Influencer by Adam Cesare
This started off really weird and slow for me, but ended up giving it a 3 stars - middle of the road, not terrible but not amazing either. It's a thriller for sure, following an anonymous internet star who's generally a bit of a psychopath; when his identity is revealed, it seems he'll stop at nothing to get revenge. The characters are teenagers so it's definitely a YA book, but it's super creepy.
Star-Crossed Letters by Sarah Deeham
I absolutely loved this one - a penpals to lovers romance between a small town girl and a big famous movie star. It was just a lot of fun, a typical romance but also just super lovely with some fun tropes. The characters were charming, the banter was fantastic, the slow burn was delicious. It has some really mixed reviews but I gave it 4 stars and I'm looking forward to seeing how the series develops with the other characters...
Holding the Reins by Paisley Hope
FIVE STARS. Amazing. Delightful. Sexy. Spicy. Gorgeous. Loved loved loved this so much - hockey romance and cowboy romance are two of my favourite sub-genres, as this is a crossover between the two (!!) and honestly Paisley Hope, hats off to you because this was spectacular and I'm already desperate to read book two, which hopefully I'll get my hands on soon!
Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer
Now I am *not* a fantasy girly, or so I tell myself and everybody else. I chose this book as part of an Autumn readathon I'm doing, as I needed a 'book with a spooky animal friend' and there's a frog sidekick in this one. Did I expect to fall in love with the book? No, but I did. I loved it so much and couldn't get enough of this - I finished it in the pub while literally ignoring my fiancée. It follows a girl who's looking. for a job to support her family, and she ends up working for 'The Villain', who her town are desperately trying to capture - and then there's a whole lot of adventure! Again, can't wait to read the second one... Five stars!
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty
I absolutely love Liane Moriarty's writing, I just don't know how she does it every time - capturing the minutiae of family life and relationships, taking you on a journey as the plot unravels. This one is about a woman who goes missing, and the story flits between now, as the police and her family try to work out what's happened, and last year when she had a mysterious visitor come to stay. It also features tennis, and relationship breakdowns, and mental health and grief and migraines and terrible carpets, and I adored it. Another 5 star read for me.
Flawless by Elsie Silver
I've finally started the Chestnut Springs series, and woweee! The first book did not disappoint - as mentioned, a cowboy/small town romance is a bit of me and this one really is great. It wasn't quite a five star for me but I really did enjoy it - following bad boy bull rider Rhett and his agent's daughter, Summer, it's a classic contemporary romance with plenty of spice and a whole lot of fun. Excited to continue the series for sure.
Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
I'm not usually a reader of gothic literature, or literary fiction in general, but I had a Netgalley ARC of this as it really called out to me - it's a feminist retelling of Carmilla, the original sapphic vampire fiction, and I do love a sapphic read. It took me a while to get into this but honestly it was worth persevering with; it's so well written, and really delicately balances on that fine line between reality and the supernatural with some incredibly powerful themes. I gave this four stars too!
Death on the Danube by Jennifer S Alderson
I read this for fun as we were heading to Budapest, and it was actually pretty good - I got this as a free Kindle read on a recent cosy mystery themed 'stuff your Kindle day'. It definitely was a cosy mystery, and as I read it while we were in Budapest I just had a lot of fun with it. It follows Lana who has to step in as a last minute tour guide for a luxury trip to the Hungarian capital, and while she's there someone on the tour is murdered - so Lana tries to figure out what happened. Not a masterpiece by any stretch, but a decent read and one I gave 3 stars.
Our Holiday by Louise Candlish
I listened to this as an audiobook on Spotify, and it's really well done. But did I love the story? Not massively - it follows two wealthy couples who are staying in their holiday homes on the coast, and are met with anger from the local residents. We follow the duration of the holiday, as the two sides of the class division battle it out with some side plots and drama along the way. It was an interesting read but just felt like a LOT going on - I gave this 3 stars.
The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren
Another audiobook, this time a free one on YouTube. I've read a few Christina Lauren books and enjoyed them, and this was no exception - although I do find the spicier scenes a bit awkward to listen to as opposed to when I'm physically reading them... This is a marriage of convenience/fake dating, high stakes, billionaire romance set on a beautiful island and full of everything that makes me giggle and kick my feet in a book. I gave this 5 stars on Goodreads but it's probably more of a 4.5!
What an amazing end to October with three 5 star reads!!!! And a mixed bag so far in November, but nothing to be sniffed at. Let me know what your most recent read was in the comments if you fancy it.
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