Rating: 4.5 STARS Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance Series/Standalone: Love, Austen #1 (can be read as a standalone) How I got this book: Bought Emerett “Lake” Lakewood has a healthy ego and a flair for the dramatic. After losing his best friend to marriage—completely crushing his heart—he deems it prudent to distract himself, and what better way than playing cupid? He’s already got his eye on two young men desperately seeking romance, and he has a plan to hook them up. Barbecues. Photoshoots. Reciting Shakespearean love declarations. Lake is killing it. Love is positively pulsing in the air. Anyone could see it. Well, anyone other than Knight, his best friend’s dad, who cautions Lake to stop meddling. To leave love to its natural course. Lake has always valued Knight’s frankness, but this time he’s wrong. Without him, two hearts might be doomed never to find love. Besides, what does Knight know about romance? He’s barely dated in all the seven years Lake’s known him. He’s clueless. Though, there’s a thought. Knight has everything going for him. Sensibility. Kindness. Generosity. And for a forty-four-year-old, he’s—objectively—freaking hot. Why is he single? Emerett Has Never Been in Love is another prime example of why Anyta Sunday is one of my absolute favourite feel-good authors.
This book is the first in Anyta Sunday's brand new, Love, Austen series. A series where each book will be a contemporary m/m retelling of a beloved story by Jane Austen. This one was inspired by Emma, one of my favourite Jane Austen characters, and I couldn't wait to get started. As always, Anyta sucks you in with goofy and naïve but completely loveable characters. Emerett and Knight are quite frankly adorable and a perfect pairing. Emerett is hilarious. He's young and completely hopeless without his best friend, who just got married and left Emerett with nothing to do but play match-maker, with hilarious implications. Enter Knight, father of Emerett's best friend. He's good-looking, he's single and up until now, Emerett hasn't really noticed him, but Knight has certainly noticed Emerett, not that Emerett has any idea. He's completely clueless when it comes to love...but all that is about to change. Anyta Sunday writes absolutely brilliant slow-burn romance and watching Emerett and Knight tiptoeing around their feelings in a will they, won't they dance, is equal parts frustrating and satisfying, with a great pay-off when they finally get together. What's great about this book is that Anyta perfectly captures the comedy of Emma through the supporting characters and all the bad match-making attempts by Emerett. Overall, this was a really brilliant start to a new m/m romantic comedy series. There' are plenty of laughs, likeable characters and a delicious slow burn. Happy Sunday Book Lovers!
As the clocks went forward here in the UK today, it seemed only fitting to do this Daylight Savings tag that I found on Zezee with Books! This one looks like fun, so let's get to the questions! It's that time of the month again where I share with you my Book Box Club unboxing. I absolutely loved my February box and getting these boxes is such a highlight each month!
Before we get started, here's a quick reminder of the March 2021 theme reveal: Choose your allies wisely... Our March theme is AGAINST THE DARK 🕯📖✨and will pay homage to some of fiction's most daring and deadly duels between the forces of good and evil! Book Box Club members be warned - it's time for battle, are you ready? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Our March read is a dark and powerful tale of shadows, monsters, revenge and unlikely friendships, set during World War II. With a brilliantly imagined blend of real-world and fantasy, a swoon-worthy romance and plenty of demons to vanquish, this stunning hardback is sure to keep you burning the midnight oil! It's super fast-paced, tense and enthralling - perfect for fans of of Stranger Things and Shadow and Bone! Our featured read will arrive beautifully gift-wrapped and will be accompanied by a bookplate signed by the author.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Our March box will be crammed with goodies inspired by some of fiction's most fearsome warriors! We have allied ourselves with some super talented creators who will craft bespoke items especially for our March members. Standby for a supplier reveal next week!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I LOVE Stranger Things, so I'm really hoping there will be a Stranger Things inspired item. I've also heard that the book features an LGBTQ+ romance, which is super exciting! Who's ready to jump in? Obviously, there will be spoilers for this box beyond this point, so stop reading now if you don't want to know what's in this one. ⠀ Happy Sunday lovelies!
I love doing these book tags and I spotted this one on Alyssa Cohen's Reading, Reading, Reading blog. I'm not sure who the original creator was. I'm really excited to do this one as I've been a book blogger for a while now, so this should be fun! Let's get to the questions.
This month, our book club chat was all about A Pho Love Story by Loan Le.
The Turn The Page Book Chat takes place on the day after the podcast goes live at 7pm (UK). To join, just follow #TTPBookChat on Twitter. You can catch our review of the book here and listen to our podcast chat here. Next month, we'll be chatting about Lore by Alexandra Bracken. If you'd like to join us, read the book and tune in on April 13th for our podcast and on April 14th at 7pm (UK) for the next Twitter chat! Please note: This chat may contain spoilers! Rating: 4 STARS Genre: Contemporary YA Standalone/Series: Standalone How I got this book: Bought If Bao Nguyen had to describe himself, he’d say he was a rock. Steady and strong, but not particularly interesting. His grades are average, his social status unremarkable. He works at his parents’ pho restaurant, and even there, he is his parents’ fifth favorite employee. Not ideal. If Linh Mai had to describe herself, she’d say she was a firecracker. Stable when unlit, but full of potential for joy and fire. She loves art and dreams pursuing a career in it. The only problem? Her parents rely on her in ways they’re not willing to admit, including working practically full-time at her family’s pho restaurant. For years, the Mais and the Nguyens have been at odds, having owned competing, neighboring pho restaurants. Bao and Linh, who’ve avoided each other for most of their lives, both suspect that the feud stems from feelings much deeper than friendly competition. But then a chance encounter brings Linh and Bao in the same vicinity despite their best efforts and sparks fly, leading them both to wonder what took so long for them to connect. But then, of course, they immediately remember. Can Linh and Bao find love in the midst of feuding families and complicated histories? TW: Racism, hate crimes, immigration trauma, loss/grief, PTSD
This book was our sixth Turn The Page book club selection. The story centres around two rival Vietnamese-American families who run opposing restaurants across the street from each other, with two teens who, while attending the same school, can't be friends because of a family feud that no one knows anything about or what started it. What I really loved about this book was how the author combined a really sweet teen love story with a harrowing tale of grief, loss and trauma, while also highlighting the effects of racism in the community and the struggles of being forced to leave your home and make a new home in a strange country that isn't always welcoming. Loan Le does a fantastic job of making the reader really feel for these characters and what they've been through, and are still dealing with, while also delivering a fun story full of hope for the future. The characters were definitely my favourite part of the book because they're so relatable and realistic. Bao is our hero, he's funny, charming and completely lost. He isn't sure what he should do with his life; he has no drive and feels like a bit of a letdown at school, with his friends, and at home. Linh is a hard-working, over-achiever with a passion and talent for art, something her parents don't understand or approve of. She's trying to pursue her passion in secret while sparing every moment to help her parents as they struggle to compete with the restaurant across the street and the hurtful rumours being spread about them. Linh and Bao are enemies, but they don't know why. Their shared past is full of secrets and pain that Linh and Bao struggle to uncover after unexpectedly spending time together. But as the secrets and pressure mount, things crumble around them. Linh and Bao both struggle with being true to themselves, and it was a great journey to see their flaws on full display and to watch as they grew and learned to trust themselves, and each other, as the story progressed. I thoroughly enjoyed A Pho Love Story, and while it was more character-driven than plot-driven, there was plenty to keep the pace moving; from the struggles faced by just Linh and Bao to their parent's struggles and those of the community. The author made this book feel really culturally vibrant, and with the vast array of foods, the language and the setting, the locations, characters and smells came to life. I also loved the mix of Vietnamese and English when reading this and, as an English-only speaker, I found it really easy to understand the gist of what was being said. It didn't detract at all from the story, only made it more immersive. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a sweet but emotional YA rom-com full of realistic, relatable characters and incredible food!
It's time for a brand new Turn The Page episode.
This month, our episode is all about audiobooks. We'll be chatting about our favourite audiobooks and narrators, what we love about audiobooks and why audiobooks most certainly count as reading! As always, we'll also be reviewing our recent reads and discussing our book club selection for February, A Pho Love Story by Loan Le. It's Mother's Day here in the UK and today I plan to spend most of the day with my feet up, wrapped in blankets, reading with my 6-year-old. A perfect, lazy Sunday.
But when you're a mum, these things don't always go to plan, which is why I just had to do this fantastic and funny Bookish Mom Book Tag I saw on The Bibliophagist. Rules
I have my hot chocolate, so let's get to it! Happy March! When did that happen?!
I honestly can't remember the last time I did a book wrap-up, I just know that it hasn't been this year and in between bingeing Wandavision and Love, Victor over the last month, my blog has been a bit neglected. So, today I'm playing catch-up with a 2-in-1 blog covering the books I've read in Jan & Feb this year. I'm not going to lie, aside from one or two books, my reading year has been a bit disappointing so far BUT I have some fantastic books lined up for my March and April TBR and I have everything crossed that they're going to be amazing. So, let's take a look at what I've read so far this year. As always, click on the book title for the full review (if available). |
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About Kay (She/Her)
Book addict, film mad, music lover, business owner, writer and mum (not necessarily in that order), living in the UK. About Sophie (She/Her)
Sophie loves books (obviously). She has a passion for photography and spotting wildlife, and is interested in anything made with passion and creativity. THIS BLOG IS SPOILER FREE!
Rating system: 5 Stars - AMAZING!! 4.5 Stars - Almost perfect! 4 Stars - I really loved it 3.5 Stars - I liked it alot 3 Stars - I liked it (I don't typically review books that I rate below 3 stars)
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