ReportWire

Tag: book review 2024

  • Spend Your Vacation With Noué Kirwan’s Frequent Fliers

    Spend Your Vacation With Noué Kirwan’s Frequent Fliers

    [ad_1]

    The adult romances this summer have been checking all our boxes! We at THP love to explore rich stories and characters, and today’s no different. We’re excited to review Noué Kirwan’s latest novel, Frequent Fliers.

    Frequent Fliers by Noué Kirwan follows Melanie “Lanie” Turner, a woman who somehow becomes the best mate/maid of honor at her cousin Gemma’s wedding. Oh, and Gemma’s marrying Lanie’s lifelong crush Jonah. As Lanie travels between New York City and London to plan the wedding, she repeatedly runs into a handsome, no-nonsense seatmate named Dr. Ridley Aronsen.

    Can Lanie make things work with Ridley? Or will they just barely miss the right timing? We won’t keep you waiting too long. Here are three things we love about Frequent Fliers by Noué Kirwan!

    Cover: Frequent Fliers by Noué Kirwan
    Image Source: HarperCollins Publishers

    Book Overview: Frequent Fliers

    Content Warnings: parental abandonment, parental neglect, anxiety, and panic attacks, mention of partner death, mention of terminal disease, divorce, mention of cheating

    Summary: Lanie Turner has some loose ends:
    – A     nearly complete PhD.
    – A job she     basically enjoys.
    – And a lifelong crush…that she’s     almost gotten over.

    On a trip to reunite with her family in England—and said crush, Jonah—Lanie intends to take care of one of those items. Her favorite cousin, Gemma, is engaged…to Jonah. And they want Lanie to be both their maid of honor and best “mate” at the wedding. It’s the perfect opportunity to prove the pitying gazes wrong: she’s over Jonah. Really.

    As Lanie travels between New York City and London to help with wedding prep, she befriends her handsome seatmate. Dr. Ridley Aronsen—a widower and single father—is prickly at first, but feisty Lanie reminds him of a more carefree time in his life. And after a steamy layover in Iceland, the pair take a direct flight from seatmates to lovers. Ridley even agrees to be her plus-one for the wedding. For once, everything seems to be falling into place.

    But Lanie’s used to getting hurt, and Ridley finds opening up difficult. How will a long-distance relationship even work once Lanie’s back in NYC permanently? It’s easy enough to let one more loose thread unravel…after all, life’s problems seem tiny from thirty-five thousand feet in the air.

    Tough Conversations

    We absolutely love Frequent Fliers for the way it addresses finding love after loss. It’s been almost three years since Ridley lost his wife, Thyra. Then, when he meets Lanie, he hesitates to open up about his family and reveal the truth about his late wife and 14-year-old daughter, Beatrix. But Ridley starts to care for and love Lanie faster than he can tell Bea. And the reality is this: introducing a new partner to his daughter takes a lot more difficult conversations, parenting, and breakdowns than he could’ve expected.

    Lanie’s Development

    The main character’s development is our next reason for loving Noué Kirwan’s Frequent Fliers. Lanie’s past relationships have taught her not to expect the good in people. She’s gotten used to people finding any reason not to be with her anymore. But Lanie learns that she needs to love and value herself and be the most important person in her life before committing to someone else. Lanie’s romance with Ridley shows that someone loves her enough to stay and find her no matter where she goes.

    The Wedding

    Are we suckers for big wedding celebrations in books? Yes, and we have no shame in admitting that! Gemma and Jonah’s wedding in Frequent Fliers comes and goes with minimal issues, thanks to Lanie being at the helm. But the whole time, she’s anxiously awaiting Ridley’s response after she confessed her love in a drunken voicemail. We love that the author didn’t skip to the end immediately after the wedding and actually took more time to develop Lanie and Ridley’s relationship and find its true happy ending.

    Noué Kirwan’s Frequent Fliers offers us a unique, emotional, and relatable story about showing up for loved ones and finding love after loss.

    Frequent Fliers by Noué Kirwan is out August 13th, and you can preorder a copy of it here!

    What do you think about Noué Kirwan’s Frequent Fliers? Do you have it on your TBR? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!

    Want to hear some of our audiobook recommendations? Here’s the latest!

    TO LEARN MORE ABOUT NOUÉ KIRWAN:
    INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | TWITTER | WEBSITE

    [ad_2]

    Julie Dam

    Source link

  • We’re Falling For The Next Best Fling By Gabriella Gamez

    We’re Falling For The Next Best Fling By Gabriella Gamez

    [ad_1]

    It’s no secret that one of our biggest weaknesses is a swoony adult romance. Gabriella Gamez’s debut novel, The Next Best Fling, may just be our favorite one this year! And we can’t think of a better time to read it (or re-read it) than now, just before the peak of the summer.

    The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez follows Marcela Ortiz, a plus-size, Latina librarian who’s been secretly in love with Ben Young, her best friend from college. When Ben gets engaged, she realizes it’s time to move on. But what she doesn’t realize is how much Theo Young, Ben’s older brother, will change her life with a rebound relationship.

    We read this book in one sitting, so we can tell you just how much we’re obsessed with this debut! Here are three things we love about Gabriella Gamez’s The Next Best Fling!

    Cover: The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez
    Image Source: Hachette Book Group

    Book Overview: The Next Best Fling

    Content Warnings: fatphobia, parental abandonment, divorce, codependent/toxic friendship, emotional manipulation

    Summary: Librarian Marcela Ortiz has been secretly in love with her best friend for years—and when he gets engaged, she knows it’s long past time to move on. But before she gets the chance, she has a bigger problem to contend with in the form of Theo Young, ex-NFL player and older brother of the man she’s in love with. When she discovers Theo’s plans to confess his feelings for his brother’s fiancée at their engagement party, Marcela is quick to stop him—despite how tempting it is to let him run away with the bride-to-be. She manages to convince Theo to sleep off his drunken almost-mistake at her place and when they arrive at a family brunch the next day together, everyone wrongly assumes they hooked up.

    Since Theo needs a cover for his feelings for the bride and Marcela needs a distraction from her unrequited feelings for the groom, they decide to roll with the lie. Until one late night at a bar, they take it a step further and discover a layer of attraction neither realized existed. Soon, they find themselves exploring the simmering chemistry between them, whether in library aisles or Marcela’s bed. There are no boundaries for the rebound relationship they form—just a host of complicated feelings, messy familial dynamics, and uncovered secrets that threaten to tear them apart before they can even admit to themselves that their rebound is working. Maybe a little too well.

    Marcela’s Relatability

    We love when a book makes us feel seen, and The Next Best Fling does exactly that! The main character, Marcela, has a lot of baggage. But who doesn’t? Her father left her when she was 12, and she’s been pining after her best friend Ben for years. She’s dealt with dating and hooking up with people who have treated her terribly for being plus-size. Marcela’s character is so relatable, both in how she copes with trauma and in the growth she goes through. And it helps that she’s a huge bookworm like us, even starting a YA book club at her library. We want to be her when we grow up (we say as if we aren’t around the same age).

    Theo’s Green Flags

    If we ever met someone who treats us the way Theo treated Marcela, we’d fold immediately. Because we fell in love with the way he communicates with Marcela and is as honest as he can be, given his past trauma. Theo respects Marcela’s boundaries, making sure she initiates the intimacy she’s most comfortable with. He took two weeks to plan a proper date with a super sweet surprise at the end of the night. And he pays attention to so many details about Marcela that even we forgot about. Theo’s just a 10/10 love interest. We want to know how to find someone like that ourselves.

    Their Chemistry

    Okay, we need another section just to talk about Marcela and Theo’s chemistry because hello?? We can honestly say we’ve never giggled this much reading an adult romance before! Their flirting and banter checked off all our boxes. We can feel the passion radiating off our main characters. Not only that, but they make each other better people when they’re together. They share so much patience while figuring out their complicated relationship. And there’s a perfect balance between the sweet romance, the emotional angst, and, of course, the spicy scenes!

    Good news! The Next Best Fling is only the first in Gabriella Gamez’s Librarians in Love series, so we’re already excited for the next installment. Will it be Marcela’s best friend Angela exploring her asexuality? Or will it be the mysterious managing librarian Erica? Either way, we hope this isn’t the last time we’ll see Marcela and Theo!

    Gabriella Gamez’s debut captures the perfect blend of a swoony and spicy romance, combined with an emotional plot that will have you crying, laughing, and everything in between!

    The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez is out July 9th, and you can preorder a copy of it here!

    Have we convinced you to read The Next Best Fling yet? Are you giving this debut romance a try? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!

    Want to hear some of our audiobook recommendations? Here’s the latest!

    TO LEARN MORE ABOUT GABRIELLA GAMEZ:
    INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | TWITTER | WEBSITE

    [ad_2]

    Julie Dam

    Source link

  • Book Review: So Let Them Burn By Kamilah Cole

    Book Review: So Let Them Burn By Kamilah Cole

    [ad_1]

    Do you love dragons, magic, and mythical legends? Then you should add So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole to your TBR! We love diving into new fantasy worlds, and the one featured in So Let Them Burn is definitely immersive! Check out what we thought about it in our review below.

    So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole
    Image Source: Courtesy of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

    Book Overview

    Summary: Faron Vincent can channel the power of the gods. Five years ago, she used her divine magic to liberate her island from its enemies, the dragon-riding Langley Empire. But now, at seventeen, Faron is all powered up with no wars to fight. She’s a legend to her people and a nuisance to her neighbors.

    When she’s forced to attend an international peace summit, Faron expects that she will perform tricks like a trained pet and then go home. She doesn’t expect her older sister, Elara, forming an unprecedented bond with an enemy dragon—or the gods claiming the only way to break that bond is to kill her sister.
     
    As Faron’s desperation to find another solution takes her down a dark path, and Elara discovers the shocking secrets at the heart of the Langley Empire, both must make difficult choices that will shape each other’s lives, as well as the fate of their world.

    Content Warnings: death, violence, war, colonization, racism, PTSD

    Intriguing Magic And An Exciting Plot

    Epic fantasies with in-depth histories and backgrounds are a staple in the fantasy genre. That’s why we really enjoyed how So Let Them Burn was filled with rich world history and intriguing mythology. We felt immediately transported into the world through the vivid description of its past. We were drawn to how Elara and Faron’s magic was rooted in their ancestry and how the dragons came to be in the Langley Empire. The interconnectedness of all of these contrasting aspects made So Let Them Burn a dynamic read.

    Dynamic Relationships

    Do you love sister relationships in books? Then you’ll enjoy reading about Faron and Elara! Both sisters have very different personalities but they definitely have one mission in common, protect the other no matter the cost. We also enjoyed the romances in So Let Them Burn which will have something for everyone. Are you a fan of the enemies-to-lovers trope? What about the childhood rivals-to-lovers trope? Then you’re in luck! We’re also excited to see how the relationships between both of the girls and the saints change in the next book.

    Character Growth

    We enjoyed watching how both of the main characters grew throughout the course of the book. Faron delved deeper into her relationships with the gods and their history. Meanwhile, Elara learned what it was truly like to be in the spotlight. They each persevered and fought tremendous challenges head-on. Seeing how they adapted and changed while sticking to their core values was inspiring and encouraging to see. We can’t wait to see how these characters continue to grow in the sequel!

    So Let Them Burn is a story of family, self-discovery, and magic that will leave you wanting more!

    Grab your copy of Kamilah Cole’s So Let Them Burn here!

    What’s your favorite magical creature? Let us know in the comments below or by tweeting us @TheHoneyPop! You can also visit us on Facebook and Instagram!

    Looking for more book reviews? Check this out!

    TO LEARN MORE ABOUT KAMILAH COLE:
    INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | WEBSITE

    [ad_2]

    Paige Lobianco

    Source link