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Finding Never ( Tasting Never 2)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
145 of 235
Kindle
Finding Never ( Tasting Never 2)
By C.M. Stunich
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

"Tell me, Never, do you still love him?"

Never Ross and Ty McCabe have come a long way - but they can't stop now. Their pasts are still there, ready to sweep over and consume them if they don't confront them. A visit to Never's family seems like the first logical step, but will it make things better or worse? And what about Noah Scott? Ty is Never's tortured other half, but can he also be the healing balm that she so desperately needs? With McCabe's past still a virtual unknown, Never is going to have to make more than one decision capable of breaking both their hearts.


Oh I loved this compared to book one it was so cute and sweet and a little heartwarming to see Never put things at peace with herself and family! And Ty well just read it to see why 😍
  
The Blood Tide (DS Max Craigie #2)
The Blood Tide (DS Max Craigie #2)
Neil Lancaster | 2022 | Crime, Thriller
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Neil Lancaster has done it again! I thought he would be hard pressed coming up with a book that could better the first in this series, Dead Man's Grave, and although he hasn't, he has matched it and I have become completely consumed and engaged with Max Craigie and his team.

This is a cracker of a book; with excellent characters (both 'goodies' and 'baddies', new ones and old ones) and an engaging and riveting plot told at a fast pace with great twists and turns. What more could you ask for? A cute dog? Yep, got that too 😁

Now whilst this works well as a standalone, I would highly recommend you read the first, you will not be disappointed and you, like me, will be hooked and itching for the next instalment to come out.

Thank you to HQ and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest, unbiased and unedited review.
  
TI
Turn It Up!
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
<i>Turn It Up!</i> was a totally random pick I chose from my library's OverDrive catalog because they didn't have the book I so desperately wanted in my hands right at the very moment. <span style="font-size: small;">Come on, American Panda. Come to meeee.</span>

Or maybe they did but I didn't feel like reading any fantasy. I've been wanting more and more cute contemporary romances lately. <b>Give me all the cute contemporaries, bookwyrms.</b> I need to feed my latest addiction until I'm tired of it and go back to my usual fantasy groove.

Anyways...

<b>Jen Calonita's latest novel is about acapella groups.</b> I love and admire acapella (Pentatonix is one of my favorite groups) so this novel caught my eye <i>really</i> quick. <b><i>Turn It Up!</i></b><b> is essentially Pitch Perfect set in a high school setting instead of college.</b> I was hoping that I would enjoy the book a lot since it <i>is</i> about music and acapella.

Unfortunately, <strong>the book focuses too much on Lidia's and Sydney's problem with little to no progress</strong> and an ending that was basically handed over to the characters on a plate adorned with musical notes and shoes. <i>Boom.</i> Happily ever after for everyone.

This is basically the summary of the book:
<ul>
  <li>Girl has a crush on a guy</li>
  <li>Other girl ends up falling in love with the guy</li>
  <li>Girl catches other girl and guy kissing, creates tension among friendship</li>
  <li>Girl develops other interests and chases after it because it conveniently keeps her away from other girl and guy as well</li>
  <li>Other girl tries to push guy but really, she's in love but she values friendship</li>
  <li>Girl falls in love slowly with another guy</li>
  <li>Guy somehow gets between girl and other guy by accident - oopsies</li>
  <li>Girl and other girl realizes they don't have to be this way</li>
  <li>Somehow they become best friends again and everyone lives happily ever after</li>
</ul>
I was expecting more... I don't know, music to be involved? There's certainly conflict among the acapella group, but it felt like the musical angle wasn't even needed to create drama among the characters since there seemed to be issues well before the acapella group became a thing. &#x1f937;

A lot of the issues seemed to have roots since middle school/early high school - they just seemed to have escalated. And <strong>while the Pitch Perfect movie had their drama, it was at least entertaining and catchy.</strong> I can't say the same for the book.

<strong>The writing felt off</strong> - there were times where it felt awkward due to punctuation usage, mainly exclamation points. Sentences that didn't need an exclamation had one, or maybe it's just the phrasing of the sentences themselves. It didn't really help me enjoy the book more.

And then there were the characters. I don't know if it's just me, but I have a hard time thinking of how old most of the characters are. I know <i>Turn It Up! </i>is set in high school, but there were times where I felt they were a little younger. &#x1f914;

<b>But hey, there were <em>maybe</em> a few parts that were good!</b>
<ul>
  <li>Eventually, everyone got past their differences - hooray</li>
  <li>There <em>is</em> a cute romance, and I definitely ship it</li>
  <li>Sometimes I wanted to smush the two characters together</li>
  <li>Lidia's family is cute and adorable</li>
</ul>
Anyways, those smol little bits that were good didn't make up for the bad. I wanted more from <em>Turn It Up!</em> and <strong>I got a Pitch Perfect version in book form that was less entertaining than the movie.</strong>

<a href="http://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/turn-it-up-by-jen-calonita-ya-pitch-perfect/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>