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Bayside Heat (Bayside Summers, #3)
Bayside Heat (Bayside Summers, #3)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Bayside Heat is book 3 in the Love in Bloom: Bayside Summers series. It was a wonderful love story from Melissa Foster earning 4.5 stars from this reviewer.

Drake Savage and Serena Mallery have known each other since they were children. Serena and her sister spent many days and nights with the Savage family, their daughter Mira and sons Drake and Rick. Serena and Mira are best friends and Serena has had a crush on Drake since she was a teenager.
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Drake has had a crush on Serena since she asked him to sing a duet with her one summer long ago. He knew he couldn’t hold her back from whatever dreams she was meant to accomplish so he had to be satisfied with having her as his best friend. Keeping her close without getting close was torture.

Serena and Drake work together at his family resort but when her dream designer job becomes available in Boston she realizes it is now or never to put her feelings on the table where Drake is concerned.

Drake realizes that he is about to lose the one person who knows him better than anyone else. He knows he can’t make her choose him over Boston but also knows he can’t live without her. He confesses his feelings and finds out she feels the same way.

Drake and Serena make their new long distance relationship work as well as they can. They travel the 2 hour drive back and forth to each other each chance they get but life gets in the way more than once. Serena finds herself questioning her decision to leave but not wanting to end up like her mother (following men around).

Serena and Drake each find that the one thing they want more than anything is to be together, but can they find a way to survive together in their new worlds?

I have read a few books by Ms Foster by now and this one keeps with the good love stories I’ve come to expect from her. I received an advance copy without expectations for review; any opinions expressed are my own. Not having read the first 2 in this series has my TBR list growing by two.
  
Forget Me Always (Lovely Vicious #2)
Forget Me Always (Lovely Vicious #2)
Sara Wolf | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
<b><i>I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i></b>Several months ago, I first got introduced to the life of Isis Blake and Jack Hunter in the first book of the <i>Lovely Vicious</i> series, <i><a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/blog-tour-love-me-never-by-sara-wolf-arc-review-and-giveaway/"; target="_blank" rel="noopener">Love Me Never</a></i>. If anyone remembers from my review of the first book, I confessed that I had a case of the giggles (and had trouble stifling said giggles) because Isis Blake is hilarious and sarcastic and just hard to hate (okay that last one applies to Jack as well).

So when I found out <i>Forget Me Always</i> was available to request… which means more of Isis Blake and Jack Hunter and everything that comes with those two, I confess I leapt at the chance to read the second book in the <i>Lovely Vicious</i> series. (I promise this is the last book I'm touching until I actually go through the ARCs from earlier this year and posting those reviews. But really, they're in drafts.)

<i>Forget Me Always</i>, unfortunately, did not leave me in a constant puddle of giggles like its predecessor. It is much darker than the first book - both Isis’s and Jack’s pasts come to light and sort of… mesh together. Rather, they don’t actually mesh together, but what was originally two different pasts have something in common between the two that’s bringing the pasts together.

However, despite the darker atmosphere of <i>Forget Me Always</i>, the second book in the <i>Lovely Vicious</i> series still has Isis Blake’s signature humor and sarcasm found throughout the first book, which will surely lighten up the third and final book’s darker atmosphere.

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<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/arc-review-forget-me-always-by-sara-wolf/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
  
The Other Mrs.
The Other Mrs.
Mary Kubica | 2020 | Thriller
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Sadie and her husband inherit a house in Maine after the death of Will's sister, Alice. So they move their two sons from Chicago to chilly Maine, hoping for a fresh start. Moving to Maine means living with Alice's broody sixteen-year-old daughter, Imogen. Will is convinced she's just grieving the loss of her mother, but Sadie isn't so sure. Then their neighbor, Morgan Baines, is found murdered--a death that rocks their small community. Sadie no longer feels safe in her own home, so she starts looking into Morgan's death. But soon she realizes that suspicion is pointed at her own family and that the more she discovers about Morgan's death, the more she has to lose.

This was a great twisty thriller from Kubica. It started off a little confusing, but once it got going, it was completely mesmerizing. It's told from three points of view, and each has you riveted, wondering how they all fit together and what on earth is going on in this small Maine town. Who murdered Morgan Baines--and why?

The gloom of Maine and the creepiness of Sadie's new house comes across quite clear; the book can be downright spooky at times. You're never quite sure who to trust or what to believe, either. I found myself frantically flipping the pages, wanting to find out what was happening. There are a lot of pieces to fit together--angry Imogen, unreliable Sadie, supposedly perfect Will, angsty Otto (Sadie's eldest son), and the Baines and their marriage. I loved trying to piece everything together.

There are a ton of twists and turns and while some seem a little crazy, it made for a wild ride. I guessed a few and gasped at others, so that was fun. I must note, though, that there is a suicide trigger (not a spoiler, as it's Alice's death). There's a lot of detail about her death and as someone who lost someone in that same manner, I found it very hard to read about. So just keep that in mind. However, overall, this was a really captivating and dark thriller. 4 stars.
  
Set the Stars Alight
Set the Stars Alight
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
https://travelingwife4life.wordpress.com/2020/08/10/set-the-stars-alight-book-spotlight-review/

This is my first book by Amanda Dykes and just wow... It has taken me a few days to really process this book and get my thoughts together on it.

I honestly have no idea where to start with this review. I have never read a book quite like this one. It is full of lyrical words and phrases that set your mind alight with thoughts and pondering's about the deeper thoughts of the world. Then interwoven are two stories about finding the way home from out of the dark. It does not read like your typical dual timeline story. It is two stories so deeply and flawlessly put together that it almost seems like a story inside of a story, rather than two separate stories intermingling. I loved the mystery of it, fitting clues together in my mind and thinking about the meaning behind the words the characters were saying. I really enjoyed this thought-provoking story.

“Nothing is impossible. Just think. Pay attention. Stretch forward. When things seem dark, Lucy, that is when you fight for the light. I think it is the duty to keep the stories, to pass them on. It is our duty- and our honor. In a world as dark as ours, people forget how to see the light. So we remind them by telling the truth, fighting the dark, paying attention...setting the stars alight.”

The characters showed almost a banked set of emotions, letting you see little bits of themselves over time as you got to know them better. I loved their selfless actions, their growth, and their deep pondering's that led to an undercurrent of deeper meaning throughout the whole story.

 Truly a very well-done book of characters with lots of layers, emotions, and mystery. I give it 5 out of 5 stars for the amazingly well-done dual timeline, the historical facts, and mystery, and for making me think deeply about what was happening inside these pages.

*I volunteered to read this story in return for my honest feedback. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
  
The Bronze Horseman
The Bronze Horseman
Paullina Simons | 2001 | Fiction & Poetry
6
7.8 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
2.5 stars.

Reading this on Scribd probably wasn't the best idea ever. Having to sit at my computer for god knows how many hours while I read all 800+ pages...

It started great, I loved Tatiana and her first meeting with Alexander...but then it went downhill from there when it turned out Alexander was the guy her sister had been seeing. It got progressively worse for me when she decided to end whatever blossoming thing they had as she felt she would break her sisters heart if she got together with him instead. This continued for almost half the book, which drove me mad--it was pretty repetative, especially considering it was set during the war and they might not live to see the end of it.

People changed over that time, lots of people died. I think one of my updates quite clearly captured this:

<blockquote>"Really driving me mad now :( You're sister is not a nice person anymore, Tatiana. If anyone deserves Alexander it's you for still being the same person you were at the start of the book, the same person that Alexander fell in love with. I hope, beyond everything, that you break your promise so that he has a reason to call things off with your sister so you can be together!!!!" </blockquote>

The ups and downs every few % did my head in. One minute they were kissing and saying nice things and the next they were shouting and arguing with each other.

I thought it would improve after the halfway point when they finally leave Leningrad but it continued for another 10% or so. I was expecting them to do the deed and then be all nice and happy. And this was the case for a while. Eat, have sex. Swim, have sex. Wash up, have sex...Repetative once more.

By the 70% mark, after reading each page word for word--and after almost a month of reading--I just wanted it over with and skimmed the remaining 250 pages. I got the gist and though I was happy they got together in the end I can't say I'm interested in finishing the trilogy. Really, stupidly, long books are not for me.
  
40x40

Jeff Lynne recommended Cloud Nine by George Harrison in Music (curated)

 
Cloud Nine by George Harrison
Cloud Nine by George Harrison
1987 | Pop
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I didn’t know George at that time. I got to know George because of Dave Edmonds. I did a song with Dave Edmonds in Holland because I was doing an album over there – an ELO album – and he rang me up and said, ""do you fancy writing a song for me and I’ll come over while you’re there and I can sing it?"" So he came over and we recorded this track together and he played this big six-string bass. We recorded it, finished it and a few weeks later we’re having dinner, finished dinner, went our separate ways and he shouts down the street, ""by the way, I forgot to tell you: George Harrison asked me to ask you if you’d like to work on his new album with him!"" I said, ""what do you mean, 'by the way'?"" [laughs] As if that shouldn’t be the first thing you’d say over dinner! But that’s what happened. I got invited to George’s and I went there, we got on great and we went to Australia to the Grand Prix together to see if we were going to be pals. And we were. We were great pals and we got on great and we worked together for about 13 years or so. I love Cloud Nine because it was my first outside production that I’d done; it was a big album. And producing a Beatle wasn’t lost on me. It was like, “fucking hell! This is good, this, innit?” You know, it was great because I’d just had a year off and playing in my own studio in England and learning to be an engineer, believe it or not. I’d never really mastered engineering; I’d always been a producer and always had to tell the engineer what I wanted because I couldn’t do it myself. I taught myself how to do it myself and I was much more in tune with all the knobs. You know, I knew exactly which little tweak I needed to do because I’d been there doing it in my own studio for about a year."

Source
  
Daddy&#039;s Girl
Daddy's Girl
Victoria Sue | 2021 | LGBTQ+, Paranormal, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Gotta Love Total Surprises!
I love it when a book surprises me and I've only my self to blame! And the clue to what surprises me, is in the title, and that's all I'll say about that!

Kyron needs an omega to get him pregnant, ASAP. Tolly needs money ti keep a roof over his and his fathers heads. Perfect solution? Kyron pays Tolly to give him a son, so he can inherit the vineyard as is written in the will, and then part ways. But the longer they spent together, the more they think that neither will be able to walk away.

Kyron had a bad experience with an omega, and he doesn't WANT one, but he NEEDS one, else he will lose everything. Tolly has also had a negative experience with alphas. The animosity between them is so heavy in the beginning, you can almost taste it. But that melts as time goes on and it was so wonderful watching the ice thaw around both their hearts.

I LOVED not being able to put all the clues together as to the who was wrecking everything for Kyron. LOVED that. Got it totally wrong so well played there, Ms Sue! The WHY as well threw me!

The clues are there, people, they really are, as to what might happen and I was not putting them together fast enough, nor correctly. I loved the references to the history of this world, and the people in it, and what happened before. I loved that for some random reason Tolly is the way forward for these people. I am curious as to whether this will be a series, and I might have missed that announcement, somehow, but I feel there is more to come from this world and the people in it.

I didn't find it overly explicit, but I liked that it wasn't. It's more about the falling for each other, what happens to the vineyard, and the missing pieces of their history that matter here.

And then that surprise! *Enough said!*

5 full and shiny stars, here's hoping for more!

**same worded review will appear elsehwere*
  
    Musaico

    Musaico

    Music and Entertainment

    8.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

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    Clip it. Loop it. Mix it. Drop it. Musaico is the most streamlined interface for recording and...