Kirbur

What happens when your "estranged best friend and former co-showrunner" shows up on the first day of filming, but this time as a contestant? Mess.

These characters are messy in the most fun way. They are selfish and manipulative and not always very good people, but I was rooting for them to figure their shit out from page 1.

I still need to read book 2 but I really like that all 3 books in this series can stand alone but also take place during the same time frame. Even though you know how the season will play out, McAlister did a great job making the romance in each book the focus so we aren’t completely treading the same path each time. It is also a lot of fun seeing how the same characters get perceived differently depending on who the main character is.

Overall book 1 worked better for me, but I still loved this book!

Another excellent romance from Lucy Parker. Her books never fail to make me smile. She has a way of writing characters and character interactions that feel so real even if the circumstances of the stories sometimes feel farfetched. All of her books are perfect comfort reads for me and Codename Charming is no exception.

I was very fascinated by Pet as a side character in Battle Royal and am so glad that she got her own book! She is a quirky oddball character but Parker does a great job writing her in such a way that she doesn't feel like a “not like other girls” type or like a manic pixy dream girl. Matthias is a character who is more reserved and quiet, he is still grieving the loss of his best friend but his perspective never feels bleak or boring. I definitely felt the chemistry between the 2 of them and it was fun following along on their fake dating antics.

I also really loved Rosie and Johnny appearing as side characters again, they are a fun couple to follow even when they are background characters.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable read and I look forward to all of Lucy Parker's future releases.

A Fate Inked in Blood is the start to a Norse inspired fantasy romance series. We follow Freya as she is forced to leave the life she has known as people fight to control her fate and magic in order to become king. I found Freya to be a well realized main character, she feels very human in that she has a tendency to let her emotions get the best of her and to act before thinking. There were multiple instances where she would jump to conclusions and turn a blind eye to any other possibilities. Sometimes this could read as a bit repetitive and annoying because she would go back and forth in her mind on what decisions to make, but it felt realistic and I understood why it was a struggle to make the decisions she needs to. I'm interested to see how her character develops in later books in the series. The plot was fun and adventurous and it was cool to encounter other children of gods and to see their powers in action. Overall I enjoyed reading this book and can see myself picking up the later installments in the series.

Somewhere between 3.5~4 stars.

I really enjoyed reading this book, the characters were messy and not always making great decisions but it was the kind of mess that is fun to follow. I also really really loved all of the Broadway stuff in here. This book worked for me a lot better than Sussman's previous but it still didn't totally work for me as a romance.

I also really loved the focus on friendship and seeing how Kathleen and Harriet's relationship grew and changed over the years.

I feel like we (meaning the reader and our main character Kathleen) never actually got to know the love interest Cal as a person. After finishing the book I don't know what he sees in her and I don't know why they love each other, other than attraction. I really wish this book had been dual perspective, I think that would have fixed my issues with the romance plot (but also I tend to like multi POV stories more anyway, wouldn't it be fun to have the flashback's in his POV?)

I think that what I have learned now having read this book and Funny You Should Ask is that Elissa Sussman and I care about different things when it comes to romance. Both of the books I've read from her focus a lot on the initial meeting and then the pining and angst before the characters figure it out and can be together again. While my favorite part of reading romance tend to be once the relationship has started, seeing the characters get to know each other and keep finding new reasons to like each other, I like reading the slow deep conversations and scenes where the characters have each others backs in situations with outside conflict, and I want those sorts of scenes to be the majority of the story.

All that being said, I think I loved Once More With Feeling and I will definitely be reading Sussman's future books. It was highly entertaining and emotional (I cried, but I'm an easy crier) and I could totally see myself rereading it someday, it just doesn't totally work for me as a romance.

It's a 4 but like a really high 4. This book was so much fun!

A very different vibe than A Taste of Gold and Iron but I think I liked it even more? The audiobook had me laughing within the first 4% and overall the humor really worked for me.

Not only did I really like our main characters but I also really enjoyed the dynamic of the ships crew. I also really liked the fantasy aspects of the book, we see ghosts, glowing dogs, and more.

Overall I would say this is a silly fun good time with lots of raunchy humor.

This was fine, very fun but not romantic.

It never actually felt to me that Cassie fell in love? I don't even think they ever told each other they loved one another (I just searched the eBook and this appears to be correct). So, I don't know that I can say it worked as a romance. 

Overall, I did enjoy reading this and loved the inclusion of Frederick's texts, letters, diary entries at the beginning of every chapter. In fact those bits were probably my favorite part of the book.

5 out of 5, knocked it out of the park! 

This was everything I wanted it to be and more. This book is equally as magical and engaging as the first 2 in the series, if you loved them you will love this one too.

The world and magic that was laid out by this series was so complex and fascinating, I hope that we continue to get more stories in this world. 

I love the characters in this series so much, they are so well realized and have such complex relationships. Thinking about how far they've came from book 1 to where they are at the end is amazing.

I didn't see the twist coming, but looking back the clues were definitely there along the way. I can't wait to reread the series now that it is complete.