Christi (christireadsalot)'s Updates en-US Fri, 02 May 2025 03:43:48 -0700 60 Christi (christireadsalot)'s Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg ReadStatus9377486711 Fri, 02 May 2025 03:43:48 -0700 <![CDATA[Christi (christireadsalot) started reading 'Spotlight']]> /review/show/7263493401 Spotlight by Rebecca Jenshak Christi (christireadsalot) started reading Spotlight by Rebecca Jenshak
]]> Review7533108395 Fri, 02 May 2025 01:04:50 -0700 <![CDATA[Christi (christireadsalot) added 'Can't Get Enough']]> /review/show/7533108395 Can't Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan Christi (christireadsalot) gave 4 stars to Can't Get Enough (Hardcover) by Kennedy Ryan
bookshelves: arc-netgalley-alc, audiobook, bipoc-author, contemporary-romance, billionaire-romance
Can’t Get Enough is the 3rd standalone in the Skyland series! My favorite is still Before I Let Go, but this book is now my second favorite in the series. Similarly to the previous book, this is more women’s fiction with a romance subplot but the balance worked for me better in this one (or I was just more prepared on what to expect lol).

Hendrix is such a strong character, we have seen her throughout the series since she’s best friends with the heroines in this series. We see early into the story that Hendrix is caring for her mother who has dementia (similar vibes to Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez that recently released, but I liked the overall story in this Kennedy book more). She has a thriving business in the entertainment industry. Maverick is a billionaire after the sale of his sport betting app and meets Hendrix at a party. He sees her dancing on a table and is instantly intrigued, they end up chatting and hit it off immediately. He’s very into her, she’s feeling the same way until she finds out he’s dating her new producing/business partner� But that relationship is actually over, it just hasn’t been announced publicly yet! Maverick is a single dad to his daughter who recently graduated high school and does not want more children in his life, that was the reason he split with his ex. Hendrix is child-free by choice so things definitely align for them in the long term.

Hendrix and Maverick have good chemistry, things are a complex because of his ex and Hendrix working with her too. Otherwise their connection gets pretty deep immediately, similar to the couple in the previous book This Could Be Us. It’s all the other things in life they have to sort out or figure out how they’ll make time/space for one another. He understands the weight of her taking care of her mother and having family with dementia, they connect over that shared family trauma and he’s very supportive. I liked seeing all the heroines/her friends from the series make appearances, we also get a Grip sighting/appearance and some other nods to past Kennedy characters.

This book is narrated by two of my favorite narrators, Wesleigh Siobhan and Jakobi Diem, so the audiobook read was such a comfort! The way they brought the characters to life was everything.

I received an ALC and ARC, all thoughts in this review are my own! ]]> Review7532091285 Fri, 02 May 2025 01:00:13 -0700 <![CDATA[Christi (christireadsalot) added 'Happy Land']]> /review/show/7532091285 Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez Christi (christireadsalot) gave 4 stars to Happy Land (Hardcover) by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
bookshelves: audiobook, bipoc-author, historical-fiction
4.5 stars! A new historical fiction from a favorite author. This is told in dual timeline, we start in present day and go back to post Civil War as well!

Nikki has been summoned to North Carolina by her estranged grandmother who needs her help. Nikki’s almost 40, has a daughter about to go to college, and decides to go see her grandmother. She’s intrigued because her mother and grandmother had a falling out decades back and Nikki is curious what she can find out. When she gets there her grandmother, Mother Rita, starts to tell her about her family history, memories of African kingdoms, a community of formerly enslaved men and women who grasped freedom on the mountain land she now lives on, and all about the Kingdom of the Happy Land.

I just love this author’s writing so much, she instantly grabs your attention and doesn’t let go until the story is over. I read Take My Hand last year and it was one of my favorite reads of the year and she instantly became an auto-read author for me. If she writes it, I’m reading it. I loved the deep connection of family and land and seeing the generations of women in this family and their tangled history. We also get flashbacks back to the creation of the Kingdom of the Happy Land and the proud, strong people who worked, lived, governed, thrived, lost, and loved on that land. All the praise for this gorgeous book cover as well!

It was neat to read in the author’s note at the end how this kingdom was based on many communities that did thrive and live like this. This book also brings attention to the staggering loss of land that was stolen from African Americans, well worth millions of dollars today. ]]> Review7529529698 Fri, 02 May 2025 00:48:30 -0700 <![CDATA[Christi (christireadsalot) added 'The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches']]> /review/show/7529529698 The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna Christi (christireadsalot) gave 4 stars to The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches (Paperback) by Sangu Mandanna
bookshelves: audiobook, cozy-fantasy, grumpy-sunshine, witches
This was really cute and cozy and I’m so glad I finally got to it! I’ve seen people compare this to the Practical Magic world but in a cozier The House in the Cerulean Sea kind of way and I can totally see that.

In this world witches are all orphans and are also not supposed to get to know one another or spend time together either. The heroine loves being a witch and one day gets a call to come help 3 young girls who are supposedly all witches living in a house together. She’s a little skeptical at first because of the rules/laws about witches but then realizes they are and her caretakers desperately need her help. This has a romance in it too and that was fun to see play out! I liked the found family aspect of it all and how she learns more about the history of witches and family in this one. I’m excited the author has a new release coming out in this witchy world soon! ]]> ReadStatus9375392517 Thu, 01 May 2025 13:52:04 -0700 <![CDATA[Christi (christireadsalot) started reading 'Dream On, Ramona Riley']]> /review/show/7242142742 Dream On, Ramona Riley by Ashley Herring Blake Christi (christireadsalot) started reading Dream On, Ramona Riley by Ashley Herring Blake
]]> GiveawayRequest707276197 Thu, 01 May 2025 04:49:45 -0700 <![CDATA[<a href="/user/show/106618742-christi-christireadsalot">Christi (christireadsalot)</a> entered a giveaway]]> /giveaway/show/412025-a-witch-s-guide-to-magical-innkeeping A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
10 copies available, ends on May 30, 2025
Enter to win ]]> ReadStatus9373048479 Thu, 01 May 2025 00:50:35 -0700 <![CDATA[Christi (christireadsalot) is currently reading 'Can't Get Enough']]> /review/show/7533108395 Can't Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan Christi (christireadsalot) is currently reading Can't Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan
]]> Review5979825216 Thu, 01 May 2025 00:01:51 -0700 <![CDATA[Christi (christireadsalot) added 'King of Envy']]> /review/show/5979825216 King of Envy by Ana Huang Christi (christireadsalot) gave 3 stars to King of Envy (Kings of Sin, #5) by Ana Huang
bookshelves: audiobook, billionaire-romance, contemporary-romance, forbidden-or-taboo, physically-scarred-character
King of Envy is book 5 in the Kings of Sin series by Ana Huang. This series has had ups and downs for me, King of Greed is still top tier, and so this one kind of fell in the middle for me and was just okay.

Ayana is a supermodel who is engaged to one of New York’s most eligible bachelors, but people don’t know their engagement is only a business arrangement! She ends up getting involved with Vuk, her fiancé’s best man. From the set up of this one I kinda wanted it to lean more into forbidden than it actually did. This one I liked the start and first half of the book more, then it kinda lost my interest and the pacing was off (I felt like this about the author’s previous release, The Striker, too). I definitely felt the page count of this one.

That said, the series as a whole is solid and people will definitely have different favorites in it! I did the audiobook of this one and it is duet narration with Jason Clarke . A lot of moments in the audio kinda took me out, it sounded echoey (if that makes sense) when the male narrator would have something to say during the female narrator’s chapters and vice versa (wasn’t every time but it was often). 🤷🏼‍♀� ]]> ReadStatus9371572896 Wed, 30 Apr 2025 15:44:41 -0700 <![CDATA[Christi (christireadsalot) is currently reading 'Happy Land']]> /review/show/7532091285 Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez Christi (christireadsalot) is currently reading Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
]]> ReadStatus9369295649 Wed, 30 Apr 2025 01:58:26 -0700 <![CDATA[Christi (christireadsalot) started reading 'King of Envy']]> /review/show/5979825216 King of Envy by Ana Huang Christi (christireadsalot) started reading King of Envy by Ana Huang
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