The Smell of Books in the Air
I love this time of year---the nights get cooler, the leaves start changing colors, and there’s a continuous breeze whenever you’re outside (at least where I live). And do you know what that means? If you’re thinking snuggling up with a nice cup of tea and a good book, then you’re spot on! Don’t get me wrong: I can and will read anytime of the year, day or night. But autumn just has that special feeling. Kids going back to school, getting out my cute boots and scarves, enjoying the weather before the arctic freezes descend upon us. I only wish I was joking on that last part…
Many Are Invited by Dennis Cuesta
It’s 1994 in California and people are starting to consider what the year 2000 is going to do to all IT systems relying on the date. Since most IT coding was done with 19xx in mind, there weren’t too many systems ready to either take in the 20xx, or if they only used two digits to represent the year, the systems were most likely going to think New Year’s Day was going to take in the year 1900 (see the problem?). Steve meets John around this time, and even though he’s not fully convinced of the Y2K urgency, after some time working together Steve realizes he and John have a lot in common and they become good friends. At least until John leaves the company for a start up and hits it big when he’s able to cash out of his IPO stocks. It’s around that time that Steve starts to see more of John’s flaws, and the little green monster from the land of envy is born. I wasn’t sure about this book when I started reading it, but it definitely grew on me, especially since I worked on many of the Y2K projects in IT myself. There were a lot of twists and turns and the more I read, the more I liked the book. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t enough follow-thru for me in the ending since I found I had more questions than answers, which is not really how I like the books I read to finish.
3 Stars
Special Note: Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
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Before I Do by Sophie Cousens
It’s the night before your wedding, the wedding you never even realized you wanted: a stable, loving relationship with a really good guy—one that you love with all of your heart. But at the rehearsal dinner, the guy you met all those years ago who completely swept you off of your feet shows up. And all of those memories are immediately injected into your brain, bringing along the butterflies to your stomach. Now that you understand what happened, where your dream guy was all these years and how you weren’t ghosted and it was all just bad luck, what do you do? You know what you should do, but will that mean missing out on a once in a lifetime, sparks and fireworks, and an ice cream sundae with the cherry on top kind of life? I enjoyed this book, and even though I thought it would be predictable, there were some very good non-predictable moments. Unfortunately, when I finished it, I still felt like I had just watched a Hallmark movie in my mind. Cute and nice, but all kind of expected in the end.
3 Stars
Special Note: Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
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How to Kill Men and Get Away With It by Katy Brent
Kitty is a social media influencer living the good life and then some. She comes from enough money that she really doesn’t need to work, but she makes enough as an influencer that she doesn’t even need to touch her inherited riches. But walking home from the club one night, Kitty has an interaction with a drunk guy who simply can’t take NO for an answer. And when that drunk guy ends up dead, it more or less starts a new trend with Kitty and the men who really don’t deserve to breathe…literally. Reading this book was touch and go for me at the start. I thought it was going to be a much lighter type of story, but it actually came around with more substance the longer I read. Although there are a few holes (could be because it’s an ARC) and more than a few parts that challenged the believability scale, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and would consider more from this author in the future.
4 Stars
Special Note: Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
