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Queens of Geek
Queens of Geek
Jen Wilde | 2017 | Young Adult (YA)
6
8.6 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Simple yet sweet look into fandom and friendship
Charlie, Taylor, and Jamie are extremely close friends. They come to SupaCon as one last blast before they all head to college--and to celebrate Charlie, a famous video blogger and actress. Charlie's struggling to get over her very public breakup with her former co-star, Reese Ryan. Taylor is dealing with how the Con flames her anxiety and that she has feelings for her best friend: Jamie. Plus, she wants to enter a contest at the Con to meet her favorite actress from her favorite fandom, but knows her fears would never allow it. And Jamie just wants to make Taylor happy. Can the three survive SupaCon?

This is the seventeenth book in my #atozchallenge! I'm challenging myself to read a book from my shelves that starts with each letter of the alphabet. Let's clear those shelves and delve into that backlist!

This was a cute book--easy to read with sweet characters. It's written very simply and honestly it's often trite in its writing and plot. Expect some undeveloped characters, some insta-love, and problems that resolve themselves before they even fully develop. It's a shame, because QUEENS covers some incredibly important topics--Asperger's, autism, anxiety, bisexuality--and covers them fairly well--but often quickly, without a lot of depth.

The book is a true ode to geeks (I say this with the highest praise) and con/fandom lovers. However, not really being a fan of these fandoms, it was hard to truly get into those parts. I loved how much comfort Taylor took in her fandom, but it wasn't something I could be into, if that made sense.

Mostly, I loved the spot-on passages describing social anxiety and the diverse cast. This was an easy YA read, but one lacking true depth; still, it satisfied the "Q" requirement for my A to Z reading challenge. 3 stars, mostly for the bi rep.
  
Do No Harm
Do No Harm
L.V. Hay | 2020 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
It is a very haunting thriller told from multiple perspectives – mainly Lily’s and Sebastian’s. I really loved the characters in this book, they all seem like regular people, whom we meet every day. Even though the characters are very believable, they have their very unique characteristics, which makes them very amusing and absorbing. LV Hay is famous for her diverse characters, and I really liked that she carried on with diversity in this book as well. I really liked Lily in this book, her inner fight and thoughts were very interesting to me. The least favorite to me was Fran, Lily’s new mother in law, I found her very unpleasant attention seeker, and I really don’t like such qualities.

Oh, the plot was absolutely fantastic! The author was playing mind games with me every time. When I thought I knew where the events were heading to, she used to throw in a major twist or turn, which left me baffled every time. The wish to find out what was actually going on got me “glued” to this book, and I really didn’t want to put it down. I really liked the way the author was describing all the feelings and thoughts regarding little Denny, all his actions were so cute to read about.

I really enjoyed LV Hay’s writing style, the language used was very understandable and the way she incorporated all these little bits and pieces from character’s pasts, were very enlightening and allowed to get to know the characters even better. The Author left me very pleased with chapter lengths as well, they were short but had very good transitions between the chapters. I really can see the improvement in this author’s work, and I hope she will carry on doing such an amazing job. To conclude, it is a very fast paced and gripping thriller, filled with false leads, mind games and very realistic and amusing characters. I loved it, and I hope you will give this book a go and will enjoy it as much as I did.
  
    Talking Tom Cat for iPad

    Talking Tom Cat for iPad

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    Play Talking Tom Cat, the fun free virtual pet from the makers of Talking Tom and Friends with over...

    Talking Tom Cat

    Talking Tom Cat

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    Play Talking Tom Cat, the fun free virtual pet from the makers of Talking Tom and Friends with over...

Heal Me (Love in the Pacific Northwest #5)
Heal Me (Love in the Pacific Northwest #5)
Beck Grey | 2023 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
HEAL ME is the fifth book in the Love in the Pacific Northwest series and I haven't read any of the others. I don't feel that this had too big an impact as this story definitely revolves around Gunnar and Jocelin.

It is very fast-paced at the beginning, from the meet-cute to them getting together. Then a big part of it is establishing and building on their relationship. And then, something happens that provides angst and bad decisions, heartbreak and humiliation.

I have to say, Gunnar is my favourite of the two. He is the more laid-back of the two, less bothered about whether someone hits the snooze button or has clothing on the floor. He also put himself first when needed - which in this case was a BIG need. Does he do everything right? No. But does he own up to his mistakes and try to put them right? Hell yeah! PTSD isn't something that is logical, so bad decisions are a part of it. With all the relationship-building that had been going on, I expected Jocelin to be pissed, but I just couldn't get on board with his whole reaction. It's not as though Gunnar wasn't suffering himself!

Maybe I feel this way simply because I haven't read the others. Who knows? As for the Victor story, I know it played its part, but it was obvious from the word go how that would pan out!

On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is hot and sexy with a cuddly teddy bear. I thought Gunnar's PTSD was extremely well-written. I would definitely read more in this series. Recommended by me.

** same worded review will appear elsewhere **

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Nov 16, 2023
  
Unbar the Barred (Darling Ranch #1)
Unbar the Barred (Darling Ranch #1)
JP Sayle | 2025 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Cassidy and Trey are perfect for each other!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This book was originally called Ranch Down and was published in an anthology, it hasn't had any revisions, bar some minor editing. It's based in the Divergent Omegavesre world, but can totally be read as a stand alone novel to that series. It's a jumping off point, the start of a new series, set on Darling Ranch.

Cassidy and Trey have a friends with benefits thing going on. Neither will admit to the other, but they both want more. The arrival at the Darling Ranch of the Starling brothers presses ALL of Trey's buttons and he claims what really has been his for a long time. But can a city wolf and a farm chick really be happy?

This was, and I defy anyone to tell me otherwise, the most too stinkin cute, warm and fuzzies, low angst book I've read in a long time!

Cassidy and Trey really are perfect for each other. They know it. We know it but they refuse to admit to the other about it. It takes a Starling to flirt with Cassidy for Trey to broadcast his feelings across the bar and go all cave man on Cassidy and I loved that!

It's steamy, with Cassidy and Trey already in a relationship, of sorts. They already know what they like, what the other likes, so the first time is straight in, so to speak.

Once they admit to the other what they really want, they go all in and are out to make this work, they just need to find a compromise in the location of them being together.

Loved Cassidy's girls and their outfits!

Some overlap in the timeline with Silas's Sweetheart, which is the Divergent Omegaverse book 4. We do meet Cass and Trey there.

Thoroughly enjoyable hour's read!

4 very good stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere