en-US Wed, 30 Apr 2025 09:01:00 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 210825471 He had everything he could’ve wanted…except her.

Dangerous. Powerful. Reclusive.
��
Vuk Markovic is notorious for shunning human interactions. The scarred billionaire rarely talks, and he has no interest in relationships outside his small but trusted circle.
��
His only exception? Her . The beauty to his beast, the object of his obsession.
��
He saw her first. He wanted her first. But now, she’s engaged to his oldest friend—and the closer the wedding looms, the more he’s torn between loyalty and desire.
��
She should be his…and he might just risk it all to have her.
��
***
Beautiful. Successful. Glamorous.
��
To the world, supermodel Ayana Kidane leads the perfect life. Her career has skyrocketed, and she’s engaged to one of New York’s most eligible bachelors.
��
What people don't know is that the engagement is only a business arrangement. He gets his inheritance when they marry; she gets the money she needs to leave her abusive agency.
��
Pretending to be in love should be easy—until she finds herself increasingly drawn to her fiancé’s enigmatic best man.
��
Vuk thrills and terrifies her in equal measure. She knows she should stay away, but when her wedding is thrown into chaos, he’s the only person she finds comfort in��
��
Until his past catches up with them and threatens everything they love.]]> 530 Ana Huang lianna 5 2025, 5-star-reads
i wasn’t expecting vuk to be a funny man because he looks grumpy as hell and he gives off meanie vibes but he is FUNNY. i was giggling every time he made a joke. every time he spoke, you be your ass i was sat and listening.

i think a lot of the time vuk was the eye roll emoji ]]> 4.25 2025
author: Ana Huang
name: lianna
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/29
date added: 2025/04/30
shelves: 2025, 5-star-reads
review:
morally grey men by ana huang™️ ARE BACK BABY

i wasn’t expecting vuk to be a funny man because he looks grumpy as hell and he gives off meanie vibes but he is FUNNY. i was giggling every time he made a joke. every time he spoke, you be your ass i was sat and listening.

i think a lot of the time vuk was the eye roll emoji
]]> 228642112
Roslyn, Washington.

It isn’t just another dot on the map. It’s where she left Graham Stewart, the man she almost chose, the love she almost had. And as fate would have it, he’s still there—now a rugged dairy farmer with a life far different from her own.

A near collision on the highway sets off an unexpected shift in her world, revealing glimpses of what life could have been if she’d said yes all those years ago. As Savannah navigates the pull of past regrets and present possibilities, she’s forced to decide: is love just something she writes about, or is it something worth staying for?]]> 302 Caitlin Moss lianna 0 4.84
author: Caitlin Moss
name: lianna
average rating: 4.84
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/25
shelves: currently-reading, 2025, arc-reviews
review:

]]> 215999525 There once was a man who loved me, until he forgot every memory we've ever shared��

Gabriel Sinclair would forever be my first. My first best friend, my first kiss, my first love…and my first heartbreak. The accident that nearly took his life ripped the memory of me from his grasp—and for the last decades, I've let the guilt of that one terrible night keep us apart.

It took me years to make peace with the fact that he would no longer be in my life, so when he shows up as the architect for my new home, my world's tossed upside down. Now, I'm trapped in a loveless marriage, raising a child, while Gabriel stirs up feelings I thought long buried. It feels like my soul is waking up after years of being in a deep slumber—and my controlling husband will do whatever it takes to keep us apart.

I know I should push Gabriel away to protect him from the shadows surrounding me. Yet, I can't deny the hope that blooms whenever he's near—the chance that he might remember me, that we could reclaim the chapters of our story that we've lost.��

Nothing good could come from us, but I can't help but wonder what would happen if this time...he stayed.��

There once was a man who loved me�� And now he's my only hope for tomorrow.]]> 400 Brittainy C. Cherry 172829715X lianna 5
i guess i was in a mood to have my heart ripped into shreds and stomped on because sourcebooks casa gave this book to me a week ago and i was reading a very dark romance before this and now i’m broken. literally if you look on the floor you’ll see me curled into a ball and sobbing. i knew when i read the trigger warning page i would need tissues. the pain i felt reading this book? it’s comparable to the type of pain you feel when you’re so heartbroken and you’re crying so hard you can’t breathe and you’re screaming at the big man up there asking why you and asking for it to stop. my heart HURT okay. and i will be sending brittainy cherry my next therapy bill.

gabriel could not have been more perfect. like ava said, he is a man written by a woman. he is the epitome of a man written by a woman. i’m only half way through my reading goal but man he’s won book boyfriend of the year. i LOVE gabriel sinclair so fucking much it hurts. he is so kind, beyond patient, talented as hell and so loving. his accident might have made him forget the first 20 years of his life but it did not change who he’s always been. he’s so perfect i don’t have anything else to say about him.

i don’t know how brittainy did it but i felt every single gram of pain kierra went through while married to henry. with every page, my heart cracked just a little more until i was completely broken. kierra is such a bright soul and the best mother available could ask for. she has been beating herself up over and over because of the accident but the amount of gaslighting she went through on top of that broke her spirit. she knew she needed to leave. but she wasn’t leaving without ava and i’m so glad she didn’t leave her daughter behind.

the book ends with a hea but the feelings brittainy puts you through to get there were so real. ]]> 4.20
author: Brittainy C. Cherry
name: lianna
average rating: 4.20
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/22
date added: 2025/04/23
shelves: 2025, 5-star-reads, arc-reviews
review:
[arc review]

i guess i was in a mood to have my heart ripped into shreds and stomped on because sourcebooks casa gave this book to me a week ago and i was reading a very dark romance before this and now i’m broken. literally if you look on the floor you’ll see me curled into a ball and sobbing. i knew when i read the trigger warning page i would need tissues. the pain i felt reading this book? it’s comparable to the type of pain you feel when you’re so heartbroken and you’re crying so hard you can’t breathe and you’re screaming at the big man up there asking why you and asking for it to stop. my heart HURT okay. and i will be sending brittainy cherry my next therapy bill.

gabriel could not have been more perfect. like ava said, he is a man written by a woman. he is the epitome of a man written by a woman. i’m only half way through my reading goal but man he’s won book boyfriend of the year. i LOVE gabriel sinclair so fucking much it hurts. he is so kind, beyond patient, talented as hell and so loving. his accident might have made him forget the first 20 years of his life but it did not change who he’s always been. he’s so perfect i don’t have anything else to say about him.

i don’t know how brittainy did it but i felt every single gram of pain kierra went through while married to henry. with every page, my heart cracked just a little more until i was completely broken. kierra is such a bright soul and the best mother available could ask for. she has been beating herself up over and over because of the accident but the amount of gaslighting she went through on top of that broke her spirit. she knew she needed to leave. but she wasn’t leaving without ava and i’m so glad she didn’t leave her daughter behind.

the book ends with a hea but the feelings brittainy puts you through to get there were so real.
]]> 228353580
I've always been a good girl.

The brilliant ballerina. The perfect politician’s daughter.

That is, until my father declares war on the Barone Mafia family, and I become the price to pay.

Now, the devil himself has his claws in me.

Nico Barone is a beautiful nightmare wrapped in leather and ink.

A criminal genius with malice in his veins and destruction on his lips.

He promises to break me.

To strip me until there’s nothing left.

To be the composer of my symphony of sin and ruin.

He thinks I’m the pawn in his game.

But this pawn will bring a king to his knees.

Even if it kills me.


Dance of Ruin is a standalone dark mafia romance with a smart heroine, and an ultra possessive hero with "look at her and I'll unalive you" energy. Readers are STRONGLY advised to read the TW inside. No cliffhanger; HEA included.]]> 475 Jagger Cole lianna 4
this book was a little bit of a hot mess for the characters ]]> 4.20
author: Jagger Cole
name: lianna
average rating: 4.20
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/21
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves: 2025, arc-reviews, dark-romance
review:
[arc review]

this book was a little bit of a hot mess for the characters
]]> 223329936
Aaron Blaze loves his job at Silver Creek Ranch. Apart from being a ranch hand, the cowboy is a horse trainer who also rehabilitates them after his boss rescues them. He also very desperately needs to keep his job because it's the only thing paying for his Nanna's bills at the nursing home where she lives ever since she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

He never thought he'd risk his job for anyone, let alone a grumpy ex-lawyer who turns his world upside down.

After Tatum finds out the ranch is in financial trouble because of a fire that burned all their crops, she wastes no time drawing up a business plan which ultimately has her and Aaron spending 24/7 together. The tension between them builds, but as soon as Tatum's dad finds out about Aaron's feelings, he gives him an ultimatum: he can either date Tatum or continue working at Silver Creek Ranch. Aaron can't lose his job, but he also can't manage to stay away from Tatum. And no matter how scared Tatum is of falling in love with someone, she doesn't want to fight her feelings for Aaron either.

Trying to keep their relationship a secret is impossible, especially with a bigger threat on the horizon, set on destroying everything Tatum is building at Silver Creek Ranch.]]> Bridget L. Rose lianna 3 2025, arc-reviews
[arc review]

i will be so honest, this is my first cowboy romance and i’ve never read one before this because i had a gut feeling it wouldn’t be for me and i wouldn’t be able to take a southern accent properly. i couldn’t even take rick grimes in a southern accent seriously and he’s in the middle of a zombie apocalypse ffs. anyway. i thought i’d give cowboy romances a try anyway because i thought i might surprise myself but it just isn’t for me.

for some reason, i just couldn’t connect with aaron and tatum. they’re very cute and aaron is so kind and patient with tatum. tate tried to run but aaron refused to let her walk away because he knew she could handle it. she thinks she’s a burden but she’s not. she just hasn’t found the right person yet.

i really enjoyed the 3 books i read in bridget’s pit stop series. i think she does a great job with representation, but with this book, i made a realization half way through that all the characters in her universe that i have met, all sort of deal with anxiety in the same way? i know her characters�� anxiety and how they cope are based on bridget’s own experiences but i also think that it would be beneficial to have variety for larger representation.

i don’t really know what else to say ]]> 4.49
author: Bridget L. Rose
name: lianna
average rating: 4.49
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/18
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves: 2025, arc-reviews
review:
3.25⭐️

[arc review]

i will be so honest, this is my first cowboy romance and i’ve never read one before this because i had a gut feeling it wouldn’t be for me and i wouldn’t be able to take a southern accent properly. i couldn’t even take rick grimes in a southern accent seriously and he’s in the middle of a zombie apocalypse ffs. anyway. i thought i’d give cowboy romances a try anyway because i thought i might surprise myself but it just isn’t for me.

for some reason, i just couldn’t connect with aaron and tatum. they’re very cute and aaron is so kind and patient with tatum. tate tried to run but aaron refused to let her walk away because he knew she could handle it. she thinks she’s a burden but she’s not. she just hasn’t found the right person yet.

i really enjoyed the 3 books i read in bridget’s pit stop series. i think she does a great job with representation, but with this book, i made a realization half way through that all the characters in her universe that i have met, all sort of deal with anxiety in the same way? i know her characters�� anxiety and how they cope are based on bridget’s own experiences but i also think that it would be beneficial to have variety for larger representation.

i don’t really know what else to say
]]> 221457375 Aaron Willow and Maya Amery’s story began with a book in a park, a budding friendship between a golden-hearted boy and a jaded, independent girl. But what started as an innocent connection soon turned into something deeper—and more complicated—when a betrayal disrupted their lives. Setting them on a path of academic competition, with each pushing the other to their limits while keeping buried feelings at bay.

Years later, Aaron and Maya are married, but the love that once bound them is now strained under the weight of the past. Nearly a decade into marriage, they’re confronted by a painful reminder of that old betrayal—a wound neither of them caused, yet one that reshaped their lives and relationship forever.

As the story unfolds through dual timelines, we see Aaron and Maya’s journey from friends to rivals to lovers, and finally, to a couple fighting for their love against the scars of the past.

Can they rediscover the magic they once shared, or will the shadows of yesterday prove too strong to overcome?

A tale of love, rivalry, and resilience, where each chapter alternates between the innocence of youth and the trials of a marriage in peril.

Check This Dual Timeline Between Academic Rivals Turned Into Husband & Wife Now]]> 479 Esther Valors lianna 0 dnf
ended up dnf-ing @ 24% :/ i struggled with the writing style and i just couldn’t bring myself to open the book again]]> 3.79 2025
author: Esther Valors
name: lianna
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/20
shelves: dnf
review:
[arc review]

ended up dnf-ing @ 24% :/ i struggled with the writing style and i just couldn’t bring myself to open the book again
]]> 216522748 One Day meets a contemporary Bridgerton in this high-drama, escapist wonder of a love story, Paige Toon’s best yet.

Three days to fall in love. Six years to try to forget.

Ellie didn’t expect to fall in love while interrailing through Europe. But she also didn’t expect to meet a man like Ash. Three blistering days in Lisbon is all it takes to form an unforgettable connection—a bond deep enough for them to scrap their itineraries and plan to meet again in Spain. But Ellie arrives late, and Ash is nowhere to be found.

Six years later, Ellie has landed her dream job working as a gardener for a viscount and viscountess on their sprawling five-hundred-year-old estate in Wales. She finds peace amongst the towering topiary hedges and colorful gardens, but her idyll is shattered when Ash crashes back into her life. And when it becomes clear why he didn’t show in Madrid, her heart breaks anew—for what the truth means for her, and for his fate.

But they have never been able to resist each another, and when the sparks of their attraction fly, Ellie’s life will catch flame. She will have to make a choice.]]> 416 Paige Toon 0593718739 lianna 3 2025, arc-reviews
i'm kind of sad i didn't like this one that much. i thought it was okay but i'll be so fr, i don't understand the need to mention or reference acotar in books. a physical copy of acotar is pretty important to the plot of this book but at the same time, i felt like it could've easily been any other book and the impact of it would've been the same.

acotar aside, i felt like ash and ellie were sort of just going through the motions. i was very confused trying to follow the writing style of the book in part 1, where ash and ellie meet when interrailing through europe. they has a whirlwind 3 days and then poof ash is gone.

they meet again 6 years later, when she's a new gardener and finds out ash is a viscount. ash keeps trying to talk to ellie but she doesn't really want to talk because she feels like she's been betrayed in some way. their interactions from part 2 onward seem sort of childish to me and gave me a weird feeling. i wasn't a fan of that or the way ellie treated ash.]]> 3.96 2025
author: Paige Toon
name: lianna
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/11
shelves: 2025, arc-reviews
review:
[arc review]

i'm kind of sad i didn't like this one that much. i thought it was okay but i'll be so fr, i don't understand the need to mention or reference acotar in books. a physical copy of acotar is pretty important to the plot of this book but at the same time, i felt like it could've easily been any other book and the impact of it would've been the same.

acotar aside, i felt like ash and ellie were sort of just going through the motions. i was very confused trying to follow the writing style of the book in part 1, where ash and ellie meet when interrailing through europe. they has a whirlwind 3 days and then poof ash is gone.

they meet again 6 years later, when she's a new gardener and finds out ash is a viscount. ash keeps trying to talk to ellie but she doesn't really want to talk because she feels like she's been betrayed in some way. their interactions from part 2 onward seem sort of childish to me and gave me a weird feeling. i wasn't a fan of that or the way ellie treated ash.
]]> 216351768
If you've ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or frustrated with where you are, the problem isn't you. The problem is the power you give to other people. Two simple words��Let Them—will set you free. Free from the opinions, drama, and judgments of others. Free from the exhausting cycle of trying to manage everything and everyone around you. The Let Them Theory puts the power to create a life you love back in your hands—and this book will show you exactly how to do it.

In her latest groundbreaking book, The Let Them Theory, Mel Robbins��New York Times bestselling author and one of the world's most respected experts on motivation, confidence, and mindset—teaches you how to stop wasting energy on what you can't control and start focusing on what truly YOU. Your happiness. Your goals. Your life.

Using the same no-nonsense, science-backed approach that's made The Mel Robbins Podcast a global sensation, Robbins explains why The Let Them Theory is already loved by millions and how you can apply it in eight key areas of your life to make the biggest impact. Within a few pages, you'll realize how much energy and time you've been wasting trying to control the wrong things—at work, in relationships, and in pursuing your goals—and how this is keeping you from the happiness and success you deserve.

Written as an easy-to-understand guide, Robbins shares relatable stories from her own life, highlights key takeaways, relevant research and introduces you to world-renowned experts in psychology, neuroscience, relationships, happiness, and ancient wisdom who champion The Let Them Theory every step of the way.

Learn how

Stop wasting energy on things you can't control Stop comparing yourself to other peopleBreak free from fear and self-doubtRelease the grip of people's expectationsBuild the best friendships of your lifeCreate the love you deservePursue what truly matters to you with confidenceBuild resilience against everyday stressors and distractionsDefine your own path to success, joy, and fulfillment. . . and so much more.

The Let Them Theory will forever change the way you think about relationships, control, and personal power. Whether you want to advance your career, motivate others to change, take creative risks, find deeper connections, build better habits, start a new chapter, or simply create more happiness in your life and relationships, this book gives you the mindset and tools to unlock your full potential.

Order your copy of The Let Them Theory now and discover how much power you truly have. It all begins with two simple words.]]> 311 Mel Robbins 1401971377 lianna 0 currently-reading 4.17 2024
author: Mel Robbins
name: lianna
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 220817728 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six comes an epic new novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s Space Shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.]]> 352 Taylor Jenkins Reid 0593158717 lianna 0 to-read 4.45 2025
author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
name: lianna
average rating: 4.45
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 214151426 A bestselling romance author flees to Alaska to reinvent herself and write her first murder mystery, but the rugged resort proprietor soon has her fearing she’s living in a rom-com plot instead in this earnestly spectacular debut by a stunning new voice.

Beloved romance author Margot Bradley has a dark secret: she doesn’t believe in Happily Ever Afters. Not for herself, not for her readers, and not even for her characters, for whom she secretly writes alternate endings that swap weddings and babies for divorce papers and the occasional slashed tire. When her Happily Never After document is hacked and released to the public, she finds herself canceled by her readers and dropped by her publisher.

Desperate to find a way to continue supporting her chronically ill sister, Savannah, Margot decides to trade meet-cutes for murder. The fictional kind. Probably. But when Savannah books Margot a six-week stay in a remote Alaskan resort to pen her first murder mystery, Margot finds herself running from a moose and leaping into the arms of the handsome proprietor, making her fear she’s just landed in a romance novel instead.

The last thing Dr. Forrest Wakefield ever expected was to leave his dream job as a cancer researcher to become a glorified bellhop. What he’s really doing at his family’s resort is caring for his stubborn, ailing father, and his puzzle-loving mind is slowly freezing over—until Margot shows up. But Forrest doesn’t have any room in his life for another person he could lose, especially one with a checkout date.

As long snowy nights and one unlikely trope after another draw Margot and Forrest together, they’ll each have to learn to overcome their fears and set their aside assumptions before Margot leaves—or risk becoming a Happily Never After story themselves.]]> 336 Victoria Lavine 1668079275 lianna 4 2025, arc-reviews
i kind of don’t like margot lol she’s such a hater but it’s also kind of funny so i didn’t mind it all that much. she’s also kind of selfish so it adds to my dislike for her. i will say that she truly does care a lot about the people she loves though. she’s not a terrible person, she’s just flawed and that’s okay. that makes her human.

forrest IS a cliche. that’s kind of the point. but did i eat him up anyway? yeah i did. did i melt a little inside every time he called margot sweetheart? you bet your ass i did. he sort of reminds me of a teddy bear in a way, based on the way margot sees him. he’s got the whole survivalist thing going on and he would do anything for his family, including giving up a crap ton of breast cancer research money.

i found the plot to be a fun one. i did want to throw my kindle across my room and hope it would shattered against the wall at one point but i didn’t. it did feel a little slow at times but it picked up before i could get bored.]]> 4.04 2025
author: Victoria Lavine
name: lianna
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/31
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: 2025, arc-reviews
review:
[arc review]

i kind of don’t like margot lol she’s such a hater but it’s also kind of funny so i didn’t mind it all that much. she’s also kind of selfish so it adds to my dislike for her. i will say that she truly does care a lot about the people she loves though. she’s not a terrible person, she’s just flawed and that’s okay. that makes her human.

forrest IS a cliche. that’s kind of the point. but did i eat him up anyway? yeah i did. did i melt a little inside every time he called margot sweetheart? you bet your ass i did. he sort of reminds me of a teddy bear in a way, based on the way margot sees him. he’s got the whole survivalist thing going on and he would do anything for his family, including giving up a crap ton of breast cancer research money.

i found the plot to be a fun one. i did want to throw my kindle across my room and hope it would shattered against the wall at one point but i didn’t. it did feel a little slow at times but it picked up before i could get bored.
]]> 221287780
So what is she to do when she finds herself on a plane to California and on her way to a sure death sentence? A one-night stand. At least, that’s all it was supposed to be—one last night to be free. Only, she finds out too late that the dark and mysterious man she solely wanted as a fling is not only her new comrade but also the one she dreaded meeting most—her immediate superior and untouchable devil in the field. Bones.

He’s hell on earth—cruel and unforgiving, but most of all, he hates her, and he makes sure she knows it. And yet, she finds herself unwilling to leave his side when he’s unable to get to the evac point when their mission goes awry.

She stays behind with the devil and the secrets he keeps. They only have one another to trust when no faith is left.]]> 464 K.M. Moronova 1963474074 lianna 0 to-read 3.75
author: K.M. Moronova
name: lianna
average rating: 3.75
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 214269328 Grieving the loss of her best friend, a young woman’s life is turned upside down when she meets a grumpy stranger who swears he can help her live again, in this heartwarming, slow-burn romance by the author of Ready or Not

Lenny’s a bit of a mess at the moment. Her best friend, Lou, recently passed away after a battle with cancer, and her death has left Lenny feeling completely lost. She’s avoiding her concerned parents, the apartment she shared with Lou, and the list of things she’s supposed to do to help her live again. The only thing she can do is temporary babysitting gigs, and luckily, she just landed a great one, helping overworked, single mom Reese and her precocious daughter, Ainsley. It’s not perfect: Ainsley’s uncle, Miles, always seems to be around, and is kind of... a huge jerk. But if Lenny acts like she has it all together, maybe no one will notice she’s falling apart.

Miles sees right through her though. Turns out, he knows a lot about grief and, surprisingly, he offers her a proposition. He’ll help her complete everything on her “live again�� list if she’ll help him connect with Ainsley and overcome his complicated relationship with Reese. Lenny doubts anything can fill the Lou has left behind, but she begins to spend more time with Miles, Lenny is surprised to discover that, sometimes, losing everything is only the first step to finding yourself, and love, again.]]> 416 Cara Bastone 0593595734 lianna 0 to-read 4.23 2025
author: Cara Bastone
name: lianna
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/29
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 217182552 disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes—all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediately yes. That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there’s nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong��

. . . unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake. But after one incredible and seemingly endless date—possibly the best in living history—Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be.

Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life—and even a love—worth remembering.]]> 368 Abby Jimenez 1538759195 lianna 5
any book that makes me cry the way i just did deserves the 5⭐️

this was such a fun read ]]> 4.16 2025
author: Abby Jimenez
name: lianna
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/26
date added: 2025/03/26
shelves: 2025, 5-star-reads, arc-reviews
review:
[arc review]

any book that makes me cry the way i just did deserves the 5⭐️

this was such a fun read
]]> 224074407 She’s an impulsive book addict. He’s an ex-convict with controlling tendencies. The only thing they have in common? How much they’d give up for love.

NOVA RIVERA runs on spontaneity. When she got diagnosed with chronic migraines in her last year at University, she quit her editorial job at the most prestigious publishing company in Canada and opened up a floral shop. Three years later, she faces the repercussions when her old librarian sues her for twelve years worth of overdue books. The price? $15,000 or three years in prison. While Nova’s used to her two older sisters coming to her rescue, she realizes that both of them have moved on with their lives and refuses to ask them for help. That’s when she receives a message from billionaire Irene Dolores, who wants Nova to be a contestant on her new dating Love? Check! The winning amount is half-a-million dollars. Without thinking twice, Nova accepts.

DEAN VUK is a powerhouse willing to lower himself below the ground even when he doesn’t need to. Being the oldest of three brothers, he has devoted his entire life to taking care of them and their mother. When his father turned to addiction, he was the one taking care of the ranch. That is until life happens and he ends up in prison with a ten year sentence. Fast forward, Dean works at Vuk Securities—his brother’s multi-millionaire company—when he meets Nova Rivera. Awestruck and completely obsessed, Dean wants to get to know her more. When she runs off to be a part of a dating show, Dean follows.

In this Love Island S6 x Transit Love S2 inspired romance story, the characters explore a healing relationship that can either be their downfall or the beginning of their happily ever after. ]]> Izza Malik lianna 0 currently-reading 0.0
author: Izza Malik
name: lianna
average rating: 0.0
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> 218431696 In this delightfully charming and heartfelt debut love story, two lonely and wildly different strangers embark on a short-term friendship over one London summer—only to discover they may be something more by the time the season ends.

No one would ever call Ava Monroe a people person, which isn’t ideal for a barista in a busy London coffee shop. She’s sarcastic, blunt, and cynical, and her relationships are strictly no strings attached. With her best friend Josie soon leaving for a year, Ava knows she’ll be all alone unless she shakes up her routine. But she can’t risk bringing chance back into her carefully controlled life.

Then insufferably cheerful, country-hopping, undeniably gorgeous Finn O’Callaghan rolls into her coffee shop with a horrifying proposal —a strictly friends-only summer fling. Finn needs a local to help him complete his London bucket list, and Ava needs to reassure Josie she won’t be on her own. And it’s only for a few months.

To Ava’s surprise, their mismatched friendship of convenience becomes oddly tolerable, and as they work their way through Finn’s list and around the sun-drenched city, from rooftops and floating bars to nights at the museum, their adventures—and Finn’s company—start to feel . . . nice. Incredibly, terrifyingly, dangerously nice.

Still, rules are rules—Ava has good reasons for them—and as the days get shorter, Finn’s departure gets closer. Because that’s the thing about it always ends. Right?]]> 384 Georgia Stone 0063434792 lianna 0 to-read 4.29 2024
author: Georgia Stone
name: lianna
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 228569777
Callahan Hastings is relentless when it comes to getting what he wants, and what he wants is me–to be his private chef in the Hamptons for the summer.

My dream job served to me on a silver platter by one of the wealthiest members of Pembroke Hills Country Club.

The only catch? He’s my ex-boyfriend’s older brother with a reputation for being as charming as he is cunning.

But Cal doesn’t take no for an answer. He draws you in with flirty smiles and extravagant promises.

I should have seen him coming, but I didn’t. I should have stayed away, but I couldn’t.

His playful touches and burning gaze have ignited a fire in me. The more I resist him, the more irresistible he becomes.

I've always known there's an expiration date on the job–an expiration date on us.

But leaving isn't going to be easy with Cal on his knees, begging me to stay...]]> 386 Kat Singleton 1958292184 lianna 0 to-read 3.84
author: Kat Singleton
name: lianna
average rating: 3.84
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 214269008 The long-awaited follow-up to the Reese’s Book Club��pick and New York Times bestselling global phenomenon The Light We Lost: a thrilling love story about the roles fate and choice play in shaping a life

It’s been ten years. In case you’re out there somewhere—in case you’re listening, I’m here. And I have so much to tell you.

It’s been nearly ten years since Gabe’s been gone when Lucy finds a tiny piece of paper in a box of his old photos. An address in Rome. Why did Gabe keep it, and what was he doing in Italy? Lucy buys a last-minute ticket. Impulsive, but Gabe always brought that out in her.

Lucy’s journey to uncover Gabe’s secret leads her to Dr. Dax Amstrong, a New Yorker in Italy working with an NGO. His broad shoulders and sad, intense eyes draw Lucy in. His touch reaches her in a forgotten place—one that no one has neared since Gabe.

But her old life awaits, along with an earth-shattering decision—whether she and Darren should tell their son Samuel the truth about his real father. How can Lucy move forward while she’s rooted in regret? Fate broke her heart in the past. Can finding new love set her free?]]> 352 Jill Santopolo 0593419200 lianna 0 to-read 3.89 2025
author: Jill Santopolo
name: lianna
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 227840494
Once I moved from denial to utter sadness to sheer anger, I settled on indifference and decided I was entitled to a rebound. You know, for a little self-esteem boost before considering another serious relationship.

A man in town for a temporary employment assignment could be just what I need. He was also recovering from a bad breakup after a long-term relationship. I thought maybe we could learn what it would be like to date someone new again�� together.

It only took a short period of time before it felt like he and I could last longer than three months.

But unfortunately, a rebound isn’t meant to be a forever.

Author’s This is Book Two in the Baywood Hospital series. All books can be read as a stand-alone in any order. Each book has a guaranteed HEA and no cliffhangers.]]> 290 Greenleigh Adams lianna 0 to-read 4.20
author: Greenleigh Adams
name: lianna
average rating: 4.20
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 220980748 All’s fair in love and racing...

Charlotte Walker’s at an impasse in life. Not sure what her plan is after graduation, she jumps at the chance for a little breathing room to explore her options while traveling the world with her brother and his Formula 1 team. What’s even better is being around Lucas Adler, AlphaVite Racing’s star driver and tattooed Greek god come to life. He’s been her crush for years and being together in such close quarters, their sizzling chemistry can’t be denied.

Lucas knows Charlotte is off-limits. She’s the gorgeous younger sister of his best friend and teammate. Despite their easy banter and draw to one another, he’s learned the hard way that crossing lines can destroy relationships. Now as constant companions on the road, Charlotte, with her charm and infectious energy, challenges him at every turn and sees him in ways no one ever has.

As feelings grow, they both must decide if their relationship is worth the risk of losing everything or if their happily ever after is a prize to be fought for at the finish line.


Drive Me Home is a spicy Formula 1 romantic comedy with heart, heat, humor, and a guaranteed HEA. This is the third book in the Drive Me series and can be read as a standalone, although reading in order is recommended for the best experience!]]> 336 Carly Robyn lianna 4 2025, formula-1, arc-reviews
charlotte is kinda spicy and i LOVE it. she’s got the best comebacks to everything, especially finn’s attempts at flirting. her best friend willow is the same but i think willow might even be spicier based on her one interaction with finn.

lucas is honestly just a big softie. he’s very respectful of charlotte’s boundaries for her diabetes. he always anticipates what she’ll need before he realizes she needs it.

overall a very cute ending to the drive me series!]]> 4.01 2025
author: Carly Robyn
name: lianna
average rating: 4.01
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: 2025, formula-1, arc-reviews
review:
[arc review]

charlotte is kinda spicy and i LOVE it. she’s got the best comebacks to everything, especially finn’s attempts at flirting. her best friend willow is the same but i think willow might even be spicier based on her one interaction with finn.

lucas is honestly just a big softie. he’s very respectful of charlotte’s boundaries for her diabetes. he always anticipates what she’ll need before he realizes she needs it.

overall a very cute ending to the drive me series!
]]> 218730054
Being the private chef for the retired hockey player who haunts my fantasies is a bad idea. Living down the hall from him is an even worse idea, especially considering the one night stand we had ten years ago.

What happened back then was unforgettable. Proof that we are destined to hate each other.

3 reasons why I absolutely cannot fall for my boss / roommate / one-night-stand:

1. I hate him and haven’t spoken to him in a decade.
2. Poisoning your CEO client is bad for the chef business.
3. Harrison Stafford obviously doesn’t do commitment (unless it’s the demon cat we’ve adopted).

Pranking Harrison is the highlight of my day. Sure, I work for him. But bedazzling his most prized possession is just one of the secret ingredients for my innocent revenge.

One night with him again �� and I, Fallon Hayes, know I’m about to get burned.]]> 384 Ann Einerson lianna 4 2025, arc-reviews
[arc review]

did a buddy read with olivia (@modernbooklore) because we’re both on ann’s teams so it has been really fun drawing up theories in our dms. however one question still remains: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE NOTE??? i think someone snuck in and stole it.

overall a cute read! i thought it was going to be a 3⭐️ but the last 30% bumped my rating up. i loved the fact that fallon’s dream was to open an allergy-friendly restaurant in new york. i feel like that’s very unique and honestly i don’t know why there aren’t any here? or maybe they do exist and i just haven’t come across one yet? either way, i thought it was sweet she paid homage to her mom through the restaurant. her parents would be proud of her and her grandma will forever remain a bitter old hag (that was kind of mean but she deserved it).

harrison is so supportive of everyone he loves and he’s the type of guy to love someone with his entire chest. he adores his family, which is why he gave up his hockey career to take over stafford holdings. idk that i could ask for more from harrison, he’s pretty perfect if i say so myself.

while the book was cute, i just expected more. the book fell a little flat and i wish the pranks kept going back and forth between fallon and harrison. it seems that their pranks stopped after about 3 exchanges :/ i know they’ve got more in them and it definitely would’ve been fun to see them together like that in addition to being so in love.

ok turns out i have one more thing i didn’t think of: the setting. this is supposed to take place in nyc. the brooklyn bridge and a yellow cab are on the cover and that made me think they were important in some way to their story and it’s just…not. honestly the “new york�� parts didn’t even feel like new york, it’s just ✨penthouse��. but where IS said penthouse? looking over central park? tribeca?? along the east river?? hudson yards?? dumbo??? maybe i’m being a little harsh but i’m a native new yorker ]]> 4.11
author: Ann Einerson
name: lianna
average rating: 4.11
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/13
date added: 2025/03/13
shelves: 2025, arc-reviews
review:
3.5⭐️

[arc review]

did a buddy read with olivia (@modernbooklore) because we’re both on ann’s teams so it has been really fun drawing up theories in our dms. however one question still remains: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE NOTE??? i think someone snuck in and stole it.

overall a cute read! i thought it was going to be a 3⭐️ but the last 30% bumped my rating up. i loved the fact that fallon’s dream was to open an allergy-friendly restaurant in new york. i feel like that’s very unique and honestly i don’t know why there aren’t any here? or maybe they do exist and i just haven’t come across one yet? either way, i thought it was sweet she paid homage to her mom through the restaurant. her parents would be proud of her and her grandma will forever remain a bitter old hag (that was kind of mean but she deserved it).

harrison is so supportive of everyone he loves and he’s the type of guy to love someone with his entire chest. he adores his family, which is why he gave up his hockey career to take over stafford holdings. idk that i could ask for more from harrison, he’s pretty perfect if i say so myself.

while the book was cute, i just expected more. the book fell a little flat and i wish the pranks kept going back and forth between fallon and harrison. it seems that their pranks stopped after about 3 exchanges :/ i know they’ve got more in them and it definitely would’ve been fun to see them together like that in addition to being so in love.

ok turns out i have one more thing i didn’t think of: the setting. this is supposed to take place in nyc. the brooklyn bridge and a yellow cab are on the cover and that made me think they were important in some way to their story and it’s just…not. honestly the “new york�� parts didn’t even feel like new york, it’s just ✨penthouse��. but where IS said penthouse? looking over central park? tribeca?? along the east river?? hudson yards?? dumbo??? maybe i’m being a little harsh but i’m a native new yorker
]]> 223470248 A scorching hot new mafia series from bestselling author Jagger Cole.

He knows what I saw. Now he owns me.
Carmine Barone is a monster no one sees but me.
A beautiful villain with a cold, black heart and a body honed for violence.
But when I stumble into a world I was never meant to see, the ruthless mafia heir becomes something else, too:
My husband.
Now, I’m trapped in a forced marriage to a man who hunts in darkness.
A man who plays games with lies and deception.
A secret predator who wants to feast on my darkest most immoral desires.
And the only thing worse than being chased by a psychopath?
Wanting him to.


Dance of Deception is a standalone dark mafia romance with a smart heroine, and an ultra possessive psycho hero with "look at her and I'll unalive you" energy. Readers are STRONGLY advised to read the TW inside. No cliffhanger; HEA included. ]]> 528 Jagger Cole lianna 4
[arc review]

whew that was HOT ]]> 4.11 2025
author: Jagger Cole
name: lianna
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/09
date added: 2025/03/09
shelves: 2025, arc-reviews, dark-romance
review:
4.25⭐️

[arc review]

whew that was HOT
]]> 220175570 A spicy Formula 1 romance pairs a journalist with a mysterious Team Principal, perfect for fans of Drive to Survive on Netflix and readers of Hannah Grace or Sarah Adams.

After a decade in journalism, Natalia Evans has reached the pinnacle of her career-lead reporter for Auto Racing Journal. Every season promises to be a thrilling adventure in the glamorous world of elite racing, surrounded by top-tier athletes and influential industry legends. The complication in Natalia's plans? One of those legends happens to be the enigmatic Emerald Team Principal, Klaus Franke-the handsome stranger with whom Natalia once shared an unforgettable night... that had to be forgotten.

Klaus is icy, controlled, and utterly off limits. But the cracks in his reserve expose a heat Natalia can't resist as fate drags them together again and again. Both guarding their hearts, the pair are soon embroiled in a high-stakes sporting scandal that threatens to shatter more than just reputations and relationships. Natalia needs the scoop of the century. Klaus needs more time. But they soon discover that maybe they need each other more than anything else.]]> 336 Josie Juniper 1538768992 lianna 0 to-read 3.14
author: Josie Juniper
name: lianna
average rating: 3.14
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 216405550 From #1��New York Times��bestselling author Alex Aster comes her adult debut novel��Summer in the City—a swoony, fast-paced rom-com set in New York City in which a screenwriter and a sexy tech CEO go from lovers to enemies and back to lovers again��

Twenty-seven-year-old screenwriter Elle has the chance of a lifetime to write a big-budget movie set in New York City. The only problem? She’s had writer’s block for months, and her screenplay is due at the end of the summer.��

In a desperate attempt at inspiration, Elle ends up back in the city she swore she would never return to, in an apartment she could never afford (floor-to-ceiling windows, skyline views, and a new coffee shop to haunt included). It’s the perfect place to write her screenplay…until she realizes her new neighbor is tech “Billionaire Bachelor�� Parker Warren, her stairwell hookup from two years ago. It’s been a lovers-to-enemies situation ever since.��

When seeing him again turns into a full night of hate-fueled writing, Elle realizes her enemy/twisted muse might just be the key to finishing her screenplay... if she can stand being around her polar opposite. She writes anonymously, and he’s on the cover of every business magazine. He frequents fancy red carpeted events, and she doesn’t like leaving her emotional support five block radius.��

One summer. One wall apart. He needs to fake a buzzy relationship during his company’s precarious acquisition. She needs to write a movie around a list of NYC locations. Both need a break from their unrelenting schedules, and a chance to rediscover the skyscraper glimmering, pizza crusted, sunlit charms of the city.����

Summers always end, and so will this agreement. It’s all pretend. Promise.��

Until it isn’t.]]> 304 Alex Aster 0063411660 lianna 4 2025, arc-reviews
i was a little nervous to start this book because i tried reading lightlark when it first came out and i learned that alex’s writing style wasn’t for me. but i’m so glad i decided to take the plunge with her new romance novel because i ended up really enjoying it.

i think both parker and elle are grumps but elle is more grumpy than parker is and parker leans more toward sunshine. although he isn’t entirely sunshine, he’s just more positive than elle is. i really liked that though, usually billionaire ceos are very grumpy and parker strayed away from that.

parker in other aspects though, fell a little flat for me. by the end of the book, i felt like i learned more about elle than i did parker. however, that’s not to say that he didn’t grow. he was very used to buying his way into things and he had to unlearn that behavior for elle. she was the one thing parker could not buy. he did try though. he bought her favorite coffee shop because they stopped making her favorite blueberry scones. i didn’t want to like him at first because of the comments he made but he’s actually a softie and a romantic.

elle’s got a tough relationship with money and refuses to let a man with money control her the way her dad did with her mom. she became a screenwriter because her mom encouraged her to at a young age and after graduating from columbia, she became her own rich man. she didn’t make as much as parker does but it was enough to get her out of debt and to live off of. she’s always giving back to her community as well, which i admire.

overall the plot was cute and the pacing felt very natural. i teared up a few times but that’s just me loving love ]]> 3.82 2025
author: Alex Aster
name: lianna
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/05
date added: 2025/03/05
shelves: 2025, arc-reviews
review:
[arc review]

i was a little nervous to start this book because i tried reading lightlark when it first came out and i learned that alex’s writing style wasn’t for me. but i’m so glad i decided to take the plunge with her new romance novel because i ended up really enjoying it.

i think both parker and elle are grumps but elle is more grumpy than parker is and parker leans more toward sunshine. although he isn’t entirely sunshine, he’s just more positive than elle is. i really liked that though, usually billionaire ceos are very grumpy and parker strayed away from that.

parker in other aspects though, fell a little flat for me. by the end of the book, i felt like i learned more about elle than i did parker. however, that’s not to say that he didn’t grow. he was very used to buying his way into things and he had to unlearn that behavior for elle. she was the one thing parker could not buy. he did try though. he bought her favorite coffee shop because they stopped making her favorite blueberry scones. i didn’t want to like him at first because of the comments he made but he’s actually a softie and a romantic.

elle’s got a tough relationship with money and refuses to let a man with money control her the way her dad did with her mom. she became a screenwriter because her mom encouraged her to at a young age and after graduating from columbia, she became her own rich man. she didn’t make as much as parker does but it was enough to get her out of debt and to live off of. she’s always giving back to her community as well, which i admire.

overall the plot was cute and the pacing felt very natural. i teared up a few times but that’s just me loving love
]]> 228066319 The past wasn’t supposed to follow her to New York. Neither was he.

Dylan Jenkins was ready to start fresh in New York City—until fate (or bad luck) sat her next to Parker Townsend on the flight out. Her ex. Her first love. The man she spent years trying to forget.

But Parker isn’t just back in her life. He’s the editor behind the debut author Dylan has been assigned to promote, forcing the two to work together closely—too closely—for the next few months.

Late-night meetings, book tour mishaps, and a city filled with second chances make it impossible to ignore the past. The spark between them? Still very much alive. The pain that tore them apart? Just as real.

Dylan swore she’d never make the same mistake twice. Parker is determined to prove she won’t regret it.

In a city built on stories, is theirs ready for a new chapter—or is history doomed to repeat itself?]]> 312 Riley Winters lianna 3 2025, arc-reviews
i am a sucker for anything that’s set in new york because i like to point out all the places i recognize as a native new yorker so this book was right up my alley.

this book was cute but i didn’t really feel a connection to dylan or parker. dylan is an over thinker, which is fine, i am one too but i find it a little hard to believe that she didn’t change the way she thought about their relationship a little bit? i have no idea if that make ANY sense but i definitely feel like she did a little bit of healing away from parker but she’s still approaching their relationship the same way she did when they first dated.

i had higher hopes for this book but it’s just okay for me. i didn’t love it but i didn’t particularly hate it either. it’s just okay.]]> 3.95
author: Riley Winters
name: lianna
average rating: 3.95
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/03
date added: 2025/03/03
shelves: 2025, arc-reviews
review:
[arc review]

i am a sucker for anything that’s set in new york because i like to point out all the places i recognize as a native new yorker so this book was right up my alley.

this book was cute but i didn’t really feel a connection to dylan or parker. dylan is an over thinker, which is fine, i am one too but i find it a little hard to believe that she didn’t change the way she thought about their relationship a little bit? i have no idea if that make ANY sense but i definitely feel like she did a little bit of healing away from parker but she’s still approaching their relationship the same way she did when they first dated.

i had higher hopes for this book but it’s just okay for me. i didn’t love it but i didn’t particularly hate it either. it’s just okay.
]]> 223411276 She was supposed to say "I do,�� instead, she said "Drive."

When Veronica Prescott plays the starring role of runaway bride in what should’ve been her fairy-tale wedding, the last person she expects to find behind the wheel of her getaway car is Miles Bennett—her best friend’s grumpy, broody, and no-nonsense older brother. She’s spent years trying (and failing) to win him over, but he’s made it abundantly clear he can’t stand her. Is he her first choice? Nope, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Miles Bennett has no interest in spending his vacation chauffeuring his younger sister’s impulsive best friend across state lines. Unfortunately, even he can’t deny she needs an escape—something he knows all too well, having spent way too many years as the target of ignorant small-town gossip.

With every mile that passes, the tension between them rises as their walls begin to crumble. It’s clear that something between them is shifting, but can what they’re building last beyond their road trip, or will they have to face the truth that the road to love is never smooth?]]> 319 Kristen Lucero lianna 4 2025, arc-reviews
this was such a cute slow burn ]]> 4.27
author: Kristen Lucero
name: lianna
average rating: 4.27
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/26
date added: 2025/02/26
shelves: 2025, arc-reviews
review:
[arc review]

this was such a cute slow burn
]]> 199379065
Women are forbidden to wield blades, so she has trained in secret her entire life. Now racing against the clock, she fights to secure her place in the elite guild charged with the protection of the five kingdoms.

The sparring and hazing of the new trainees border on deadly, but even more dangerous is her growing attraction to Wilder Hawthorne, her unwilling warrior chaperone.

All around them, schemes are afoot and darkness looms.

Will Althea pass the perilous initiation test and take her place as a champion of Thezmarr �� or will the invading evil snatch away her dream before it starts?]]> 16 Helen Scheuerer lianna 0 12-for-2025, to-read 3.94 2023
author: Helen Scheuerer
name: lianna
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/24
shelves: 12-for-2025, to-read
review:

]]> 223112944
Gannon Brewer is the epitome of my type. He’s at least ten years older than me, emotionally unavailable, and highly disagreeable—a walking red flag in a tailored suit. But do I listen to that? No. In fact, when his office plants start dying, I convince myself that I can ignore the pheromones and save the philodendron.

Now I’m in his office every week, dodging sinful smirks and heated stares, reminding myself to reach for the watering can—not him. But one late-night “ivy incident�� changes everything. Suddenly, we’re sneaking around, indulging in a steamy, forbidden fling that’s supposed to be nothing more than (a lot of) fun.

After all, he swears he’ll never fall in love. I assure him that I only want one thing, and it’s not his heart. But the closer we get, the more lines we blur, and the harder it becomes to keep our promises ��

Especially when the secret I’m keeping threatens to shatter everything.]]> Adriana Locke lianna 4 2025, arc-reviews
i usually avoid accidental pregnancy/surprise baby because of personal experiences in recent years but i think exposure therapy might be my way back to being okay with that trope ]]> 4.48 2025
author: Adriana Locke
name: lianna
average rating: 4.48
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/23
date added: 2025/02/23
shelves: 2025, arc-reviews
review:
[arc review]

i usually avoid accidental pregnancy/surprise baby because of personal experiences in recent years but i think exposure therapy might be my way back to being okay with that trope
]]> 222714930


After her brother and best friend passed away, Estrella swore to raise Daisy as her own. But when the little girl’s grandparents threaten Estrella with a custody battle if she does not find a spouse, she knows she has to do exactly that to spare Daisy the fear and heartbreak that comes with a fight over guardianship.



Lucky for her, James Landon has long stopped believing in love and marriage, making him the perfect match for her.



Although they get off on the wrong foot, he offers to marry her for as long as it takes to get rid of Daisy’s grandparents and keep the little girl safe with Estrella. The only problem the Brit faces? He likes his fake wife a lot more than he would like to admit, and with every moment they spend together, his feelings for her grow. And no matter how many times he tries to push her away, to keep her at arm’s length, he can’t stay away from her. He’s constantly drawn to her, and she finds herself letting him see parts of her she hid for years.



But with Daisy’s grandparents a looming threat, and their complicated pasts interfering with their feelings, they find themselves struggling to figure out what they want.



Even when Daisy and Estrella are the family James has always wanted, and James is the spouse Estrella never wanted but has fallen for without a shred of doubt.]]> Bridget L. Rose lianna 4 2025, formula-1
you guys ]]> 4.51
author: Bridget L. Rose
name: lianna
average rating: 4.51
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/19
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: 2025, formula-1
review:
[arc review]

you guys
]]> 63883099
'Olivie Blake is a mind-blowing talent' - Chloe Gong, author of New York Times bestseller These Violent Delights.

Chicago, sometime. Two people meet in the armory of the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. After their meeting, those things do not change.

Everything else, however, is slightly different.

Both obsessive, eccentric personalities, Aldo Damiani and Charlotte Regan struggle to be without each other from the moment they meet. The truth - that he is a clinically depressed, anti-social theoretician and she is a manipulative liar with a history of self-sabotage - means the deeper they fall in love, the more troubling their reliance on each other becomes.

Reviews for The Atlas Six:

‘The most brilliant, immersive, magic-made-real book I've ever read!��

‘Deftly woven plot and amazing ensemble cast��

‘Believe the hype! Absolutely fantastic!’]]> 10 Olivie Blake 1035012944 lianna 3 12-for-2025, dnf
this book was on my 12 for 2025 but i honestly just couldn’t get into it ]]> 3.49 2020
author: Olivie Blake
name: lianna
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/02/21
shelves: 12-for-2025, dnf
review:
dnf @ 62%

this book was on my 12 for 2025 but i honestly just couldn’t get into it
]]> 211164792 Two feuding second-grade teachers (and neighbors) find themselves teaming up in this rivals-to-lovers romance.

Emily Walker hates having her carefully crafted world disrupted by anyone, most of all her legendary nemesis, Jack Bennett. He's the opposite of the wonderful heroes she dreams up in her double life as a romance writer, which is why Emily was perfectly happy when Jack left Rome, Kentucky, mid-school year, with his fiancée. The last thing Emily saw coming was Jack’s return at the start of the summer after calling off the wedding and ending his relationship, but he’s here to stay—as her colleague and her neighbor.

Jackson Bennett is glad to be back, eager to renovate his house and work on the next mystery novel under his bestselling pen name. But when he realizes he’s now neighbors with the one woman who has always pushed his buttons, he discovers something he’s even more excited for—thwarting Emily and her petty plans to sabotage his return.

With their chemistry-fueled animosity at an all-time high, Emily accidentally sends an email to their school’s principal that could reveal her secret literary side hustle. She needs to steal back her manuscript, and Jack—she hates to admit—is just the man to help her. Surprisingly, Jack agrees. Will their unlikely alliance put an end to their rivalry? Or could it lead to a steamy plot twist they never saw coming?]]> 384 Sarah Adams 0593723694 lianna 0 to-read 4.06 2025
author: Sarah Adams
name: lianna
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 214175139
No one’s more surprised than Leigh when a prestigious MFA program in North Carolina accepts her. A former sorority girl, Leigh’s the first to admit she knows more about the lyrics of Taylor Swift than T.S. Eliot, and she’s never been able to shake the “all-style-no-substance�� feedback her high school crush made in their poetry workshop. Bad enough that her tattooed, New Yorker tote bag-carrying classmates have read all the right authors and been published in the country's leading literary journals, Leigh's insecurities become all too real when Will, that same high school crush-turned-nemesis, shows up at orientation as a first-year in the program, too. And now, he’s William, exactly the kind of writer Leigh hates, complete with his pretentious sweater vests and tattered Moleskine.

Leigh’s determined to prove herself—and William—wrong by landing the program’s highly-coveted fellowship. But Will’s dead-set on it, too, and in a small cohort, they can't keep apart for long. When Will submits an intimate poem (that's maybe, probably, definitely about Leigh) to workshop, they’re both forced to realize there’s more to the other than what’s on the page. And what’s between the lines may be even more interesting.]]> 368 Katie Naymon 1538768550 lianna 0 to-read 3.65 2025
author: Katie Naymon
name: lianna
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 217453534 Everyone wonders about the one that got away . . . and thanks to an alternate reality tech project, one woman will get the chance to actually find out.

When Laurel Everett finds a ring in her longtime boyfriend Ollie's sock drawer, she should be thrilled . . . so why is she left wondering "what if?" Specifically, what if she'd taken up her work crush, Drew, on his offer of a date just after she and Ollie got together? Thanks to her job at tech giant Pixel, she might have a way to answer that question through the AltR project, which promises users a glimpse of alternate realities. Or it will, once the quantum computers it relies on get more powerful.����

When the program actually works and Laurel wakes up five years into her life with Drew, she's fascinated . . . then increasingly horrified as she continues to slip between that world and her "real" life seemingly at random. As she moves back and forth between the two worlds, Laurel realizes choosing the right life might not be as simple as deciding between two men and the different��visions of happiness they offer. And if she doesn't find a way to untangle herself from the quantum mess she's unleashed, she might wind up stuck in the wrong life, or worse, deleted entirely like a faulty line of code. . . .]]> 304 Jilly Gagnon 0593722981 lianna 0 to-read 3.67
author: Jilly Gagnon
name: lianna
average rating: 3.67
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 220386072 I made a huge mistake, and caught the attention of a lethally beautiful villain.
Damian Nikolayev is brutality incarnate. A psychopath wrapped in tattooed muscle and tailored charm.
Heir to a Bratva empire built on blood and control.
And now, I’m his. His fiancée. His plaything. His obsession.
He owns my darkest secret.
And he’ll keep it, for a price:
All of me.
Now, Damian has me bound to him, in more ways than one.
The harder I fight, the tighter his ropes ensnare me.
But his games are getting darker.
The line between lust and darkness is blurring.
And I’m starting to realize, there’s only one thing more dangerous than fake marrying a monster:
Really falling for one.

Emperor of Lust is a standalone dark mafia romance with a smart, untamable heroine, and an ultra possessive psycho hero with "look at her and I'll unalive you" energy. Readers are STRONGLY advised to read the TW inside. No cliffhanger; HEA included.]]> 435 Jagger Cole lianna 4
4.5⭐️

this one got a little too gory for me at times but it added so much depth to the story so yk what it’s okay.

i loved the way jagger included some yakuza/samurai ways in this even though they tended to lean on the bloody side of things. i think it gave such an immersive reading experience.

damian might be the most psychotic mmc i’ve ever read. he’s extremely set in the way he does things and there is no negotiating with him. takeshi is the same way, but i’ll have to wait until i read his book to see who comes out on top of the psycho scale.

hana has trauma from an event that happened when she was 18 but it was really interesting to see how she got more and more comfortable with the things that terrified her. it made me happy to see that she saw damian as safe, despite the ways he went about things.]]> 4.10 2024
author: Jagger Cole
name: lianna
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/29
date added: 2025/02/18
shelves: 2024, arc-reviews, dark-romance
review:
[arc review]

4.5⭐️

this one got a little too gory for me at times but it added so much depth to the story so yk what it’s okay.

i loved the way jagger included some yakuza/samurai ways in this even though they tended to lean on the bloody side of things. i think it gave such an immersive reading experience.

damian might be the most psychotic mmc i’ve ever read. he’s extremely set in the way he does things and there is no negotiating with him. takeshi is the same way, but i’ll have to wait until i read his book to see who comes out on top of the psycho scale.

hana has trauma from an event that happened when she was 18 but it was really interesting to see how she got more and more comfortable with the things that terrified her. it made me happy to see that she saw damian as safe, despite the ways he went about things.
]]> 181540878
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK A brilliantly funny novel about friends, lovers, Ireland in chaos, and a young woman desperately trying to manage all three

Rachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it’s love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James soon invites Rachel to be his roommate and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever. Together, they run riot through the streets of Cork city, trying to maintain a bohemian existence while the threat of the financial crash looms before them.

When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, James helps her devise a reading at their local bookstore, with the goal that she might seduce him afterwards. But Fred has other desires. So begins a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred’s glamorous, well-connected, bourgeois wife. Aching with unrequited love, shot through with delicious, sparkling humor, The Rachel Incident is a triumph.]]> Caroline O'Donoghue lianna 4 12-for-2025, 2025, audiobooks
WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT ENDS LIKE THAT???? I NEED TO KNOW MORE. IMMEDIATELY.

tw: abortion

i surprisingly liked this book? it’s between an okay and like for me but leaning more towards like so not quite 4⭐️. i liked the way caroline tackled james delvin’s character and the abortion experience. i liked the way james grew into himself after he came out as a gay man and it was kind of fun to see him succeed as a writer on a late night show in new york. i personally imagined him being part of fallon but i could also see snl for him. i found rachel’s abortion experience to be quite realistic as well. that part of her story healed me a bit in a way that i needed.

rachel’s life in her 20s is a hot fucking mess. i feel like she was getting herself into situations that could’ve been preventable but her frontal lobe was also still developing so it’s not entirely over exaggerated. i did find it a little bit weird that she constantly slept in the same bed as james delvin and rachel was incredibly selfish at times but she definitely grew up and made better decisions after moving to london.]]> 3.94 2023
author: Caroline O'Donoghue
name: lianna
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/13
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: 12-for-2025, 2025, audiobooks
review:
3.75⭐️

WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT ENDS LIKE THAT???? I NEED TO KNOW MORE. IMMEDIATELY.

tw: abortion

i surprisingly liked this book? it’s between an okay and like for me but leaning more towards like so not quite 4⭐️. i liked the way caroline tackled james delvin’s character and the abortion experience. i liked the way james grew into himself after he came out as a gay man and it was kind of fun to see him succeed as a writer on a late night show in new york. i personally imagined him being part of fallon but i could also see snl for him. i found rachel’s abortion experience to be quite realistic as well. that part of her story healed me a bit in a way that i needed.

rachel’s life in her 20s is a hot fucking mess. i feel like she was getting herself into situations that could’ve been preventable but her frontal lobe was also still developing so it’s not entirely over exaggerated. i did find it a little bit weird that she constantly slept in the same bed as james delvin and rachel was incredibly selfish at times but she definitely grew up and made better decisions after moving to london.
]]> 74736036
Newlyweds Tricia and Ethan are searching for the house of their dreams.

But when they visit the remote manor that once belonged to Dr. Adrienne Hale, a renowned psychiatrist who vanished without a trace four years earlier, a violent winter storm traps them at the estate�� with no chance of escape until the blizzard comes to an end.

In search of a book to keep her entertained until the snow abates, Tricia happens upon a secret room. One that contains audio transcripts from every single patient Dr. Hale has ever interviewed. As Tricia listens to the cassette tapes, she learns about the terrifying chain of events leading up to Dr. Hale’s mysterious disappearance.

Tricia plays the tapes one by one, late into the night. With each one, another shocking piece of the puzzle falls into place, and Dr. Adrienne Hale’s web of lies slowly unravels.

And then Tricia reaches the final cassette.

The one that reveals the entire horrifying truth.]]> Freida McFadden lianna 4 12-for-2025, 2025, audiobooks
who i thought killed adrienne hale did not kill adrienne hale and the person i thought was innocent in all this was not innocent. wow. i don’t even have words because this book felt like such a mindfuck after the plot twist.

i listened to almost the entire book in one sitting so to me it felt like tricia was pointing out she was pregnant a lot but it probably wouldn’t seem that way if i read an ebook or physical copy. i felt like tricia really sucked at reading social cues and honestly as the book progressed, the way she is started to make a lot more sense.

in the end, nobody is innocent.]]> 3.63 2022
author: Freida McFadden
name: lianna
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/15
date added: 2025/02/16
shelves: 12-for-2025, 2025, audiobooks
review:
my jaw? on the floor. (no spoilers)

who i thought killed adrienne hale did not kill adrienne hale and the person i thought was innocent in all this was not innocent. wow. i don’t even have words because this book felt like such a mindfuck after the plot twist.

i listened to almost the entire book in one sitting so to me it felt like tricia was pointing out she was pregnant a lot but it probably wouldn’t seem that way if i read an ebook or physical copy. i felt like tricia really sucked at reading social cues and honestly as the book progressed, the way she is started to make a lot more sense.

in the end, nobody is innocent.
]]> 222765127
Under the dazzling Sin City lights, Adam Larssen, airline owner-CEO, is power and masculinity personified.

Women want the handsome billionaire pilot.
No one can have him.

Having sworn off romantic entanglements, he exclusively hires escorts.
Everything changes when he crosses paths with the beautiful and enigmatic Eve Layton, the most sought-after escort in Las Vegas.

Their off-the-charts chemistry leaves Eve bewildered and Adam wanting more. Despite his reservations, Adam finds himself unrelentingly pursuing Eve.
Eve is resolute in keeping her emotions detached from clients, determined to follow her chosen life path. But Adam tips her world off its axis and challenges that resolve.

As their mutual attraction repeatedly draws them together, they break their own rules. Physical attraction leads to a deeper connection, and the vows and plans they previously believed to be immovable begin to shift.
Will they find the strength to resist temptation, or will they surrender to a passion that cannot be denied?]]> 342 Leigh Iversen lianna 2 dnf, arc-reviews
dnf @ 60%

i went into this book expecting more and maybe i stopped just before a good plot point. i left the book alone for a few days and the more i thought about it, the more i did not want to return because i just felt like adam and eve were having sex every. single. chapter.

other than that, i liked the back story of how adam started larsair and it’s very clear to me that he loves being a pilot. this book unfortunately wasn’t for me but would be great if you were looking to dip your toes into a billionaire romance where the mmc turned his interest into a career.
]]> 3.91
author: Leigh Iversen
name: lianna
average rating: 3.91
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/14
date added: 2025/02/14
shelves: dnf, arc-reviews
review:
[arc review]

dnf @ 60%

i went into this book expecting more and maybe i stopped just before a good plot point. i left the book alone for a few days and the more i thought about it, the more i did not want to return because i just felt like adam and eve were having sex every. single. chapter.

other than that, i liked the back story of how adam started larsair and it’s very clear to me that he loves being a pilot. this book unfortunately wasn’t for me but would be great if you were looking to dip your toes into a billionaire romance where the mmc turned his interest into a career.

]]> 220634803
Unfortunately for Miles, he quickly learns that his focus will waver whenever he's around Indigo Bailey, his new roommate and his best friend's sister. Vowing not to let their blazing past affect their situation, he can't seem to forget about their shared nights and secret meetings. As the tension between them simmers, he realises that Indy is much more than a forbidden temptation �� she's everything he's been trying to push away. Drawing a line seems to be the only solution to keep his control from breaking.

As she starts a new job as a lead presenter in F1, Indy is intent on forging her place in a male-dominated world and having Miles open up to her.

When Miles understands that Indy doesn't care about the line between them, his control loosens and speeds into overdrive. Will they be able to focus on their dreams without letting the sparkling embers turn into flames?]]> 461 Kanitha P. lianna 4 2025, arc-reviews
miles and indy are the cutest ever ]]> 3.68
author: Kanitha P.
name: lianna
average rating: 3.68
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/07
date added: 2025/02/12
shelves: 2025, arc-reviews
review:
[arc review]

miles and indy are the cutest ever
]]> 220161296 New York Times bestselling author and “the biggest literary phenom of her generation�� (Cosmopolitan) Anna Todd returns with a moving and empowering new romance about a sheltered young woman whose life transforms during a summer in Majorca with a mysterious local.

Between chronic health issues and an overprotective mother, twenty-two-year-old Oriah Pera feels like she’s stuck waiting for her life to begin. But when her mother’s job takes them to Majorca, Ry knows this summer could be the start of her very own coming-of-age story.

In her first small act of rebellion, she heads off to the beach alone and meets an infuriatingly charming Spaniard. Julian makes Ry feel even more naive and inexperienced than she normally does, but she can’t tamp down her growing attraction.

As the summer continues, Julian pulls Ry out of her shell and into the adventures she’s always craved. But with her return to America looming, Ry must decide if she’s brave enough to finally follow her heart and live for herself.]]> 384 Anna Todd 1668079534 lianna 0 to-read 3.75 2025
author: Anna Todd
name: lianna
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/02/11
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 15820121 New York Times bestselling trilogy about forbidden love, revolution, and the power to choose.

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has transformed. The nascent rebellion has ignited into an all-out revolution, and Lena is at the center of the fight. After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven. Pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels.

As Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain of the Wilds, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor. Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. They live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.]]> 8 Lauren Oliver 0062224565 lianna 3 2025, audiobooks
ngl i was kind of getting bored but the ending redeemed the book so 3.5⭐️

it’s a good ending. grace is back in safe arms, alex pissed me off a little bit but i like alex more than julian so i guess i won in the end ]]> 3.60 2013
author: Lauren Oliver
name: lianna
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2013
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/08
date added: 2025/02/08
shelves: 2025, audiobooks
review:
3.5⭐️

ngl i was kind of getting bored but the ending redeemed the book so 3.5⭐️

it’s a good ending. grace is back in safe arms, alex pissed me off a little bit but i like alex more than julian so i guess i won in the end
]]> 220827216 It’s never too late to turn over a new leaf��

Charlie

Returning to my hometown was never part of my plan. Suddenly, I find myself back where I grew up and taking over my late parents�� beloved plant store. With a permanent scowl and zero customer service skills, I have no idea how to run a business—or keep plants alive. One night, a wild dog crashes into my store, creating an absolute mess in his path. The owner? Confident, charismatic, and utterly captivating. He’s determined to break down my carefully constructed walls one brick at a time.

Finn

Burnt out, exhausted, and a bit directionless, no one warned me that moving forward could feel like moving backward. After leaving my stressful corporate job, I packed up my life and returned to my home state of Oregon, eagerly chasing my dream of opening a coffee shop. One night, my overly energetic dog barrels into a quaint plant store, causing a complete disaster. The owner? Grouchy, gorgeous, and guarded. She’s exactly what I’ve been searching for all along.

Although our paths collide in a hectic disaster, we embark on a journey to discover the true meaning of turning over a new leaf.]]> 390 Samm Wilde lianna 5 2025, arc-reviews
[arc review]

this book is unbelievably fluffy and i am still melting thinking about it.

finn is the sunshine golden retriever mmc with the cutest special edition dog. i think finn is what dreams are made of. he’s so understanding of charlie’s needs and boundaries without being overly pushy. he’s as yummy as a cup of coffee. the man’s got game, even if charlie always rolls her eyes at his flirting.

charlie is the grumpy black cat with the laziest golden retriever. vera is never not sleeping, even when frank is over. i aspire to be vera, but unfortunately i am a corporate girlie with adult responsibilities ]]> 4.03
author: Samm Wilde
name: lianna
average rating: 4.03
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/29
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: 2025, arc-reviews
review:
4.5⭐️

[arc review]

this book is unbelievably fluffy and i am still melting thinking about it.

finn is the sunshine golden retriever mmc with the cutest special edition dog. i think finn is what dreams are made of. he’s so understanding of charlie’s needs and boundaries without being overly pushy. he’s as yummy as a cup of coffee. the man’s got game, even if charlie always rolls her eyes at his flirting.

charlie is the grumpy black cat with the laziest golden retriever. vera is never not sleeping, even when frank is over. i aspire to be vera, but unfortunately i am a corporate girlie with adult responsibilities
]]> 28687354 "The Dollhouse. . . . That's what we boys like to call it. . . . The Barbizon Hotel for Women, packed to the rafters with pretty little dolls. Just like you."
��
Fiona Davis's stunning debut novel pulls readers into the lush world of New York City's glamorous Barbizon Hotel for Women, where a generation of aspiring models, secretaries, and editors lived side-by-side while attempting to claw their way to fairy-tale success in the 1950s, and where a present-day journalist becomes consumed with uncovering a dark secret buried deep within the Barbizon's glitzy past.
��
When she arrives at the famed Barbizon Hotel in 1952, secretarial school enrollment in hand, Darby McLaughlin is everything her modeling agency hall mates aren't: plain, self-conscious, homesick, and utterly convinced she doesn't belong—a notion the models do nothing to disabuse. Yet when Darby befriends Esme, a Barbizon maid, she's introduced to an entirely new side of New York City: seedy downtown jazz clubs where the music is as addictive as the heroin that's used there, the startling sounds of bebop, and even the possibility of romance.
��
Over half a century later, the Barbizon's gone condo and most of its long-ago guests are forgotten. But rumors of Darby's involvement in a deadly skirmish with a hotel maid back in 1952 haunt the halls of the building as surely as the melancholy music that floats from the elderly woman's rent-controlled apartment. It's a combination too intoxicating for journalist Rose Lewin, Darby's upstairs neighbor, to resist—not to mention the perfect distraction from her own imploding personal life. Yet as Rose's obsession deepens, the ethics of her investigation become increasingly murky, and neither woman will remain unchanged when the shocking truth is finally revealed.


From the Hardcover edition.]]> Fiona Davis 152470315X lianna 2 12-for-2025, 2025
i feel like i can’t even begin to express my hatred for esme. she was charming and she knew all the right things to say but she was so incredibly selfish. she practically manipulated darby into all the jazz club activities. and darby knew better, she knew she shouldn’t be spending her nights at the jazz club instead of studying. but at the same time, darby had no spine. she’s a people pleaser and therefore struggled to say no to anyone. and just when i thought darby was growing a spine, she takes two steps back nd reverses any progressing thought she made.

i didn’t like rose either. she was squatting in darby’s apartment and delusional over a man who clearly used her for his own gains. she stuck her nose where it didn’t belong and while it had the best outcome for her, it 100% could’ve gone the other way.]]> 3.54 2016
author: Fiona Davis
name: lianna
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: 12-for-2025, 2025
review:
[audiobook]

i feel like i can’t even begin to express my hatred for esme. she was charming and she knew all the right things to say but she was so incredibly selfish. she practically manipulated darby into all the jazz club activities. and darby knew better, she knew she shouldn’t be spending her nights at the jazz club instead of studying. but at the same time, darby had no spine. she’s a people pleaser and therefore struggled to say no to anyone. and just when i thought darby was growing a spine, she takes two steps back nd reverses any progressing thought she made.

i didn’t like rose either. she was squatting in darby’s apartment and delusional over a man who clearly used her for his own gains. she stuck her nose where it didn’t belong and while it had the best outcome for her, it 100% could’ve gone the other way.
]]> 197482254 Ever. But that’s easier said than done when it comes to Blair Carmichael. She’s sexy, intelligent, gorgeous, and one hundred percent off-limits.

And I’ve never fallen harder.

But I can’t touch (when I most definitely want to).

My team’s success and my chance at a new contract for next season depend on me keeping my hands on the wheel. And off her curves.

As the season progresses, we secretly steal as much time as we can together—in hotel rooms, after races, anywhere we can’t be found out. A real romance out in the open would risk her job in the industry, her reputation, and my image–not to mention my strained relationship with my teammate.

I’ve lived my whole life with one mantra. Team first. What I want outside of my racing career hasn’t factored in.

Until now.
Until Blair.

She deserves the world and I plan on giving it to her. Even if I have to walk away from the biggest contract of my career.

A forbidden, Formula 1 romance.]]> 278 K. Bromberg 1942832761 lianna 4 arc-reviews, 2024, formula-1
lachlan is full of green flags. he is so communicative and that’s the most attractive thing ever?? forget what he looks like. yeah, he’s a bit f1 driver but the way he communicated to blair when he needed space had me sitting here wondering why men in real life aren’t like this. he remembers the little things and that’s all a girl can really ask for.

blair deserved so much better than rossi and i’m glad she finally realized that and had enough of the way rossi treated her. she cares a lot, but rossi didn’t care enough and that’s what broke them.

i will say now that i don’t like rossi. i don’t know how i feel about his book. being next but i also want to see his redemption arc in full so ]]> 4.07
author: K. Bromberg
name: lianna
average rating: 4.07
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/13
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: arc-reviews, 2024, formula-1
review:
[arc review]

lachlan is full of green flags. he is so communicative and that’s the most attractive thing ever?? forget what he looks like. yeah, he’s a bit f1 driver but the way he communicated to blair when he needed space had me sitting here wondering why men in real life aren’t like this. he remembers the little things and that’s all a girl can really ask for.

blair deserved so much better than rossi and i’m glad she finally realized that and had enough of the way rossi treated her. she cares a lot, but rossi didn’t care enough and that’s what broke them.

i will say now that i don’t like rossi. i don’t know how i feel about his book. being next but i also want to see his redemption arc in full so
]]> 201145400 Rafael
Ellie Sinclair is a hopeless romantic who writes love songs.
I’m a struggling workaholic who could inspire a hundred breakup albums.
On paper, we have nothing in common except for my son.
For eight months, I avoid her until our summer trip.
Fourteen days. Two islands. And one nanny I shouldn’t be attracted to.
Spending time with Ellie is expected, but enjoying her company?
That isn’t part of our travel plans.
After my divorce, I swore to protect my heart at all costs.
Even if it means breaking hers in the process.
Ellie
What’s worse than working for a grumpy single dad?
Admitting that I once had a secret crush on him in high school.
Thankfully, Rafael Lopez and I have changed since we graduated from Wisteria High.
He is a billionaire with a company to run and a child to take care of.
I’m an unemployed songwriter he hired to watch his son and teach music.
We coexist without any issues until a vacation changes everything.
Lines blur and old feelings for Rafael return with vengeance as I face a new dilemma.
Being his son’s nanny is one thing, but wishing for more?
Sounds like a heartbreak song waiting to be written.]]> 551 Lauren Asher lianna 4 2024 4.08 2024
author: Lauren Asher
name: lianna
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/29
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: 2024
review:
did a buddy read with some friends for the first time with this book and we kept joking that i’d finish first because of my history of devouring books in a few days but i actually finished last
]]> 218106323 I'm trapped by a beautiful psychopath.
A devil with a soul as black as his heart.
He knows what I did.
Now he won't stop, no matter how fast or how far I run.
They say fairytales are just pretend.
But monsters?
Those are real.
And they never, ever let go...

Emperor of Rage is a standalone dark mafia romance with a smart, untamable heroine, and an ultra possessive psycho hero with "look at her and I'll unalive you" energy. Readers are STRONGLY advised to read the TW inside. No cliffhanger; HEA included.]]> 552 Jagger Cole lianna 4
can you guys believe this is my SEVENTH jagger cole book this year because i can't. i eat it up every time and then i can't believe the book is over.

i really liked the aspect of freya having xeroderma pigmentosum. i like to think that in another life, i worked in the medical field and that's why i go down these rabbit holes of rare diseases and medical conditions but anywho. i enjoyed freya's growth. she went from kind of living through the motions with the occasional thrill with annika to living for the joys in life. my heart was so happy to see her thriving instead of just living.

big bad mal felt well...big and bad. ngl i was kind of scared of him. he's a man with very dark desires but i'd be lying if i said he didn't have moments with freya where i just wanted to boop his nose. once he found out about freya's condition, he got softer in the best way possible. he just wanted to protect her AND at any cost. i like when big bad men fold, it's fun to watch.]]> 4.21 2024
author: Jagger Cole
name: lianna
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/15
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: 2024, arc-reviews, dark-romance
review:
[arc review]

can you guys believe this is my SEVENTH jagger cole book this year because i can't. i eat it up every time and then i can't believe the book is over.

i really liked the aspect of freya having xeroderma pigmentosum. i like to think that in another life, i worked in the medical field and that's why i go down these rabbit holes of rare diseases and medical conditions but anywho. i enjoyed freya's growth. she went from kind of living through the motions with the occasional thrill with annika to living for the joys in life. my heart was so happy to see her thriving instead of just living.

big bad mal felt well...big and bad. ngl i was kind of scared of him. he's a man with very dark desires but i'd be lying if i said he didn't have moments with freya where i just wanted to boop his nose. once he found out about freya's condition, he got softer in the best way possible. he just wanted to protect her AND at any cost. i like when big bad men fold, it's fun to watch.
]]> 204795443 She's the only woman he wants...and the only one he can't have.

Asher Donovan is a living legend―the darling of the Premier League, the (arguably) greatest footballer in the world.

But his reckless antics and recent team transfer have caused much controversy, and when his feud with his rival-turned-teammate costs them a championship, they're forced to "bond" during off-season cross-training.

Surviving the summer shouldn't be hard…until Asher meets their new trainer. She's beautiful, talented, and no matter how hard he tries, he can't take his mind off her.

The only problem? She's his rival's sister―and completely off limits.

***

Scarlett DuBois is a former prima ballerina whose career was cut short by a tragic accident.

Now a teacher at a prestigious dance academy but still haunted by the ghosts of her past, the last thing she wants is to spend the summer cross-training Asher Donovan, of all people.

She swore she would never date a footballer, but when her brother leaves town for an emergency, she finds herself thrown into dangerously close proximity with the gorgeous, charming striker.

Training, she can deal with. But falling in love? That's out of the question―especially when he's the only person with the power to break her heart.]]> 592 Ana Huang 1464223327 lianna 4 2024, 5-star-reads 3.67 2024
author: Ana Huang
name: lianna
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/22
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: 2024, 5-star-reads
review:
devoured in 24 hours, as always
]]> 13281945 9 Lauren Oliver 0307968774 lianna 3 2025, audiobooks
i’m learning that the writing style of this series is not my favorite, there are a lot of similes and metaphors and A LOT of lena choking back sobs. i fear she might me too emotional for me.]]> 3.72 2012
author: Lauren Oliver
name: lianna
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/30
date added: 2025/01/30
shelves: 2025, audiobooks
review:
3.5⭐️

i’m learning that the writing style of this series is not my favorite, there are a lot of similes and metaphors and A LOT of lena choking back sobs. i fear she might me too emotional for me.
]]> 217927423 A marriage of convenience threatens to go off track in this steamy Formula 1 romance from the USA Today bestselling author of Cross the Line.

Stella Baldwin thought her life couldn’t get worse. Being left at the altar was bad enough, and the drunken rant she posted to her social media followers in the aftermath was the cherry on top. But having to show up at her cousin’s bachelorette party in Las Vegas barely two weeks later feels like a cruel joke.

Thomas Maxwell-Brown is just looking for a good time. With his family’s expectations pressing down, his career as a Formula 1 driver threatened by fresh talent, and a new reputation as the most hated man on the grid, he needs a break to clear his head. And what better way to decompress than with a stag party in Vegas?

Stella isn’t the woman Thomas expects to meet that night. And Thomas isn’t the man Stella expects to wake up next to in the morning—with a ring on her finger. Staying married might be the perfect solution to all their problems, even if it is a little wild. Sometimes, what happens in Vegas doesn’t need to stay there. . . .]]> 448 Simone Soltani 0593818164 lianna 0 to-read 4.13
author: Simone Soltani
name: lianna
average rating: 4.13
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/28
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 10476734




Lauren Oliver astonished readers with her stunning debut, Before I Fall. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called it "raw, emotional, and, at times, beautiful. An end as brave as it is heartbreaking." Her much-awaited second novel fulfills her promise as an exceptionally talented and versatile writer.]]> Lauren Oliver 0062087509 lianna 3 2025, audiobooks 3.46 2011
author: Lauren Oliver
name: lianna
average rating: 3.46
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/26
date added: 2025/01/26
shelves: 2025, audiobooks
review:
i’m finally getting around to the one trilogy that was insanely popular for the girls in middle school that i never got to read because the books were always checked out
]]> 195318909 Two exes, one house. What could go wrong?

Olivia had a plan: MBA, Wall Street VP by thirty-two, marriage and two children (preferably twins because #efficiency).

Not in her plan? Losing half her belongings in an apartment flood and being forced to turn to her ex for help.

Definitely not in her plan? Moving into said ex’s house and watching him walk around shirtless, bake her cupcakes, and look at her with those smoldering��

Wait, what was she talking about again?

***

Between his bakery and meddling family, Sammy had enough on his plate without bringing the ex he’d never been able to forget into the mix.

But when Olivia asks for his help, he couldn’t say no. He could, however, make her regret breaking his heart—as long as he doesn’t do anything foolish, like sneak into her room and kiss her senseless��

As passion slowly replaces their dislike for each other, Sammy and Olivia discover their past isn’t what it seems and their future is anything but certain. Can they overcome their pride and give love a second chance, or is history doomed to repeat itself?

If We Were Perfect is a steamy second chance/roommate romance. It's book four of the If Love series but can be read as a complete standalone.

Recommended for 18+ due to explicit content and adult language.]]> Ana Huang lianna 4 2025, audiobooks
it took me two and a half years to get here but i’m finally done with ana’s backlist ]]> 3.52 2020
author: Ana Huang
name: lianna
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/22
date added: 2025/01/22
shelves: 2025, audiobooks
review:
[audiobook]

it took me two and a half years to get here but i’m finally done with ana’s backlist
]]> 54256265 Shattered me, then left without a goodbye.
Eight years have passed, and now he's back.
But, I'm engaged.
And he will do anything to make sure I'm his...again.

I've fought hard to rebuild my life. So when the ever-so-perfect Julian Baker proposes marriage, I'm ready to forget the past and move on with my new love.

In a cruel twist of fate, my past and future collide. I'm forced to face the man who destroyed my heart back in high school.

Lex Edwards, turned billionaire tycoon, is ruthless, cunning, and will not stop until I'm his.

A complicated love triangle was never something I imagined when Julian proposed to me. Especially not involving Lex.
Hearts and egos are bound to be broken.
But whose heart will capture mine when the darkness fades?

**This title was previously published as Into the Darkness. It has been extensively rewritten, re-edited, and has a steamy new cover**]]> 464 Kat T. Masen lianna 1 dnf
i survived 68% before i gave up which is a lot ]]> 3.63 2020
author: Kat T. Masen
name: lianna
average rating: 3.63
book published: 2020
rating: 1
read at:
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves: dnf
review:
dnf @ 68% (audiobook)

i survived 68% before i gave up which is a lot
]]> 203764235
What I don’t expect is him.

He’s only supposed to be a one-night stand, but fate has other plans.

The next time I see him it’s because I’m on a date with his dad.

I’ve always believed in wishing on elevens, but this time I get a little more than I bargained for by falling for a guy eleven years younger than me.

Reid is everything I shouldn’t want and everything I need.

The question is, am I willing to open my heart up to him? Or am I doomed to let my past hold me back?]]> 524 Micalea Smeltzer lianna 4 2025
reid is 100% a golden retriever mmc whose love language is acts of service. via feels a little bit uncomfortable with it at first because it’s new to her (her ex husband never did any of this) but turns out that she really likes it and loves him anyway. reid is so whipped for via and wants to marry her already but i appreciate how they had important conversations and got to know each other throughout the book. i appreciated how reid went along with what via is comfortable with despite wanting things to move faster himself. he showed a lot of respect for via’s boundaries.

via is starting something completely new after her divorce at 32. it’s been so long since she’s really been alone and happy. she didn’t expect to meet reid and fall in love with him but she did and i think she was just as whipped as he was. she welcomed this small town change with open arms and the town came together to help her in her little crisis.

for me, this book was a lot of fluff. it’s a good read for when you want to feel cozy and in love.]]> 3.99
author: Micalea Smeltzer
name: lianna
average rating: 3.99
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/01/20
shelves: 2025
review:
two months to finish this bo-damn i was going through it. anyway.

reid is 100% a golden retriever mmc whose love language is acts of service. via feels a little bit uncomfortable with it at first because it’s new to her (her ex husband never did any of this) but turns out that she really likes it and loves him anyway. reid is so whipped for via and wants to marry her already but i appreciate how they had important conversations and got to know each other throughout the book. i appreciated how reid went along with what via is comfortable with despite wanting things to move faster himself. he showed a lot of respect for via’s boundaries.

via is starting something completely new after her divorce at 32. it’s been so long since she’s really been alone and happy. she didn’t expect to meet reid and fall in love with him but she did and i think she was just as whipped as he was. she welcomed this small town change with open arms and the town came together to help her in her little crisis.

for me, this book was a lot of fluff. it’s a good read for when you want to feel cozy and in love.
]]> 212924526 This charming rom-com from an author whose writing is “deeply romantic, real, funny, and heartfelt�� (Christina Lauren) is filled with Chinese traditions and a curse-breaking love story that will make readers of Helen Hoang, Jasmine Guillory, and Sarah Adams swoon.

In this charming rom-com filled with Chinese traditions and a family curse, an herbalist fake dates a star musician–perfect for fans of Helen Hoang and Jasmine Guillory.

Chinese herbalist Chryssy Hua Williams never actually believed in the Hua family curse. But after Break-Up #9, Chryssy stopped laughing. Now she and her aunties run a special healing retreat center for the broken-hearted. After all, there’s nothing a proper cup of herbal tea can’t fix...but Chryssy’s innocent run-in with celebrity cellist and bad boy Vin Chao has everyone brewing about a different kind of tea. So he offers her a deal: they’ll fake-date, he’ll “break�� her heart (and increase ticket sales), and in return, he’ll promote her business.

It’s like Chryssy’s whole cursed love life has been leading up to this moment. But all it takes is one kiss—and a whole lot of unexpected chemistry—to land both of them in hot water . . .]]> 352 Lauren Kung Jessen 1538741636 lianna 4 2025, arc-reviews
[arc review] thank you forever + netgalley for this arc ]]> 3.66
author: Lauren Kung Jessen
name: lianna
average rating: 3.66
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/19
date added: 2025/01/19
shelves: 2025, arc-reviews
review:
4.25 ⭐️

[arc review] thank you forever + netgalley for this arc
]]> 221991442 A mafia prince with a killer’s smile and a predator’s gaze.
Takeshi Mori doesn’t ask for anything. He takes it.
Including me.
Our marriage is a weapon forged in blood, meant to stop a war.
But there’s nothing peaceful about my new husband.
He’s ruthless chaos incarnate—a Machiavellian psychopath with a thirst for violence.
He craves control, but I was born to defy.
His darkness terrifies me even as it calls to mine.
His touch consumes me even as it burns me alive.
We aren’t a happy ever after. We’re a collision-course disaster.
And “till death do us part�� isn’t a vow.
It’s a declaration of war.

Emperor of Havoc is a standalone dark mafia romance with a smart, untamable heroine, and an ultra possessive psycho hero with "look at her and I'll unalive you" energy. Readers are STRONGLY advised to read the TW inside. No cliffhanger; HEA included.]]> 412 Jagger Cole lianna 5
[arc review] thank you jagger cole and valentine pr for this arc ]]> 4.19 2025
author: Jagger Cole
name: lianna
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/14
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves: arc-reviews, 2025, dark-romance
review:
4.5⭐️

[arc review] thank you jagger cole and valentine pr for this arc
]]> 61043839 Tiffy and Leon share a flat
Tiffy and Leon share a bed
Tiffy and Leon have never met��

Tiffy Moore needs a cheap flat, and fast. Leon Twomey works nights and needs cash. Their friends think they’re crazy, but it’s the perfect solution: Leon occupies the one-bed flat while Tiffy’s at work in the day, and she has the run of the place the rest of the time.

But with obsessive ex-boyfriends, demanding clients at work, wrongly imprisoned brothers and, of course, the fact that they still haven’t met yet, they’re about to discover that if you want the perfect home you need to throw the rulebook out the window…]]> Beth O'Leary lianna 0 dnf
yeah so…the writing style wasn’t for me :(]]> 3.92 2019
author: Beth O'Leary
name: lianna
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/16
shelves: dnf
review:
dnf @ 22%

yeah so…the writing style wasn’t for me :(
]]> 25564446
“Stay away from him,�� people said.
“He’s cruel.��
“He’s cold.��
“He’s damaged.��

It’s easy to judge a man because of his past. To look at Tristan and see a monster.

But I couldn’t do that. I had to accept the wreckage that lived inside of him because it also lived inside of me.

We were both empty.
We were both looking for something else. Something more.
We both wanted to put together the shattered pieces of our yesterdays.

Then perhaps we could finally remember how to breathe.]]> 308 Brittainy C. Cherry lianna 0 to-read, 12-for-2025 4.12 2015
author: Brittainy C. Cherry
name: lianna
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: to-read, 12-for-2025
review:

]]> 60416566 His flawless pet.
His good girl.

Broken down and wounded by my emotionally neglectful ex, I wanted someone to tell me I was good enough.

Then, I stumbled into a new job with a boss who brings me to my knees—literally. He has me do things a real secretary would never do.

Emerson Grant tells me I’m more than just good enough.
I’m worthy of his praise.

There are a million reasons why I should stay away. The owner of the Salacious Players�� Club is not just my new boss, he’s twice my age.

And my ex-boyfriend’s father.

With him, I am treasured. I am adored. I am his.

I’m a good girl, but I’m falling for the wrong man.

Emerson Grant knows what he wants��
And he wants me.

So how far will I go to hear his approval?]]> 341 Sara Cate lianna 0 to-read, 12-for-2025 4.04 2022
author: Sara Cate
name: lianna
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves: to-read, 12-for-2025
review:

]]> 34912895 Unpredictable. Unforgiving. Untamed.
For a family in crisis, the ultimate test of survival.

Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.

Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents�� passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown.

At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the Allbrights�� lack of preparation and dwindling resources.

But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates and the family begins to fracture. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves.

In this unforgettable portrait of human frailty and resilience, Kristin Hannah reveals the indomitable character of the modern American pioneer and the spirit of a vanishing Alaska―a place of incomparable beauty and danger. The Great Alone is a daring, beautiful, stay-up-all-night story about love and loss, the fight for survival, and the wildness that lives in both man and nature.]]> 435 Kristin Hannah lianna 0 12-for-2025, to-read 4.44 2018
author: Kristin Hannah
name: lianna
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2018
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves: 12-for-2025, to-read
review:

]]> 201017011 “I don’t need another kink.��

That thought pops into my head whenever I pull up my favorite social media app, but alas, every time I scroll, I learn something new about myself, and another one is born. And yes, I know I’m responsible for what the algorithm shows me, but I’m trying to ignore that fact.

Lately, my feed has been dominated by masked men. I’ve favorited videos with them dressed in full cosplay, decked out in futuristic military apparel, and wrapped up like ghouls.

But more than anything else, my FYP is filled with shirtless men wearing ghost masks. Bonus points if they’re heavily tattooed, wielding a knife, or covered in fake blood. At night, I dream about being chased by them, of them catching me and doing deliciously dark things to my more than willing body.

I never could have guessed that by sending one drunken text, those dreams would become my new reality.

Lights Out is a fast-paced dark romance with a morally grey male lead. Some themes and scenes may be disturbing to readers. Please check the TWs at the beginning of the book. ]]> 338 Navessa Allen lianna 0 to-read, 12-for-2025 4.16 2024
author: Navessa Allen
name: lianna
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read, 12-for-2025
review:

]]> 200289511
World Championship favourite Miguel de la Fuente is not taking any rookie seriously, let alone a woman. With his first championship win looming, all he has to do is stay focused �� and make sure Diana stays out of his way.

But motorsports is a small world, and as Diana and Miguel race their way through the season, they’re forced to face each other again and again. When sparks fly, Miguel and Diana must decide for the sake of their teams where their priorities lie: on track, with the championship, or offtrack, with each other��

*Esha Patel previously published a book with these characters under this title - this is a completely rewritten title.]]> 384 Esha Patel 0008693943 lianna 2 arc-reviews, dnf, formula-1
very very unfortunate dnf @ 61% ]]> 3.08 2024
author: Esha Patel
name: lianna
average rating: 3.08
book published: 2024
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: arc-reviews, dnf, formula-1
review:
[arc review]

very very unfortunate dnf @ 61%
]]> 207567928
Cosmin Ardelean is intense and committed, but as famous for his off-track romantic exploits as his on-track wizardry. Yet his devil-may-care façade conceals a haunted past. When the pair strikes up a secret—and thrillingly forbidden—“arrangement�� to improve their communication and bond of trust, the heat of their attraction turns to something more . . .

But no secret stays hidden for long in the racing world, and soon things are spinning out of control. With everything on the line, will they be able to strip away all their defenses and go full throttle for a chance at love?]]> 353 Josie Juniper 1538768976 lianna 0 dnf, arc-reviews
forever pub let me have this book on netgalley after the pub date so i had to push it ]]> 3.21 2024
author: Josie Juniper
name: lianna
average rating: 3.21
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: dnf, arc-reviews
review:
[(late) arc review]

forever pub let me have this book on netgalley after the pub date so i had to push it
]]> 205843300
Quiet and Reserved,
Elena Ferreira is destined to become his.
When she tries to escape her ex-boyfriend at a club in Monaco, she makes the decision to encounter the gloomy devil in disguise Gabriel Harvey.
With favors asked, there will also be favors to return.
She goes out of her comfort zone and accompanies her boss to a work event in Venice as his fake fiancée.
But with rules made, they are destined to be broken.

Devoted and Arrogant,
Gabriel Harvey always puts his family first.
One night in Monaco he encounters his newest obsession, which quickly turned out to be his new assistant.
With his high position at the front of his tasks, he asks his assistant for a month of faking to keep his ex away from family events and his mother away from inviting her.
Despite the rules he agreed to, he never made it his tasks to follow them.
He wanted her all to himself.]]> 410 Hannah Allen lianna 0 arc-reviews, dnf
dnf @ 15% so no rating.

i STRUGGLED. and when i say STRUGGLED in caps, i mean it. i couldn’t stand either the fmc or the mmc.

the fmc, elena, spends the first 3 pages taking about how she has too many feelings, how it’s bad, oh my god “i aPoLoGiZe tOo mUcH.�� i was constantly annoyed by her.

”i have gone to multiple therapists to help figure out why i tend to overlook [red flags], but they couldn’t help me at all��
baby girl. a therapist isn’t going to tell you straight up. that’s not what they’re there for. unless you happen to have a therapist that calls you out on your shit. when you’re in love, you look through rose colored glasses. that’s why you didn’t see said red flags UNTIL you left the man.

”truth is, even after two months and a huge heartbreak later, i still don’t hate him.��
this notion that you’re “supposed�� to hate your ex immediately is unrealistic. girl nobody gets over their ex in two months. stop.

”this is the first time i am ever saying no to someone and it hurts. i don’t know why.��
its called ✨boundaries��

NOW. the mmc, gabriel. this guys was just forcing himself on elena. in a PROFESSIONAL workplace, constantly touching her, grabbing her waist and what have you. i get that he’s developed a little crush on her but is this really the example we want to be setting AT WORK. it’s her first day and this man just outright always has and hand on her.

based on the blurb, the book had the potential to be good. but right off the bat, i couldn’t tell if the book was going to be in american english or british english because elena says mUm but five pages later, says favOr. the inconsistency threw me off, but given that elena has lived in london her whole life, i’m going to assume british english. the essay style of no conjunctions at all also does not work for me. it feels so stiff and i struggled to find a flow.]]> 3.35
author: Hannah Allen
name: lianna
average rating: 3.35
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: arc-reviews, dnf
review:
[arc review]

dnf @ 15% so no rating.

i STRUGGLED. and when i say STRUGGLED in caps, i mean it. i couldn’t stand either the fmc or the mmc.

the fmc, elena, spends the first 3 pages taking about how she has too many feelings, how it’s bad, oh my god “i aPoLoGiZe tOo mUcH.�� i was constantly annoyed by her.

”i have gone to multiple therapists to help figure out why i tend to overlook [red flags], but they couldn’t help me at all��
baby girl. a therapist isn’t going to tell you straight up. that’s not what they’re there for. unless you happen to have a therapist that calls you out on your shit. when you’re in love, you look through rose colored glasses. that’s why you didn’t see said red flags UNTIL you left the man.

”truth is, even after two months and a huge heartbreak later, i still don’t hate him.��
this notion that you’re “supposed�� to hate your ex immediately is unrealistic. girl nobody gets over their ex in two months. stop.

”this is the first time i am ever saying no to someone and it hurts. i don’t know why.��
its called ✨boundaries��

NOW. the mmc, gabriel. this guys was just forcing himself on elena. in a PROFESSIONAL workplace, constantly touching her, grabbing her waist and what have you. i get that he’s developed a little crush on her but is this really the example we want to be setting AT WORK. it’s her first day and this man just outright always has and hand on her.

based on the blurb, the book had the potential to be good. but right off the bat, i couldn’t tell if the book was going to be in american english or british english because elena says mUm but five pages later, says favOr. the inconsistency threw me off, but given that elena has lived in london her whole life, i’m going to assume british english. the essay style of no conjunctions at all also does not work for me. it feels so stiff and i struggled to find a flow.
]]> 208432463
“This book lifts the lid on what life is really like inside our team and it has been based on unprecedented access—nobody has ever been this close to what happens behind the scenes.”—Toto Wolff

With exclusive access to the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team, award-winning writer Matt Whyman charts the journey of the Silver Arrows as they face their greatest challenge: the race back to the front of the grid. Once untouchable, the winner of seven Drivers�� World Championships and eight consecutive Constructors�� World Championships confront the reality of no longer being F1’s top dog. Whyman, fully embedded across the 2023 and 2024 seasons, follows decorated drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, Team Principal Toto Wolff, and the extraordinary men and women who design, build, and race the team’s cars as they fight back—on and off the track.

From the tension of pre-season testing to the thrill and glamour of race weekends—including Austin, Miami, and the first-ever Las Vegas Grand Prix—the book provides fascinating insight into the world of the fastest sport on earth and one of its most successful teams. Whyman reveals the pressure cooker environment of elite competition, shares the secrets of teamwork and high performance, and foregrounds the remarkable individuals who push to the limits in their quest for victory. The book will also include never-before-seen photographs of life inside the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team.]]> 352 Matt Whyman 0593735641 lianna 3 dnf, formula-1
3.5⭐️

i read ~50% then decided i wasn’t going to finish it because the writing style was just not for me. whyman does a great job immersing the reader in the hustle and bustle of a race weekend but there was just…A LOT of that.

i did appreciate the little snippets of conversations he has with important people in the garage as well as george and mick. it was really nice to hear more about mick and a little bit about his dad, michael.]]> 4.01
author: Matt Whyman
name: lianna
average rating: 4.01
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: dnf, formula-1
review:
[arc review]

3.5⭐️

i read ~50% then decided i wasn’t going to finish it because the writing style was just not for me. whyman does a great job immersing the reader in the hustle and bustle of a race weekend but there was just…A LOT of that.

i did appreciate the little snippets of conversations he has with important people in the garage as well as george and mick. it was really nice to hear more about mick and a little bit about his dad, michael.
]]> 176442776 Whip-smart, darkly funny, and biting debut follows a psychologist with a savior complex who offers shelter to a recently cancelled K-pop idol on the run.

Sang Duri is the eldest member and “visual�� of a Korean boy band at the apex of global superstardom. But when his latest solo single accidentally leads to controversy, he’s abruptly cancelled.

To spare the band from fallout with obsessive fans and overbearing management, Duri disappears from the public eye by hiding out in the McMansion of a Chinese American woman he meets in a Los Angeles H-Mart. But his rescuer is both unhappily married with children and a psychologist with a savior complex, a combination that makes their potential union both seductive and incredibly problematic.

Meanwhile, Duri’s cancellation catapults not only a series of repressed memories from his music producer’s earlier years about the original girl group whose tragic disbanding preceded his current success, but also a spiral of violent interactions that culminates in an award show event with reverberations that forever change the fates of both the band members and the music industry.

In its indicting portrayal of mental health and public obsession, fandom, and cancel culture, The Band considers the many ways in which love and celebrity can devolve into something far more sinister when their demands are unmet.]]> 224 Christine Ma-Kellams 1668018373 lianna 0 arc-reviews, dnf
i have tried for days to read this book and get some sort of grasp of what’s going on but i literally can’t. the author’s writing style is extremely confusing to me and the addition of footnotes didn’t help.]]> 3.03 2024
author: Christine Ma-Kellams
name: lianna
average rating: 3.03
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: arc-reviews, dnf
review:
dnf @ 11%

i have tried for days to read this book and get some sort of grasp of what’s going on but i literally can’t. the author’s writing style is extremely confusing to me and the addition of footnotes didn’t help.
]]> 203203692
Noah is a successful businessman driven by a promise he made to his mother and a desire to make his late father proud. He's sworn off love, focusing solely on his career and personal goals, when meeting Addison shatters his carefully constructed emotional walls.

Their paths cross unexpectedly, igniting a passionate connection neither of them saw coming. As they navigate the tumultuous waters of their budding romance, they must confront their deepest fears and insecurities.]]> 413 Brittany Rianne 0645997021 lianna 0 arc-reviews, dnf dnf @ 26%<br /><br />i tried 4.06
author: Brittany Rianne
name: lianna
average rating: 4.06
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: arc-reviews, dnf
review:
dnf @ 26%

i tried
]]> 60073028 This book is a rerelease of the Salvation Duet and is now only one novel, Resurrection. The part of the story that was most impacted by the rewrite is the ending. Minor edits and changes were made to the beginning and middle of the first book.

Rose
My husband is dead.
All that remains are our memories.
My children will never know their father.
I will never know how it feels to grow old with him.

All that I have left are the voices.
The nightmare that haunts me day and night,
suffocating me,
never leaving my mind.
The torment constantly telling me
I’d be better off six-feet under instead of him.

But the voices stop when I finally look up
and suddenly he’s all that I see.
A beautiful stranger relentless on letting go,
but scared to hold me close
after his own painful suffering.

Justin Gatz.
My boss.
My new best friend.
A savior I never expected.

This book contains the following triggers:
Mental Health
Anxiety
Depression
Suicide
Physical & Mental Abuse
Rape
SIDS
Reader discretion is strongly advised.]]> Evelyn Montgomery lianna 0 dnf
the ~20% i did read, felt like it moved too fast. and justin is out here acting like rose is a damsel in distress but she’s literally just going through the five stages of grief. she doesn’t need some savior, she needs to get to the acceptance stage of grief. and she can’t do that when a man is insistent on barging into her life.]]> 4.64
author: Evelyn Montgomery
name: lianna
average rating: 4.64
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: dnf
review:
dnf @ ~20%? i forgot.

the ~20% i did read, felt like it moved too fast. and justin is out here acting like rose is a damsel in distress but she’s literally just going through the five stages of grief. she doesn’t need some savior, she needs to get to the acceptance stage of grief. and she can’t do that when a man is insistent on barging into her life.
]]> 158415342 330 Jo Bartlett 1804839191 lianna 0 arc-reviews, dnf
dnf @ 50%

i wanted to know the drama but i was honestly just skimming by 40%. i did not like the writing format, i found it difficult to follow so i skipped to the end. the end wasn’t all that fulfilling either.]]> 4.42
author: Jo Bartlett
name: lianna
average rating: 4.42
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: arc-reviews, dnf
review:
[arc review]

dnf @ 50%

i wanted to know the drama but i was honestly just skimming by 40%. i did not like the writing format, i found it difficult to follow so i skipped to the end. the end wasn’t all that fulfilling either.
]]> 50674247 328 Jade Gurss 1642340103 lianna 0 to-read, 12-for-2025 4.89
author: Jade Gurss
name: lianna
average rating: 4.89
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/03
shelves: to-read, 12-for-2025
review:
pre-read: my director recommended this book to me last year and i never got around to it BUT i am making it a goal to get to this book this year
]]> 210720085 For years I’ve been the golden boy—a perfect son and older brother, a best friend, one of the top drivers on the grid, and a father to the world's most amazing kid.
It’s everything I thought I’d ever need.
Until her.
They say you get one great love in your lifetime, but what do the rules say about experiencing it twice with the same person?
I had her once. I thought I lost her forever.
Now she’s back and I’ll do everything I can to keep her.

KINSLEY
This is my new beginning—a time to break free from the darkness of my past and do something I can be proud of. That my son can be proud of.
A time to do something I love.
It’s all I ever dreamed of and now it’s within arms reach.
But then I find my camera focusing on the driver with blue eyes and an easy smile.
With every passing week, heated glance, late night talks, and stolen moments, this fresh start feels anything but new.
And it’s all because of him.]]> Kayla James lianna 4 2024, arc-reviews, formula-1
4.5⭐️

it’s my last arc publishing in 2024??? holy cow. when did we get here??

i cannot get over how fluffy and cute this book is. jace and kinsley might be the most adorable couple i’ve read this year. i’m so obsessed with them, i swear i was giggling and kicking my feet the entire book. jace just wants his girl back and god, i melted watching him fall in love not once, but twice with kinsley. he’s just so in love with her and i’m here for it.

i’ve never been one to firmly say i want or don’t want kids, but beckham and cooper are also so stinking cute. i love (well behaved) kids at their age because they’re so unfiltered that it’s funny. they became the best of friends so quick and i’d love to see a little extended epilogue or short story with the two of them as teammates. it could be a disaster though, they’re putting their brotherhood on the line ]]> 4.15
author: Kayla James
name: lianna
average rating: 4.15
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/14
date added: 2024/12/15
shelves: 2024, arc-reviews, formula-1
review:
[arc review]

4.5⭐️

it’s my last arc publishing in 2024??? holy cow. when did we get here??

i cannot get over how fluffy and cute this book is. jace and kinsley might be the most adorable couple i’ve read this year. i’m so obsessed with them, i swear i was giggling and kicking my feet the entire book. jace just wants his girl back and god, i melted watching him fall in love not once, but twice with kinsley. he’s just so in love with her and i’m here for it.

i’ve never been one to firmly say i want or don’t want kids, but beckham and cooper are also so stinking cute. i love (well behaved) kids at their age because they’re so unfiltered that it’s funny. they became the best of friends so quick and i’d love to see a little extended epilogue or short story with the two of them as teammates. it could be a disaster though, they’re putting their brotherhood on the line
]]> 218137764 A small-town Christmas novella by the New York Times bestselling author of LAKEFRONT BILLIONAIRES series that will make you want to pack your bags and spend the holiday in Lake Wisteria.

Catalina
Playing the part of my sister’s maid of honor is easy even if she’s marrying my ex.
But playing nice with the best man? An impossible task given our history.
Sure, Luke Darling may be suspiciously kind, incredibly handsome, and stubborn to a fault, but regardless of how hard he tries to make me see otherwise, I’m not interested.
It’s on me to remind him that he’s my ex-boyfriend’s best friend.
And the one I’m secretly starting to wish I met first.

Luke
My job as the best man is a simple one, except for one minor issue.
I’ve spent so much time avoiding my best friend’s ex that I didn’t consider what could happen if I started craving Catalina Martinez’s company instead.
She is only in Lake Wisteria for the winter wedding, but her January departure date won’t stop me from pursuing her.
Getting her to date me would be nothing short of a Christmas miracle, but I’m determined to make her mine.
‘Tis the season to fall in love…even if I’m the only one taking the risk.

My December Darling is a 50,000 word, Christmas-themed romance between a grumpy maid of honor and an outgoing best man who chases after what he wants. ]]> 252 Lauren Asher 1964990025 lianna 4 2024
i LOVED the aspect of lego in this book and the role it played in their relationship. as a lego lover myself, i related a little too much to being in the lego store and shopping for myself because i didn’t have someone to build with (i like building alone but there’s an intimacy that building with someone has). cata and luke now have lifelong lego building partners and that’s fucking goals in my book.]]> 3.72 2024
author: Lauren Asher
name: lianna
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/29
date added: 2024/12/04
shelves: 2024
review:
this holiday novella was so cute! catalina and luke have good banter and they aren’t quite at each other’s throats but it’s still super cute.

i LOVED the aspect of lego in this book and the role it played in their relationship. as a lego lover myself, i related a little too much to being in the lego store and shopping for myself because i didn’t have someone to build with (i like building alone but there’s an intimacy that building with someone has). cata and luke now have lifelong lego building partners and that’s fucking goals in my book.
]]> 61618737 An ambitious wedding planner must work with her grumpy florist ex, whose heart she broke, on the most high-profile wedding of her career, in this spicy and emotional romance from popular fanfic author Julie Soto.

He loves me; he loves me not...��

Ama Torres loves being a wedding planner. But with a mother who has been married more times than you can count on your fingers, Ama has decided that marriage is not the route for her. But weddings? Weddings are amazing. As a��small business owner, she knows how to match her clients with the perfect vendor to give them the wedding of their dreams. Well, almost��perfect��

Elliot hates being a florist, most of the time. When his father left��him the flower shop, he considered��it a burden, but he’s stuck with it. Just like how he’s stuck with the way he proposed to Ama, his main collaborator and girlfriend (or was she?) two years ago. But flowers have grown on him, just like Ama did. And flowers can’t run off and never speak to him again, like Ama did.��

When Ama is hired to plan a celebrity wedding that will bring her business national exposure, there's a catch: Elliot is already contracted to design the flowers. Things are not helped by the two brides, who see the obvious chemistry between Ama and Elliot and are determined to set them up, not knowing their complicated history. Add in a meddling ex-boss, and a reality TV film crew documenting every step of the wedding prep, and Ama and Elliot's hearts are not only in jeopardy again, but this time, their livelihoods are too.]]> 341 Julie Soto 1538740885 lianna 0 to-read, 12-for-2025 3.94 2023
author: Julie Soto
name: lianna
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/30
shelves: to-read, 12-for-2025
review:

]]> 63247365
“Emotional, relatable and binge-worthy." –Tessa Bailey

“I’ll read anything she writes. An absolute star." –Emily Henry

“I was hooked on the very first page. Don't miss this one!" �� Carley Fortune

Two writers with a complicated history end up working on the same TV show. Can they write themselves a new ending? A sexy and emotional enemies-to-lovers romance guaranteed to pull on your heartstrings and give you a book hangover from brilliant new voice Yulin Kuang

Helen Zhang hasn’t seen Grant Shepard once in the thirteen years since the tragic accident that bound their lives together forever.

Now a bestselling author, Helen pours everything into her career. She’s even scored a coveted spot in the writers�� room of the TV adaptation of her popular young adult novels, and if she can hide her imposter syndrome and overcome her writer’s block, surely the rest of her life will fall into place too. LA is the fresh start she needs. After all, no one knows her there. Except��

Grant has done everything in his power to move on from the past, including building a life across the country. And while the panic attacks have never quite gone away, he’s well liked around town as a screenwriter. He knows he shouldn’t have taken the job on Helen’s show, but it will open doors to developing his own projects that he just can’t pass up.

Grant’s exactly as Helen remembers him—charming, funny, popular, and lovable in ways that she’s never been. And Helen’s exactly as Grant remembers too—brilliant, beautiful, closed off. But working together is messy, and electrifying, and Helen’s parents, who have never forgiven Grant, have no idea he’s in the picture at all.

When secrets come to light, they must reckon with the fact that theirs was never meant to be any kind of love story. And yet�� the key to making peace with their past—and themselves—might just lie in holding on to each other in the present.]]> 384 Yulin Kuang lianna 0 to-read, 12-for-2025 3.61 2024
author: Yulin Kuang
name: lianna
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/30
shelves: to-read, 12-for-2025
review:

]]> 221507520 Elena Vaughan has vowed never to fall in love again. As a top marketing executive at one of the world’s leading record labels, she has everything under control—until Sam Martin, Canada’s rising pop sensation, crashes into her life. Now, as she navigates the chaos of the music industry while grappling with her own unresolved feelings, she must face a harsh love doesn’t always follow the rules. Sometimes, the person you need to stay away from is the one you can’t let go of.

When a reckless declaration of love turns their secret relationship into a public scandal, Elena’s career and reputation hang by a thread. Torn between her head and her heart, Elena must decide if she has the courage to take a chance on a future she never saw coming.

Perfectly Wrong is an emotionally charged romance that explores the fine line between love and obsession, and the bravery it takes to follow your heart—even when it leads you in the most unexpected direction.]]> 194 Mariana Pereira 106908090X lianna 2 2024, arc-reviews
oh man ]]> 3.43
author: Mariana Pereira
name: lianna
average rating: 3.43
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2024/11/18
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves: 2024, arc-reviews
review:
[arc review]

oh man
]]> 210670779 Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author Jewel E. Ann parachutes into the burning, hazardous heart of love in a sexy yet dramatic romance set in Big Sky country.

When Jamie Andrews moves in with a house full of firefighters, things start heating up fast. Battling the wilderness of rural Montana, these guys are always charging into danger—for a living, for duty, for the rush—and since Jamie is a psychiatric nurse, they fascinate her analytic mind. She can’t help but fixate on Calvin, a grumpy, enigmatic smoke jumper ten years her senior. She makes playfully tormenting him her pet project, trying to get him to open up. It turns out he gives as good as he gets.

When something smoldering between them sparks, they’ll have to keep it quiet, which makes Jamie start to wonder about �䲹��������’s secret, the one he won’t explain. She’ll learn more after life pulls them apart. But as she follows the truth like a trail of flame into the dark, will it lead her to hearth and home with Calvin…or will it all go up in a blaze?
]]> 328 Jewel E. Ann 1662523688 lianna 4 2024, arc-reviews
4.5⭐️

the way i devoureddd this book??

oh my god i loved jaime and fitz so much ]]> 4.25 2024
author: Jewel E. Ann
name: lianna
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/19
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves: 2024, arc-reviews
review:
[arc review]

4.5⭐️

the way i devoureddd this book??

oh my god i loved jaime and fitz so much
]]> 216842016 From Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author Jewel E. Ann comes the exciting second novel in the Wildfire series, an emotional romance that burns up the page as it tugs at the heart.

When Maren Bernabe stops by the office to update some paperwork, she’s not looking for love. Then sparks fly during an awkward meet-cute with a stranger in the bathroom, and suddenly anything seems possible.

A seasoned air tanker pilot, Maren battles fires across the rugged Montana wilderness. With firefighters for roommates, she’s no stranger to tough guys—or tough situations. Ozzy Laster is the helpful stranger she meets, one of Cielo Aviation’s newest aircraft mechanics who’s faced his fair share of hardship too. Two years ago, his wife and father died in a car crash. Now Ozzy and daughter Lola shun cars in favor of bikes.

Maren and Ozzy fall hard, but guilt forces them to hide their relationship from Ozzy’s disapproving in-laws. And Lola. They all want to protect her from more heartbreak. But when tragedy strikes again, Lola’s reaction will surprise them all. And Ozzy could get a second chance at love after all��
]]> 347 Jewel E. Ann 1662523661 lianna 0 to-read 4.37 2025
author: Jewel E. Ann
name: lianna
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 217410223 We were supposed to be happy, to start planning the rest of our lives together because I’ve known from the moment we met that I’m going to marry her.
Nothing was supposed to go wrong.
But then everything did.
Now, my whole world is upside down and nothing makes sense anymore. Not my feelings. Not right or wrong. Not even left or right.
All I can focus on is that I’m leading the Drivers�� Championship, but my rivals aren’t far behind me. They’re threatening to take away my chance to get my first title.
Worst of all, the reason I’m lost, the cause behind it all, isn’t going away. It’s here to stay, no matter how forcefully that may be.
And I’m scared it’ll cost me the one person I need more than oxygen to breathe.
I’m scared it’ll cost me the love of my life, and if I do��
That’s something I could never survive.]]> Bridget L. Rose lianna 4 2024, arc-reviews, formula-1
what a cute ending to nevaeh and adrian’s books ]]> 4.20
author: Bridget L. Rose
name: lianna
average rating: 4.20
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/16
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: 2024, arc-reviews, formula-1
review:
[arc review]

what a cute ending to nevaeh and adrian’s books
]]> 36206591 The story of the heart can never be unwritten.

Macy Sorensen is settling into an ambitious if emotionally tepid routine: work hard as a new pediatrics resident, plan her wedding to an older, financially secure man, keep her head down and heart tucked away.

But when she runs into Elliot Petropoulos—the first and only love of her life—the careful bubble she’s constructed begins to dissolve. Once upon a time, Elliot was Macy’s entire world—growing from her gangly bookish friend into the man who coaxed her heart open again after the loss of her mother...only to break it on the very night he declared his love for her.

Told in alternating timelines between Then and Now, teenage Elliot and Macy grow from friends to much more—spending weekends and lazy summers together in a house outside of San Francisco devouring books, sharing favorite words, and talking through their growing pains and triumphs. As adults, they have become strangers to one another until their chance reunion. Although their memories are obscured by the agony of what happened that night so many years ago, Elliot will come to understand the truth behind Macy’s decade-long silence, and will have to overcome the past and himself to revive her faith in the possibility of an all-consuming love.

Love, loss, friendship, and the betrayals of the past all collide in this first fiction novel from New York Times and #1 international bestselling author Christina Lauren (Autoboyography, Dating You / Hating You).]]> 432 Christina Lauren 1501190539 lianna 3 2024
i heard there were a lot of tears shed over macy and elliot and i wanted a good cry too so i put this book on my wishlist and then proceeded to let it sit on my shelf for basically two years.

this book was so easy to read, i didn’t have to use much brain power to get through it and basically marathoned the last 60ish% of it in 3-4 hours. macy and elliot are cute but…i kept waiting to see why everyone cried and i was kind of disappointed??

um…yeah…moving on.

macy then was probably too horny for her own good. but i’m cutting her some slack because she was a virgin then and obviously didn’t know what to do with a dick and only knew that she wanted elliot’s. idk about y’all but i was kind of getting sick of reading macy looking at the button on elliot’s pants and wondering what was behind them.

elliot is a green flag. he was patient and waited for consent with macy. even now he’s the same way. although i’m pretty sure emma should be in jail for what happened at christian’s house eleven years ago. i’d like to know where she ended up.]]> 4.23 2018
author: Christina Lauren
name: lianna
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/10
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves: 2024
review:
i am torn on my rating so i’m gonna leave it at none for now update it when i decide.

i heard there were a lot of tears shed over macy and elliot and i wanted a good cry too so i put this book on my wishlist and then proceeded to let it sit on my shelf for basically two years.

this book was so easy to read, i didn’t have to use much brain power to get through it and basically marathoned the last 60ish% of it in 3-4 hours. macy and elliot are cute but…i kept waiting to see why everyone cried and i was kind of disappointed??

um…yeah…moving on.

macy then was probably too horny for her own good. but i’m cutting her some slack because she was a virgin then and obviously didn’t know what to do with a dick and only knew that she wanted elliot’s. idk about y’all but i was kind of getting sick of reading macy looking at the button on elliot’s pants and wondering what was behind them.

elliot is a green flag. he was patient and waited for consent with macy. even now he’s the same way. although i’m pretty sure emma should be in jail for what happened at christian’s house eleven years ago. i’d like to know where she ended up.
]]> 218242636
Josie Bancroft may be single, but she is definitely not ready to mingle. All she wants to do post-breakup is focus on herself. A simple task, but as a marketing manager for McAllister Racing, she spends every race weekend alongside the charismatic Formula 1 driver, Theo Walker. With his iceberg-melting smile and abs sharper than a cheese grater, he's a distraction she shouldn't entertain but can't seem to ignore.

Theo has mastered two things in life: winning races and wooing women. But this season, both are being put to the test. His team's new owner is threatening his hard-earned seat, and the one woman he wants has placed him in the friend zone, despite the fact that their attraction is hotter than his car's engine.

As Josie embraces her independence and Theo struggles to cement his place within the racing world, they'll have to decide if they want to fuel the flames of their friendship or forever wonder what could have been.

Drive Me Wild is a spicy Formula 1 romantic comedy with heart, heat, humor, and a guaranteed HEA. This is the second book in the Drive Me series and can be read as a standalone.]]> 338 Carly Robyn lianna 4 2024, formula-1, arc-reviews
josie and theo are just pure fluff so if you want something lighthearted, this one’s for you.

theo’s got a mouth on him and his mind is always in the gutter but i think that’s what makes him such a fun character. he’s super unfiltered and open. even before he became josie’s boyfriend he was always playfully flirting with her. his sister is exactly the same but maybe a little more forward in saying things as they are.

josie is overall a very optimistic character and she’s always happy to lend a hand. she also very clearly loves her job (maybe not her employer) so to me, she’s won in life. i loved the way she recognized she needed space to grow as an individual because she hasn’t really had the time to do that. she kept finding herself in relationship after relationship and losing herself was something that needed to change.

theo may be a little hot headed and scared of change at times, but when it comes to josie, he’d do anything for her, as long as she’s happy.]]> 3.94 2024
author: Carly Robyn
name: lianna
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/26
date added: 2024/10/26
shelves: 2024, formula-1, arc-reviews
review:
[arc review]

josie and theo are just pure fluff so if you want something lighthearted, this one’s for you.

theo’s got a mouth on him and his mind is always in the gutter but i think that’s what makes him such a fun character. he’s super unfiltered and open. even before he became josie’s boyfriend he was always playfully flirting with her. his sister is exactly the same but maybe a little more forward in saying things as they are.

josie is overall a very optimistic character and she’s always happy to lend a hand. she also very clearly loves her job (maybe not her employer) so to me, she’s won in life. i loved the way she recognized she needed space to grow as an individual because she hasn’t really had the time to do that. she kept finding herself in relationship after relationship and losing herself was something that needed to change.

theo may be a little hot headed and scared of change at times, but when it comes to josie, he’d do anything for her, as long as she’s happy.
]]> 220237323 Ana Huang lianna 0 to-read 4.36 2025
author: Ana Huang
name: lianna
average rating: 4.36
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 39083635
In the murky waters of New York’s underworld, Elena’s sister is arranged to marry Nicolas Russo. A Made Man, a boss, a cheat—even measured against mafia standards. His reputation stretches far and wide and is darker than his black suits and ties. After his and Elena’s first encounter ends with an accidental glare on her part, she realizes he’s just as rude as he is handsome. She doesn’t like the man or anything he stands for, though that doesn’t stop her heart from pattering like rain against glass when he’s near, nor the shiver that ghosts down her spine at the sound of his voice. And he’s always near. Telling her what to do. Making her feel hotter than any future brother-in-law should. Elena may be the Sweet Abelli on the outside, but she’s beginning to learn she has a taste for the darkness, for rough hands, cigarettes, and whiskey-colored eyes. Having already escaped one scandal, however, she can hardly afford to be swept up in another. Besides, even if he were hers, everyone knows you don’t fall in love with a Made Man... Right?]]> 384 Danielle Lori 1721284443 lianna 4 2022, dark-romance
i still don’t know for certain who’s who. why are mafia families so big omg.

the writing style was not my favorite. danielle lori did a lot more telling than showing, so it felt off to me. it could also just be the fact that i’m used to reading more internal monologue than what the characters are wearing and exactly what they’re doing at any given moment.

nico and elena had an unexplainable pull toward each other and i could feel their sexual tension radiating off the pages. the spice was also pretty vanilla, and elena should’ve gotten a uti from nico touching her asshole and then her pussy, but hey, we never see the mishaps of sex so who knows.

i wish there was more of a background to both elena and nico. they were vague and even in marriage, we don’t really see them connecting. i think it would’ve helped me establish more of a connection to them.]]> 3.98 2018
author: Danielle Lori
name: lianna
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/03
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: 2022, dark-romance
review:
3.75⭐️

i still don’t know for certain who’s who. why are mafia families so big omg.

the writing style was not my favorite. danielle lori did a lot more telling than showing, so it felt off to me. it could also just be the fact that i’m used to reading more internal monologue than what the characters are wearing and exactly what they’re doing at any given moment.

nico and elena had an unexplainable pull toward each other and i could feel their sexual tension radiating off the pages. the spice was also pretty vanilla, and elena should’ve gotten a uti from nico touching her asshole and then her pussy, but hey, we never see the mishaps of sex so who knows.

i wish there was more of a background to both elena and nico. they were vague and even in marriage, we don’t really see them connecting. i think it would’ve helped me establish more of a connection to them.
]]> 59999363
My name is Rory Carter and I do bad things.
There’s a charred soul under this angelic exterior and sometimes, I wonder if my weekly confessions to the Sinners Anonymous hotline will be enough to heal it.

Marrying the seventy-something head of the Cosa Nostra to save my father is the only good deed I’ve ever done.
I’m burning and bitter under the fake smile and tight dresses, but I was keeping it together.
Was.
Until my fiancé’s nephew turns up to dinner uninvited.

Angelo ‘Vicious' Visconti.
A beautiful monster with cheekbones as sharp as his tongue.
They say I shouldn’t be scared of him, because nine years ago, he went straight.
He’s barely a Made Man anymore.
But I say, he’s the most dangerous Visconti of all.
It’s not just because his cold sneer makes my pulse flutter.
Or the way his syrupy drawl trickles down my spine.
No. He holds all of my sins in his big, rough hands.
And the only sins darker than mine are his own.

DARK MAFIA ROMANCE - FORBIDDEN LOVE - AGE GAP - ENEMIES TO LOVERS]]> 345 Somme Sketcher lianna 4 2024, dark-romance
the whole bird swearing thing is really fucking weird and it caught me off guard the whole time. but we’re gonna ignore it for now.

there are some similarities to the sweetest oblivion but outside of that, the book is actually pretty good.

alberto is a fucking piece of shit. he got the ending he deserves. next.

rory “my name is rory carter and i do bad things�� carter isn’t even…bad??? i kept waiting and waiting and waiting for her to say she’s done something crime worthy but a lot of the sins she confessed to are just intrusive thoughts? at least that’s what i’d classify them as. either way. she’s actually pretty innocent. there are a lot of things she hasn’t done or experienced because she’s young. she’s naive ]]> 3.85 2021
author: Somme Sketcher
name: lianna
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/03
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: 2024, dark-romance
review:
i just-why birds??

the whole bird swearing thing is really fucking weird and it caught me off guard the whole time. but we’re gonna ignore it for now.

there are some similarities to the sweetest oblivion but outside of that, the book is actually pretty good.

alberto is a fucking piece of shit. he got the ending he deserves. next.

rory “my name is rory carter and i do bad things�� carter isn’t even…bad??? i kept waiting and waiting and waiting for her to say she’s done something crime worthy but a lot of the sins she confessed to are just intrusive thoughts? at least that’s what i’d classify them as. either way. she’s actually pretty innocent. there are a lot of things she hasn’t done or experienced because she’s young. she’s naive
]]> 40613322 He rules it.

Her dresses are too tight, her heels too tall. She laughs too loudly, eats without decorum, and mixes up most sayings in the book. Little do most know it’s just a sparkly disguise, there to hide one panic attack at a time.

Nobody can crack Gianna’s facade . . . no one anyway, until he comes along.

Most see a paragon of morality; a special agent upholding the law. In the New York underworld, others know him as a hustler, a killer, his nature as cold as the heart of ice in his chest. Christian Allister has always followed the life plan he’d envisioned in his youth, beneath the harsh lights of a frigid, damp cell. With a proclivity for order and the number three, he’s never been tempted to veer off course. But perhaps one should never say never . . .

One winter night and their lives intertwine. She hates him—his stone-cold demeanor, his arrogance and too-perceptive eye—but over the years, even as their games consist of insulting each other’s looks and intelligence, she begins to live to play with him.

Nowhere in Christian’s plans had he ever prepared for Gianna. She’s chaos embodied, not his type, and married, but none of that can stop his eyes from following her wherever she goes.

All along, she doesn’t even know that she’s his—his frustration, his fascination.

His maddest obsession.]]> 333 Danielle Lori lianna 4 2022, dark-romance 4.22 2019
author: Danielle Lori
name: lianna
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2022/12/19
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: 2022, dark-romance
review:
my weakness is a man in a suit. christian allister??
]]> 58763686
I can manipulate the emotions of anyone who lets me.
I will make you hurt, make you cry, make you laugh and sigh.
But my words don't affect him. Especially not when I plead for him to leave.
He's always there, watching and waiting.
And I can never look away.
Not when I want him to come closer.


The Shadow

I didn't mean to fall in love.
But now that I have, I can't stay away.
I'm mesmerized by her smile, by her eyes, and the way she moves.
The way she undresses...
I'll keep watching and waiting. Until I can make her mine.
And once she is, I'll never let her go.
Not even when she begs me to.]]> 583 H.D. Carlton lianna 4 2022, dark-romance
i was terrified to start this duet and my therapist told me not to read it but by the time that happened, i had already read a few chapters and my toxic trait is not being able to dnf books, so here we are.

PLEASE CHECK TWs BEFORE READING THIS BOOK. DO NOT GO INTO BLIND. h.d. carlton even puts them in the beginning. this book is not for the faint of heart and should not be read if you don’t know and understand what you’re about to get into.

moving on.

adeline, in a nutshell, is the dumb blonde bitch that dies first in horror movies because she decided to go check on a scary or creepy sound. obviously, adeline doesn’t die, but her actions reminded me a lot of that and it’s probably the easiest way to describe her.

zade. what can i say about him? he’s morally grey. and he almost exclusively murders rapists and human and sex traffickers, which i feel is pretty justified because i feel like they shouldn’t exist either. HOWEVER, he is also a hypocrite and i hate hypocrites. he hates rapists, but also rapes and sexually assaults adeline?? that didn’t make sense to me.

both adeline and zade fell flat for me. i usually get pretty emotionally attached to characters so it was weird for me that i didn’t feel any emotional pull toward them.

the plot, on the other hand.

the plot consumed me. it played a huge role in why i couldn’t put the books down. even the side plot of adeline and daya trying to figure out the real murderer of gigi was pretty good. was it necessary? no, but once i started that plot, i also wanted to know who killed gigi.

i am a sucker for good spice. this book had that. the first spicy scene threw me off, but i enjoyed the rest of it.

i found the book pretty tolerable even with the TWs. THIS IS DIFFERENT FOR EVERYONE. i came out okay, but you might not, so please know and understand what you’re getting into before starting this duet.]]> 3.95 2021
author: H.D. Carlton
name: lianna
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/10/29
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: 2022, dark-romance
review:
3.75⭐️

i was terrified to start this duet and my therapist told me not to read it but by the time that happened, i had already read a few chapters and my toxic trait is not being able to dnf books, so here we are.

PLEASE CHECK TWs BEFORE READING THIS BOOK. DO NOT GO INTO BLIND. h.d. carlton even puts them in the beginning. this book is not for the faint of heart and should not be read if you don’t know and understand what you’re about to get into.

moving on.

adeline, in a nutshell, is the dumb blonde bitch that dies first in horror movies because she decided to go check on a scary or creepy sound. obviously, adeline doesn’t die, but her actions reminded me a lot of that and it’s probably the easiest way to describe her.

zade. what can i say about him? he’s morally grey. and he almost exclusively murders rapists and human and sex traffickers, which i feel is pretty justified because i feel like they shouldn’t exist either. HOWEVER, he is also a hypocrite and i hate hypocrites. he hates rapists, but also rapes and sexually assaults adeline?? that didn’t make sense to me.

both adeline and zade fell flat for me. i usually get pretty emotionally attached to characters so it was weird for me that i didn’t feel any emotional pull toward them.

the plot, on the other hand.

the plot consumed me. it played a huge role in why i couldn’t put the books down. even the side plot of adeline and daya trying to figure out the real murderer of gigi was pretty good. was it necessary? no, but once i started that plot, i also wanted to know who killed gigi.

i am a sucker for good spice. this book had that. the first spicy scene threw me off, but i enjoyed the rest of it.

i found the book pretty tolerable even with the TWs. THIS IS DIFFERENT FOR EVERYONE. i came out okay, but you might not, so please know and understand what you’re getting into before starting this duet.
]]> 59050133
The Diamond

Death walks alongside me,
But the reaper is no match for me.
I'm trapped in a world full of monsters dressed as men, and those who aren't as they seem.
They won't keep me forever.
I no longer recognize the person I've become,
And I'm fighting to find my way back to the beast who hunts me in the night.
They call me a diamond,
But they've only created an angel of death.

The Hunter

I was born a predator,
With ruthlessness ingrained in my bones.
When what's mine is stolen from me in the night,
Like a diamond hidden within a fortress,
I find that I can no longer contain the beast.
Blood will paint the ground as I tear apart this world to find her.
And bring her back to where she belongs.
No one will escape my wrath,
Especially not those who have betrayed me.

Warning: This is the second and final installment to the Duet. You must read Haunting Adeline first.]]> 702 H.D. Carlton lianna 5 2022, dark-romance
PLEASE CHECK TWs BEFORE READING THIS BOOK. DO NOT GO INTO BLIND. this book is 10x darker than the first one. believe the reviews when you read them.

i started this book almost immediately after finishing haunting adeline. i just had to know what happens after the cliffhanger and i was not disappointed.

adeline had the best character development in this book. she has extreme ptsd, but she didn't let it stop her when she was ready to move on from her horrendous experiences that caused it. she is not the same adeline we were introduced to in haunting. i admired her strength because i could see that she never wanted to be in a situation like the one she was in ever again and she wanted to help those that have been.

i think zade is pretty much the same person we were introduced to, but i definitely saw a lot more of his softer side. he's super respectful of adeline's boundaries when she returns and is extremely patient with her. i could feel how his heart shattered every time he didn't see adeline as the fiesty girl he stalked. BUT, even though he was respectful of adeline's feelings given the situation, i do feel like a switch flipped in him because his actions felt out of character.

the plot is heartbreaking and i hated seeing adeline go through the things she did. i just wish we saw more of what zade was doing to get his little mouse back because i know he was absolutely tearing up the world to find her. ]]> 4.05 2022
author: H.D. Carlton
name: lianna
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/10/30
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: 2022, dark-romance
review:
4.5⭐️

PLEASE CHECK TWs BEFORE READING THIS BOOK. DO NOT GO INTO BLIND. this book is 10x darker than the first one. believe the reviews when you read them.

i started this book almost immediately after finishing haunting adeline. i just had to know what happens after the cliffhanger and i was not disappointed.

adeline had the best character development in this book. she has extreme ptsd, but she didn't let it stop her when she was ready to move on from her horrendous experiences that caused it. she is not the same adeline we were introduced to in haunting. i admired her strength because i could see that she never wanted to be in a situation like the one she was in ever again and she wanted to help those that have been.

i think zade is pretty much the same person we were introduced to, but i definitely saw a lot more of his softer side. he's super respectful of adeline's boundaries when she returns and is extremely patient with her. i could feel how his heart shattered every time he didn't see adeline as the fiesty girl he stalked. BUT, even though he was respectful of adeline's feelings given the situation, i do feel like a switch flipped in him because his actions felt out of character.

the plot is heartbreaking and i hated seeing adeline go through the things she did. i just wish we saw more of what zade was doing to get his little mouse back because i know he was absolutely tearing up the world to find her.
]]> 56250307 410 Danielle Lori lianna 4 2023, dark-romance
i remember feeling a lot of i want ronan but i shouldn’t because he’s a russian mobster and he kidnapped mila and is doing this for revenge. that was a very strong feeling throughout the whole book but as the book progressed, so did his character and he does indeed have a small soft side for mila. he cares more than he wants to admit, which i see as a consequence of masculinity.

mila is definitely a sunshine character, especially with the way she’s always wearing yellow. i associate yellow with joy and she seems like a joyful person despite her past. she’s also feisty and that got her in trouble with ronan nine times out of ten, but i found it funny. i liked her sense of humor.

other than that, i literally cannot remember pretty much the first half of the book so unfortunately, i can’t comment on the plot development. :(]]> 4.04 2020
author: Danielle Lori
name: lianna
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2023/05/20
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: 2023, dark-romance
review:
this book took me FOUR MONTHS to finish because i was in such a bad slump because of life so my memory of things that happen in this book are very foggy but i’m gonna try anyway.

i remember feeling a lot of i want ronan but i shouldn’t because he’s a russian mobster and he kidnapped mila and is doing this for revenge. that was a very strong feeling throughout the whole book but as the book progressed, so did his character and he does indeed have a small soft side for mila. he cares more than he wants to admit, which i see as a consequence of masculinity.

mila is definitely a sunshine character, especially with the way she’s always wearing yellow. i associate yellow with joy and she seems like a joyful person despite her past. she’s also feisty and that got her in trouble with ronan nine times out of ten, but i found it funny. i liked her sense of humor.

other than that, i literally cannot remember pretty much the first half of the book so unfortunately, i can’t comment on the plot development. :(
]]> 63921553 Raised to rule the criminal underworld... Born to skate her heart out.

As heir to my family's mafia throne, I've learned to threaten, torture, and kill. But the only place I really feel at home is on the ice.

So when Mom has my coach murdered to end my figure skating dreams, I know it's time to run. With my hot but off-limits bodyguard by my side, I flee to a little town where she'll never find me.

All I want is to lie low and perform in secret at the local rink. But a chance meeting with two passionate, damaged men seeking their own healing on the ice opens up new possibilities—both for my skating and my heart.

They have no idea who I really am. And with a gang terrorizing my new neighbors and a stalker leaving me gruesome gifts, I don't know how long I can keep my violent history in the past.

Can I defend my new life without turning into the brutal mafia princess I never wanted to be?

* Shotgun Spin is the first in a new mafia romance series from bestselling author Eva Chase (writing as Eva Chance) and Harlow King. It includes M/M content. Prepare for thrills on the ice, in the streets, and between the sheets with four hot, passionate men and a heroine who refuses to play by the rules.*]]> 306 Eva Chance 1998752143 lianna 2
i’m just–idk, disappointed? but this isn’t a 1⭐️. let me explain.

the plot was good! i could see where this was going. obviously, luciana is a mafia princess who has left home to skate her heart out so this was her plan to break the pattern of succeeding her mother now that she’s old enough to. but the blurb lead me to believe i’d see more of her internal conflict of keeping her real identity a secret from the people she met and i hardly saw that.

rafael, jasper, and niko were just okay. i didn’t find them to be anyone special. luciana is pretty badass, i’ll give her that.

my real issue though, is with the major plot hole involving the gang. luciana wants to push them out of hobbs creek, which is understandable because she left a life of violence and didn’t want to be around that kind of activity any more. but how does she come to the conclusion that they’re the ones leaving her the “gruesome gifts�� mentioned in the blurb? where was that thought process? did i somehow miss it? because she keeps reiterating how the gang is made up of a bunch of idiots that don’t know what’s good for them, so by that logic, how would they know luciana is the one trying to push them out of town? and when she really pissed them off, they’re terrorizing the town asking “where is she�� because they don’t know it’s luciana and all the information they have is that a woman fucked with their shit. THIS IS THE WHOLE GANG PLOT. i’m actually so confused.

will i read the following book? maybe. we’ll see how intrigued i am when it releases.]]> 3.71
author: Eva Chance
name: lianna
average rating: 3.71
book published:
rating: 2
read at: 2023/01/04
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: 2023, arc-reviews, dark-romance
review:
[arc review]

i’m just–idk, disappointed? but this isn’t a 1⭐️. let me explain.

the plot was good! i could see where this was going. obviously, luciana is a mafia princess who has left home to skate her heart out so this was her plan to break the pattern of succeeding her mother now that she’s old enough to. but the blurb lead me to believe i’d see more of her internal conflict of keeping her real identity a secret from the people she met and i hardly saw that.

rafael, jasper, and niko were just okay. i didn’t find them to be anyone special. luciana is pretty badass, i’ll give her that.

my real issue though, is with the major plot hole involving the gang. luciana wants to push them out of hobbs creek, which is understandable because she left a life of violence and didn’t want to be around that kind of activity any more. but how does she come to the conclusion that they’re the ones leaving her the “gruesome gifts�� mentioned in the blurb? where was that thought process? did i somehow miss it? because she keeps reiterating how the gang is made up of a bunch of idiots that don’t know what’s good for them, so by that logic, how would they know luciana is the one trying to push them out of town? and when she really pissed them off, they’re terrorizing the town asking “where is she�� because they don’t know it’s luciana and all the information they have is that a woman fucked with their shit. THIS IS THE WHOLE GANG PLOT. i’m actually so confused.

will i read the following book? maybe. we’ll see how intrigued i am when it releases.
]]> 44799982
They took too much.
Left too little.
I had nothing to lose...until him.
**
I didn't expect him.
I didn't want to fall in love.
But I can't let him go.
Logan Bennett makes the world a safer place.
He's brilliant.
He's a hero.
He locks away the sick and depraved.
But while he's saving lives, I'm taking them. Collecting the debts that are owed to me.
Ten years ago, they took from me. They left me for dead.
They should have made sure I stayed dead.
Now I'm taking from them.
One name at a time.
I've trained for too long.
I've been patient.
I can't stop now.
Revenge is best served cold...
They never see me coming, until I paint their walls red.
Logan doesn't know how they hurt me. He doesn't know about the screams they ignored. He doesn't know how twisted that town really is.
He just knows people are dying.
He doesn't know he's in love with their killer.
No one suspects a dead girl.
And Logan doesn't suspect the girl in his bed.
They're looking for a monster.
Not a girl who loves red.
Not a girl in love.
I'm a faceless nightmare.
At least until I tell them the story they've pretended never happened.
But in the end, will Logan choose them? Or will we watch them burn together?

**Graphic**Adult language**Some triggers could be too much for the easily disturbed reader**Sexual content**Fucked up moral compass; read at your own risk.]]> 683 S.T. Abby lianna 5 2023, dark-romance
it’s nice to read a morally grey fmc for once. i am so proud of lana and how far she’s come even if it took 10 years. she went through h-e-double hockey sticks that night and survived the deep dark hole that kind of trauma puts a person in. that was her villain origin story. we get to see her be the villain and i enjoyed every bit of it. she deserves every bit of joy that comes her way. she’s a little unhinged, but hey, aren’t we all?

this series is trigger warnings galore. please for your own mental well being, check them.]]> 4.62 2016
author: S.T. Abby
name: lianna
average rating: 4.62
book published: 2016
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/07
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: 2023, dark-romance
review:
the way i devoured this entire series in 3 nights is astonishing and it only took seven hours. imagine if i sat and read this in a day? i’d truly be mindfucked.

it’s nice to read a morally grey fmc for once. i am so proud of lana and how far she’s come even if it took 10 years. she went through h-e-double hockey sticks that night and survived the deep dark hole that kind of trauma puts a person in. that was her villain origin story. we get to see her be the villain and i enjoyed every bit of it. she deserves every bit of joy that comes her way. she’s a little unhinged, but hey, aren’t we all?

this series is trigger warnings galore. please for your own mental well being, check them.
]]> 200829769 A blisteringly steamy, Dark Mafia, Enemies to Lovers, Marriage of Convenience standalone romance by bestselling author, Jagger Cole.


I tried to outsmart the King of Sin. Now, I’m his.

Brutal, cold, and illegally gorgeous, Dante Sartorre isn’t just mafia royalty. He’s also the tyrant owner of the infamously deviant and members-only Club Venom.

He’s also my new husband.

In my defense, I wasn’t supposed to be the bride. But I sealed my fate when I saved my friend: by signing the Venom Devil’s marriage contract myself.

Now, he owns me. All of me��

But Dante thinks I’ll play the part of the obedient little bride he needs in order to keep his club. And he swears he’ll rip out every dark secret and bring me to my knees if I don’t.

Little does he know, this marriage has an expiration date.

And so do I.

You see, it’s not just the simmering heat between us that’s toxic. It’s not just the way I can’t decide if I want to geld him or lose myself in him.

It’s my blood and the secret sickness inside of me that’s poisonous, too.

So if you choose to know our story, you must know three things:

This is not a fairytale.

Dante is the Anti-Prince Charming.

And my name is Tempest Black, and I die at the end.

Toxic Love is a standalone dark mafia, marriage of convenience, enemies-to-lovers romance with a smart, untamable heroine, and an ultra possessive hero with "look at her and I'll unalive you" energy. This is the explosive start to the Venomous Gods mafia series. Readers are advised to read the TW inside. No cliffhanger; HEA included.]]> 424 Jagger Cole lianna 4
[arc review]

fully in my mafia romance era rn.

first of all, the plot twist? i didn’t see that coming. pretty sure i audibly gasped when it came.

tempest black is sassy and blunt. she tells it as it is and more often than not, it get her in trouble. i loved her energy and she’s definitely someone you want as a friend. dante sartorre is a morally grey man that’s hellbent on avenging his sister. he’s very much a touch her and you die kind of guy. don’t mess with him.

they’re both very hate-everyone-but-him/her. they both end up caring a lot about each other and cannot bear to see the other hurt. they also both have secrets they thought would follow them to the grave but somehow along the way, they fell in love and allowed themselves to open up to one another.

and someone please get dante a hoodie now that he has someone to be soft for. i am begging here.]]> 3.97 2024
author: Jagger Cole
name: lianna
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/01/07
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: arc-reviews, 2024, dark-romance
review:
4.5 ⭐️

[arc review]

fully in my mafia romance era rn.

first of all, the plot twist? i didn’t see that coming. pretty sure i audibly gasped when it came.

tempest black is sassy and blunt. she tells it as it is and more often than not, it get her in trouble. i loved her energy and she’s definitely someone you want as a friend. dante sartorre is a morally grey man that’s hellbent on avenging his sister. he’s very much a touch her and you die kind of guy. don’t mess with him.

they’re both very hate-everyone-but-him/her. they both end up caring a lot about each other and cannot bear to see the other hurt. they also both have secrets they thought would follow them to the grave but somehow along the way, they fell in love and allowed themselves to open up to one another.

and someone please get dante a hoodie now that he has someone to be soft for. i am begging here.
]]> 203696484 A monster wrapped in luxury and wealth.
Mikhail Romanov is my opposite in every way��
And my new husband.

In exchange for his protection��
He’ll demand everything from me.
My obedience. My submission.
My body.

But marriage is only the beginning.
I’ll have his baby, too.

I thought I was clever. A penniless hacker hiding from the world.
That no one would discover who I am and what I’ve done.
I was so wrong.

The Solution: Marry the man more powerful than my enemies.
While endless wealth and power don’t melt his icy glare��
The fiery tension between us threatens to combust every second we’re near.
Every command.
Every touch.

If I leave, I have nowhere to go.
I’m being hunted by his enemies.
But if I stay? I’m wedded to a monster who plans to keep me forever.

Please note: This is a dark Bratva romance with themes of forced marriage, dubious consent, and BDSM. Please read at your own discretion.]]> 362 Jane Henry 1961866013 lianna 4
mikhail is one hell of a dom.

mikhail and aria meet under unfortunate circumstances. he needs a wife and she needs protection. so they get married. what i was not prepared for was how HOT this book would be??? i think i genuinely had points where i was sitting there with no words to describe what i was reading.

aria is SMART. it's just her mouth that gets her in trouble 9.5 times out of 10. the .5 times she didn't get punished for what she said was because mikhail was caught in a soft moment. i think he secretly enjoys being soft but don't tell him that, he'll come for my head. mikhail is dark and ruthless and i'll say it for aria: daddy. he is daddy. you can't even deny that he is.]]> 3.86
author: Jane Henry
name: lianna
average rating: 3.86
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/02
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: 2024, arc-reviews, dark-romance
review:
[arc review]

mikhail is one hell of a dom.

mikhail and aria meet under unfortunate circumstances. he needs a wife and she needs protection. so they get married. what i was not prepared for was how HOT this book would be??? i think i genuinely had points where i was sitting there with no words to describe what i was reading.

aria is SMART. it's just her mouth that gets her in trouble 9.5 times out of 10. the .5 times she didn't get punished for what she said was because mikhail was caught in a soft moment. i think he secretly enjoys being soft but don't tell him that, he'll come for my head. mikhail is dark and ruthless and i'll say it for aria: daddy. he is daddy. you can't even deny that he is.
]]> 204802608
Once he was my enemy. Now, he’s my boss.

Rich, successful, viciously gorgeous, and sinisterly brutal, Alistair Black is every bit his last name.

Morally black. Inky black heart. Devious black soul.

In college, we were enemies. Rivals. Bully vs bully. I almost ruined his life.

Now, ten years later, our paths cross again when I’m forced to work under him.

And he hasn’t at all forgotten or forgiven me for what I did to him back at school.

Now he’s my brooding, emotionally unavailable boss with the body of a god.

And I’m his plaything.

The target of his malice and revenge. The one from whom he wants to hear “yes, sir��, and nothing else.

Years ago, I thought I was done with Alistair Black.

But it turns out, he’s nowhere near done with me��


Devious Vow is a standalone dark mafia, grumpy/sunshine, enemies-to-lovers romance with a smart, untamable heroine, and an ultra possessive hero with "look at her and I'll unalive you" energy. Readers are advised to read the TW inside. No cliffhanger; HEA included.]]> 436 Jagger Cole lianna 4
4.75⭐️

i don't know what jagger puts in his books but they are so good ]]> 3.96 2024
author: Jagger Cole
name: lianna
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/21
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: 2024, arc-reviews, dark-romance
review:
[arc review]

4.75⭐️

i don't know what jagger puts in his books but they are so good
]]> 208877788 A blisteringly steamy, Dark Mafia, Grumpy/Sunshine, Marriage of Convenience standalone romance by bestselling author, Jagger Cole.

To save my father’s life, I’m being forced to marry a monster.
The world sees Gabriel Black as a golden god: successful, gorgeous, charismatic, and untouchable.
The good guy.
But I’ve peeked behind the mask and seen the brutal devil that lurks like poison under the surface.
And he knows it, too.
Now, I need a miracle—and money—to save my father’s life and pay off the crime boss he’s in deep with.
Gabriel needs a wife to further his political career.
It’s a match made in hell, to a secret psychopath who knows my darkest, most depraved fantasies.
And I’m about to learn the only thing more dangerous than being chased by a monster:
Falling for one.

Poisonous Kiss is a standalone dark mafia, grumpy/sunshine, forced marriage romance with a smart, untamable heroine, and an ultra possessive psychopath hero with "look at her and I'll unalive you" energy. Readers are advised to read the TW inside. No cliffhanger; HEA included.]]> 410 Jagger Cole lianna 4
check tw! this book is darker than the first two in the series. please take care of your mental wellbeing first ]]> 4.10 2024
author: Jagger Cole
name: lianna
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/30
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: arc-reviews, 2024, dark-romance
review:
[arc review]

check tw! this book is darker than the first two in the series. please take care of your mental wellbeing first
]]> 62237837
No good ever comes from a red-head in a stolen dress with her worldly possessions at her feet.

I should have known she was trouble when smoke and sin followed her into my bar and she challenged me to a game.

She may have won my watch, but she started a war.

As she slipped my Breitling off my wrist and onto her own, she gleefully announced she was the luckiest girl in the world.

Yeah, lucky to everyone but me.

Because the moment her muddy boots stomped down the stairs and up my spine, my empire started to crumble.

My cashmere charm is wrinkling.

My gentlemanly facade is cracking.

My enemies are closing in.

Maybe the gypsy was right:

The Queen of Hearts will drag me down to hell.

At least it’s wonderfully warm among the flames.

DARK MAFIA ROMANCE - ENEMIES TO LOVERS - AGE GAP - SLOW BURN

***

SOMME’S NOTES:

Sinners Condemned is part one of a duet, and because of this, it ends on a cliffhanger. Rafe & Penny’s story continues in Sinners Consumed, which will be out September 7.

For a better reading experience, please read Sinners Anonymous before reading Sinners Condemned.

You should know that I write dark romance, and my stories–including this one–aren’t for the faint of heart. They contain several triggers, so aren’t suitable for everyone.]]> 314 Somme Sketcher lianna 4 2024, dark-romance
my god was this a slow burn. i don’t think i’ve read anything so slow (but in a good way). rafe and penny’s chemistry is ]]> 4.17 2022
author: Somme Sketcher
name: lianna
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/06
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: 2024, dark-romance
review:
i don’t know what it is with me starting mafias in january and not finishing them until q2. i think i have a problem. anyways.

my god was this a slow burn. i don’t think i’ve read anything so slow (but in a good way). rafe and penny’s chemistry is
]]> 210521542
I taunted a monster. Now I’m caught in his claws.
He was only supposed to be a faceless fantasy.
A masked man from the app to enact my darkest, most depraved impulses with.
But I played games with the wrong stranger, and caught the attention of a psychopath.
Because Kratos Drakos isn’t just Greek Mafia royalty. He’s not just lethally powerful, physically massive, and dangerously gorgeous.
I’ve seen what lurks beneath his mask: a beast with a primal taste for chasing, catching, and corrupting.
Now, to stop a mafia war, I’m being wed to that very monster.
But the deeper I’m drawn into Kratos�� twisted reality, the more I realize one thing:
The most dangerous game you can play with a psychopath isn’t running away.
It’s falling for one.


Corrupted Heart is astandalone dark mafia, forced marriage romance with a smart, untamable heroine, and an ultra possessive psycho hero with "look at her and I'll unalive you" energy. Readers are STRONGLY advised to read the TW inside. No cliffhanger; HEA included.]]> 465 Jagger Cole lianna 4
[arc review]

please please please check tw!!

wow what a book. jagger is incredible at world building. i get so immersed into his mafia worlds so easily even though they all take place in new york.

bianca and kratos meet under unfortunate circumstances, but turns out, they satisfy each other’s needs. bianca is the only one able to tame the beast inside him. they’re so perfect for each other. and the little pockets of domestic bliss had me kicking my feet in the air. bianca found a way to knock down his walls and it gave me a completely different side to kratos.

they’ve both had to deal with a shit past but i loved how they were able to share those things with each other. it broke my heart to find out what happened, but it made them stronger together.

i’m really excited for drazentaylor ]]> 4.06 2024
author: Jagger Cole
name: lianna
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/18
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: arc-reviews, 2024, dark-romance
review:
4.5⭐️

[arc review]

please please please check tw!!

wow what a book. jagger is incredible at world building. i get so immersed into his mafia worlds so easily even though they all take place in new york.

bianca and kratos meet under unfortunate circumstances, but turns out, they satisfy each other’s needs. bianca is the only one able to tame the beast inside him. they’re so perfect for each other. and the little pockets of domestic bliss had me kicking my feet in the air. bianca found a way to knock down his walls and it gave me a completely different side to kratos.

they’ve both had to deal with a shit past but i loved how they were able to share those things with each other. it broke my heart to find out what happened, but it made them stronger together.

i’m really excited for drazentaylor
]]> 213603804
Tall, powerful, and lethally gorgeous, Drazen Krylov is the ruthless boogeyman the Bratva world fears.

He’s also the masked man from the app whom I unknowingly shared my darkest, most depraved urges with.

Now the fantasy has become a nightmare.

Drazen says I did terrible, unforgivable things.

He says I owe a debt, and I’ll pay the price by pretending to be his dead wife.

I look just like her.

The thing is, I might be her��

My past is an amnesia haze of blank memories.

My future is in his hands.

My name is Taylor Crown.

At least, so I’ve been told.

And I may have married a monster.

Now, I need to remember why.


Monstrous Urges is a standalone dark mafia romance with a smart, untamable heroine, and an ultra possessive psycho hero with "look at her and I'll unalive you" energy. Readers are STRONGLY advised to read the TW inside. No cliffhanger; HEA included.]]> 478 Jagger Cole lianna 4
where do i even begin?? i feel like i don’t have enough words to describe the relationship between drazen and taylor.

given the circumstances, i felt like it was so frustrating that nobody believed taylor. the girl literally LOST 18 years of memories and she keeps saying this over and over, but not a single person stopped to give her the benefit of the doubt. nobody stopped to even consider the possibility that [redacted, you’ll have to read it to see]?? maybe mafias really are stuck in their ways and this is my anxiety considering every single possibility.

the way jagger crafts these stories is ]]> 4.24 2024
author: Jagger Cole
name: lianna
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/07/14
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: arc-reviews, 2024, dark-romance
review:
[arc review]

where do i even begin?? i feel like i don’t have enough words to describe the relationship between drazen and taylor.

given the circumstances, i felt like it was so frustrating that nobody believed taylor. the girl literally LOST 18 years of memories and she keeps saying this over and over, but not a single person stopped to give her the benefit of the doubt. nobody stopped to even consider the possibility that [redacted, you’ll have to read it to see]?? maybe mafias really are stuck in their ways and this is my anxiety considering every single possibility.

the way jagger crafts these stories is
]]> 216200429 Charming and seductive. Cold-blooded and merciless. Kenzo Mori, the wrathful king of the Mori Mafia family, is a sinfully beautiful devil with a heart of ice.
He’s an enemy who's had a target on my back for years.
Now, he’s my new husband.
Our marriage of inconvenience is supposed to end the violence between the Bratva and the Yakuza.
Little does he know, the real war has only just begun.
Kenzo thinks I belong to him.
I think he’d better sleep with one eye open.
But while the enemy in my bed might be slowly dominating my nights and darkest fantasies, my heart is a battle he’ll never win.
They say all’s fair in love and war?
Well, ours has just begun.

Emperor of Wrath is a standalone dark mafia romance with a smart, untamable heroine, and an ultra possessive psycho hero with "look at her and I'll unalive you" energy. Readers are STRONGLY advised to read the TW inside. No cliffhanger; HEA included.]]> 444 Jagger Cole lianna 4
[arc review]

jagger cole has become one of the authors on my list where if he writes it, i will read it. i started with toxic love but i seriously cannot get enough of his writing.

kenzo mori…the man he is ]]> 4.10 2024
author: Jagger Cole
name: lianna
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/08/30
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: arc-reviews, 2024, dark-romance
review:
4.5⭐️

[arc review]

jagger cole has become one of the authors on my list where if he writes it, i will read it. i started with toxic love but i seriously cannot get enough of his writing.

kenzo mori…the man he is
]]> 60153064 Healing is not a one-time event.

It can begin with a one-time event �� typically some form of sudden loss that disrupts our projection of what the future might be. However, the true work of healing is allowing that disruption to wake us from a deep state of unconsciousness, to release the personas we adapted into and begin consciously piecing together the full truth of who we were meant to be.

In her follow up collection to the international bestseller 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think, Brianna Wiest shares 45+ new pieces that will help you find your inner sanctum and embark on the path of true transformation. Wiest's words are a balm for any soul on the journey of their own becoming.]]> 235 Brianna Wiest lianna 0 to-read 4.25 2022
author: Brianna Wiest
name: lianna
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 203951224
Maelstrom. A powerful circular current of water; or a situation with great confusion, restlessness, and violence. A perfect storm.

Expelled from university, Briar is forced to leave London and return to her coastal home in New York. Thrown back into a seemingly unfamiliar world, she finds herself surrounded by new and old temptations. Trying to regain her footing, she’s reunited with a suffocating piece from her past that threatens to unravel everything she’s become.

What Briar thought would be a simple favor for her brother’s best friend turns into an invisible string, pulling her toward him in an inevitable collision. Stuck in a convergence of explosive emotions, she’s forced to choose between what she wants and what she knows to be right. Now caught, with seemingly no escape, Briar’s habitual antics are finally catching up to her, and may haunt her forever.]]> 339 Hanna Grace lianna 4 2024
hanna reached out to me on instagram to read her debut and i agreed…in may ]]> 3.80
author: Hanna Grace
name: lianna
average rating: 3.80
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/08
date added: 2024/10/08
shelves: 2024
review:
oh my god?? the first book i’ve read in six months that wasn’t an arc??

hanna reached out to me on instagram to read her debut and i agreed…in may
]]> 208245921 In this delightful small‑town romance, can the search for a soulmate make two best friends realize the perfect person was right there all along?

Emerie Roberts is tired of waiting for her best friend, Nicholas Washington, to realize that the two of them would make a perfect couple. And she’s fed up with seeing everyone else get their happy ending while hers is nowhere in sight. When she finally works up the nerve to tell Nick how she feels, she’s devastated to discover that he doesn’t share the same feelings. With her heart broken, Emerie makes a promise to herself that by the same time next year, she will have found the love of her life using a seven-step Soulmate Project.

Meanwhile, despite his deep-seated relationship issues, Nick is forced to confront his growing feelings for his best friend, whether he wants to or not. Can Nick accept that Emerie is his soulmate before the project tears them apart for good?]]> 295 Reese Ryan 1538734516 lianna 3 arc-reviews, 2024
this was an easy and cute read. i didn’t particularly connect with the characters and there are quite a few in this book but i connected enough to finish the book.

on new year’s eve, emerie confesses to her life long best friend, nick, that she’s in love with him and nick being emotionally confused, suggests that he doesn’t share those same feelings and that they remain friends instead. em decides to embark on a plan to find her soulmate and calls it “the soulmate project�� because she’s ready to settle down. she thought it would be with nick but it’s not so moving on it was. but as she starts this project, nick gets progressively more and more jealous because he actually does reciprocate those feelings, he’s just afraid of losing her completely and would rather not risk that.

there’s a bit of miscommunication between the two of them at one point in this book but it gets resolved after they’ve had some time apart to think. it didn’t get blown out of proportion, which i appreciated. nick and em have a solid friend group and they’re all very supportive of each other. they have a lot of love around them within their friends.]]> 3.82 2024
author: Reese Ryan
name: lianna
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/01
date added: 2024/10/01
shelves: arc-reviews, 2024
review:
[arc review]

this was an easy and cute read. i didn’t particularly connect with the characters and there are quite a few in this book but i connected enough to finish the book.

on new year’s eve, emerie confesses to her life long best friend, nick, that she’s in love with him and nick being emotionally confused, suggests that he doesn’t share those same feelings and that they remain friends instead. em decides to embark on a plan to find her soulmate and calls it “the soulmate project�� because she’s ready to settle down. she thought it would be with nick but it’s not so moving on it was. but as she starts this project, nick gets progressively more and more jealous because he actually does reciprocate those feelings, he’s just afraid of losing her completely and would rather not risk that.

there’s a bit of miscommunication between the two of them at one point in this book but it gets resolved after they’ve had some time apart to think. it didn’t get blown out of proportion, which i appreciated. nick and em have a solid friend group and they’re all very supportive of each other. they have a lot of love around them within their friends.
]]> 208499200
Recent college grad Willow Williams needs a job, preferably one where she can put her sports marketing degree to use. She may have a talent for seeing the bright side of a bad situation, but it's hard to stay positive when she's struggling to get hired. So when Dev offers her a temporary solution, she can't help but say yes to working together...even if it means ignoring the crush she's had on him since childhood.

Both Willow and Dev are determined to keep things strictly professional, even if old feelings and the blazing chemistry between them threatens to ignite. But in the glittering and high-stakes world of Formula 1, some lines are meant to be crossed...]]> 400 Simone Soltani 1035045109 lianna 0 to-read 3.66 2024
author: Simone Soltani
name: lianna
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/30
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 216783157
I know what everyone says about me–just an atm where his heart used to be. Which might be true, until I saw her.

I can’t stop fantasizing about my new assistant.

Bright eyed and too young, Reese is not meant for someone like me.

3 reasons why I absolutely cannot fall for her:

1. She knows about my double life as a tattoo artist

2. I don’t do relationships

3. The way she doesn’t put up with my demanding ways

Should I have moved her desk outside my office? No, because now I have to see her constantly. Nothing says stay away from the good girl like late nights ordering her favorite take out just to see her smile, right?

One kiss and I’ll figure out how to have a night with her.

One night and I’ll be asking her to spend the weekend with me.

One weekend and I’ll have to find a way to win her heart.]]> 258 Ann Einerson lianna 0 to-read 3.92
author: Ann Einerson
name: lianna
average rating: 3.92
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> 202102026 A thrilling illustrated guide to Formula 1 racing, from its fascinating origins and inner workings to the top drivers of the twentieth century and today, from celebrated F1 journalist��and breakout star of Netflix's Drive to Survive Will Buxton.In Legends of the Grid, celebrated broadcast journalist and commentator on Netflix's Formula 1: Drive to Survive Will Buxton chronicles the history of Formula 1, highlighting the achievements and stories of forty-five notable Formula 1 drivers and other key figures. Readers will be introduced to historical heroes like Formula 1’s first world champion, Giuseppe Farina, and Ferrari icon Niki Lauda, as well as modern-day legends like the iconic Lewis Hamilton and defending champion Max Verstappen. Spanning more than seventy years of Formula 1--decades packed with incredible trials, stories, and lore--this captivating collection also contains features on car mechanics, tires, track design, the art and science of the pit stop, and more. Filled with immersive and engaging information with illustrations as dynamic and bold as the daring sport itself, Grand Prix is the definitive introduction to the world's fastest sport.]]> 240 Will Buxton 198486324X lianna 5 arc-reviews, 2024, formula-1 4.38 2024
author: Will Buxton
name: lianna
average rating: 4.38
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/07/02
date added: 2024/09/25
shelves: arc-reviews, 2024, formula-1
review:
incredibly beautifully illustrated and laid out. the graphic designer part of me appreciates the beauty that is this book. honestly i could have used this book back in november when i was doing my final paper for my media and sports class but alas. some parts felt repetitive but otherwise a really good introduction to f1 history.
]]>