trying to fine him for his extended, illicit banned breed dog-sitting.
Since Dylan also wants to keep the catastrophe quiet, he offers to fix the damage himself. Dylan’s sure he’s not Derek’s type, so he focuses all his ADHD hyper fixation energy on getting the repair job done as quickly as possible—avoiding doing anything stupid like acting on his very inconvenient crush. Meanwhile Derek tries to ignore that the tattooed nerd sleeping on the couch is surprisingly witty, smart, and kind, despite the long-term grudge Derek’s been holding against him. But will squeezing all their emotional baggage plus a dog into a tiny one-bedroom apartment be a major disaster…or just prove they’re made for each other?
Fall for Him combines banter, hijinks, and heart in a story of finding out what it means to fix things after your life crumbles.
Review:
What happens when it literally starts raining men... and by that I mean a cute guy floods his apartment and lands right in yours. Dylan Gallagher is a cute nerd who has never really gotten along with his hot neighbor, ER nurse Derek Chang. From the moment Dylan moved in Derek has hated him and Dylan has no idea what he did wrong. What Dylan doesn't know is that Derek knows him before he had moved in, specifically because Dylan had dated the Derek's best friend's brother... the same guy Derek has nursed a long time crush on and slept with multiple times yet by going out with Dylan said guy was hurt and then when he passed away Derek's hatred for Dylan solidified. Yet here when Dylan lands smack dab in the middle of Derek's apartment, flooding it... they have to come up with a solution and that means Dylan will repair Derek's apartment while Derek moves in with Dylan. And so begins a tension filled roommate situation where there feelings for one another only grow stronger... but the longer Derek hides his past from Dylan the more it'll ruin the blooming relationship between them. This one just felt like a disappointment for me, the premise was really cute but the actual characters just weren't for me. I didn't like the pacing of the story and the actual conclusion for the mess between them just felt meh. I really liked how the story had a lot of rep in it and how it handled grief, but the actual romance just didn't feel there for me at all. I do appreciate getting to read a story with unique rep but I would just say this one missed the mark for me.
Release Date: September 3,2024
Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)
*Thanks Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | St. Martin's Griffin for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*
Most Anticipated New Book Releases September 2024
September is a bumper month for titles that have grabbed my attention. I could have easily added another five or so upcoming releases, but tried to whittle this list down to the novels that intrigued me the most: When Haru Was Here – Dustin Thao (YA, Contemporary, Romance, Magical Realism, LGBT+) We Are Okay meets Wandavision in this novel about loss, and learning to let go.After the death of…
May 2024 Wrap-Up
Here is what I read, posted, won, received, and bought in May. Let me know if you have read any of these books and what you thought of them. Books I Read: Books I Did Not Finish I did not finish this book (which is rare for me). I had a good reason not to. The author was involved in a scandal that involved review-bombing books that were similar to her and also written by BIPOC and Queer…
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We move together, our lips meet and his kiss explodes in my head. Stars burst overhead. And I'm falling, falling, falling.
"The Cake Shop in the Garden" by Carole Matthews