Bark At The Ghouls

This was such a fun romance especially for an X-Files fan. My 2 Cents for Free! Love and Other Conspiracies by Mallory Marlowe Released August 2024 Source: Library Borrow See more @  Goodreads This was adorable and I would read these types of romances all day, every day if I could find more. It's fun, it's sweet, it's super cute and it has the Mulder/Scully dynamic going for it from the first meeting. The third act scared me because I despise that kind of thing (I'm being vague so not spoilering this review) but it's short lived, thank all the gods and dogs. There's also a cat here named Cthulu. Books need more of those, imo. I'd recommend reading it if you want something light and fun and who doesn't need a little bit of both? Final Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐1/2 Publisher Plot Synopsis  The hardest thing for a paranormal conspiracy theorist and a web series producer to believe in is finding love in this swoony debut romantic comedy. Hallie Barrett's life has i...

This was very cute on audio. My 2 Cents for Free! First-Time Caller by B.K.Borison Released February 2025 Source: Library Audio Get it at your local library or see more @  Goodreads This was a cute romance between a single mom and the host of a late-night radio show that answers random questions from its audience about relationships. Who knew those still existed? I looked it up and apparently they do. You can learn something new every day, I guess. I loved Lucie. She's been focused on raising her daughter and works as a mechanic with a bunch of men. Her ex lives across the way with his husband (? I think they're married but my brain fails me) and they co-parent their 12-year-old. She gets her fill of men that way but one night, unbeknownst to her, her daughter calls into the radio show and sets off a series of events that ends up with Lucie going viral for being so openly honest and hopelessly romantic. She hits it off with the host and is offered up a chance to allow the show ...

  Recent Mini Reviews Let's face it, most of my reviews lately are what most people consider "mini" anyhow. Most of the time I'd rather be reading than writing an essay deconstructing every part of a book, so it is what it is. Here are the quick takes and the thoughtless thoughts about the recent(ish) books I've read. This week it's all audios. I hope you find something you might like to read here! Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros ⭐⭐⭐ Wow, this is a long book! I know most people will love that fact but for me it felt overstuffed in the middle with needless (and annoying) drama to add some conflict into the romance. The beginning was perfect and the end really drew me in but I didn't love some of it as much as I did Fourth Wing. I'm really mostly here more for the dragons. We Could Be So Good by Cat Sebastian ⭐⭐⭐ I listened to this book on audio and had a bit of a struggle getting used to the narrator whose accents didn't work for me. The writing style ...

This was a bit of fun on audio. It's a mini-review because sometimes I don't have a lot of words for how I feel. Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood Released June 2023 Source: Borrowed from Library Goodreads  | Amazon The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs. My 2 Cents for Free! This was a cute romance but the heroine was a bit too doormatty for my tastes for most of the story with both her family and her mentor. Woman you are grown. All the way grown up. It is ok to put your annoying mother on mute/ignore FOREVER or to finally tell her she's a mess. She needs to hear it. Grrrrr. Anyhow, th...

This one frustrated me a little. Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson Released August 2022 Source: Borrowed from Library Goodreads  | Amazon Turns out that reading nothing but true crime isn’t exactly conducive to modern dating—and one woman is going to have to learn how to give love a chance when she’s used to suspecting the worst. PhD candidate Phoebe Walsh has always been obsessed with true crime. She’s even analyzing the genre in her dissertation—if she can manage to finish writing it. It’s hard to find the time while she spends the summer in Florida, cleaning out her childhood home, dealing with her obnoxiously good-natured younger brother, and grappling with the complicated feelings of mourning a father she hadn’t had a relationship with for years. It doesn’t help that she’s low-key convinced that her new neighbor, Sam Dennings, is a serial killer (he may dress business casual by day, but at night he’s clearly up to something). It’s not long before Phoebe re...

This was a very cute romance.  Book Lovers by Emily Henry Released May 2022 Source: Borrowed from Library Goodreads   | Amazon Nora Stephens’ life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby. Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away—with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and i...

How is it monthly wrap-up time already?! Anyhow, here's what November looked like. It's not too shabby with five five-star reads! I think it's helped that I've been giving myself room to breathe and catch up on some things I've been wanting to read for fun instead of putting all of my focus on books that come in for review. I might not make the release date for some of the arc's but did I ever? 😀 All I know is that I'm definitely a much happier reader now that I've taken the pressure off myself. I'll eventually get all of the reviews up over here but for now I linked up the rating to the Goodreads review. If you want to learn more about any of the books just give the book a click.  ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐⭐ I hope you're reading lots of good stuff!

Recent Mini Reviews I'm putting some "lovely" back into my blog today. Here's the rest of what I've read sorta recently (this has been sitting in my drafts for far too long!) in mini review form because life has been crazy and I might also still be a little lazy.   Red, White & Royal Blue  by  Casey McQuiston ⭐⭐⭐⭐ I apologize in advance to this book because I have no mental energy left today to compose a thought. I read this book to escape from the world and let me tell you it worked. This is the most adorable, sexy-sweet romance and I LOVED it. It's set in some sort of alternate world where a woman is the president and her son falls in love with a prince and there isn't a lot of pain and suffering (not that there's anything wrong with the pain and the suffering!) but seriously, right now, I could read this sort of thing all the live long day. T he Herd  by  Andrea Bartz ⭐⭐⭐ I think maybe I've read one too many of these "...

Happy New Year, everyone! I'm not making any resolutions this year because I have no idea what this new year may bring. The only plan I have is to read more for me, less for everyone else. That means no more ARC's, no more Netgalley, and no more review submissions. 2021 is going to be the year of reading selfishly! I hope you'll join me.  I had a slow year of reading, as most of us did, due to the constant upheaval and stress of 2020 and my usual difficulties concentrating but I did manage to finish 57 books so I'll take that as an accomplishment! Here are some of the books I enjoyed the most in no particular order. The V.C. Andrews was a reread from my childhood. Of course, it's not perfect but I loved it still! It's amazing when a book can hold up like that!  Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - link to my review Betty by Tiffany McDaniel -  link to my review The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones  -  link to my review True Crime by Samantha Kolesni...

I should probably call it quits on this author. American Queen by Sierra Simone Released October 2016 Romance   |   Goodreads    |  Amazon Source:  Overdrive Borrow It starts with a stolen kiss under an English sky, and it ends with a walk down the aisle. It starts with the President sending his best friend to woo me on his behalf, and it ends with my heart split in two. It starts with buried secrets and dangerous desires…and ends with the three of us bound together with a hateful love sharper than any barbed wire. My name is Greer Galloway, and I serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States. This is the story of an American Queen. My 2 Cents For Free! This author likes to jam a lot of stuff into her books and into her heroines and this story is no exception. She also likes to set up preposterous plot lines and run with them. I said this about her book  Priest  but it tota...

I am finally back to my review archive project. I read this back in 2018 but it never got posted because I was slacking. So here it is! Spun by JL Merrow Released July 2017 Romance   |   Goodreads    |  Amazon Source: Netgalley An ill-advised encounter at the office party leaves David Greenlake jobless and homeless in one heady weekend. But he quickly begs work from his ex-boss and takes a room in Shamwell with easygoing postman Rory Deamer. David doesn’t mean to flirt with the recently divorced Rory—just like he doesn’t consciously decide to breathe. After all, Rory’s far too nice for him. And far too straight. Rory finds his new lodger surprisingly fun to be with, and what’s more, David is a hit with Rory’s troubled children. But while Rory’s world may have turned upside down in the last few years, there’s one thing he’s sure of: he’s straight as a die. So he can’t be falling for David . . . can he? Their friends and family think they...

Today I'm sharing a silly bit of fluff I read a bit ago because who doesn't need a wee little bit of fluff nowadays? Kilty As Charged by Amy Vansant Romance Released 2016 Amazon  |  Goodreads  | Better World Books   When Catriona spots a plaid posterior passed out on the Hollywood movie lot where she works, she doesn't know her life fixing problems for Hollywood's spoiled elite is about to grow more complicated. She wants to write-off the ridiculously sexy, kilt-wearing Brochan as a con artist, but her adopted father seems strangely comfortable with a man claiming to have no memory of his past or knowledge of the modern world. A red-bearded thug, an old picture and a three hundred year-old vendetta soon have Catriona worried she could lose everything - including her mysterious time traveling Scotsman. A Highlander followed her home...Can she keep him? These Are My Thoughts: I read this book for my local reading group. There are seven of us. Th...

This book and I had some struggles. The Air He Breathes by Brittainy C. Cherry, Narrated by  Erin Mallon & Brian Pallino Contemporary Romance   Audiobook  Unabridged 8+ Hours Released April 2016 Amazon  ♦  Goodreads I was warned about Tristan Cole. “Stay away from him,” people said. “He’s cruel.” “He’s cold.” “He’s damaged.” It’s easy to judge a man because of his past. To look at Tristan and see a monster. But I couldn’t do that. I had to accept the wreckage that lived inside of him because it also lived inside of me. We were both empty. We were both looking for something else. Something more. We both wanted to put together the shattered pieces of our yesterdays. Then perhaps we could finally remember how to breathe.  My Thoughts: I’ve had this sucker downloaded to my phone for over a year so figured it was about time to get it done. Note to all: I knew nothing of the plot before going into it because I bought it a ...

And now for a complete change of pace :) Five Dares by Eli Easton MM Romance Released by Pinkerton Road April 2018 Amazon  ♦  Goodreads Andy Tyler has been the class daredevil since middle school. Over the years, he’s convinced his best friend, Jake Masterson, to perform some dangerous-looking stunts with him. But the dare they attempt on the night of their college graduation goes sideways. The firecrackers explode too soon and both of them end up with badly burned palms. But hey, nothing gets the “terrible two-o” down for long, and they recuperate in style at Andy’s family cottage in Cape Cod. As the weeks go by, both Andy and Jake grow frustrated over the inability to use their hands for all sorts of daily activities—including getting off. So Andy begins a new series of dares that don’t just cross the friendship line, they obliterate it. But what might be mere sexual relief to Andy is serious business to Jake, who only recently got over years of secret pining ...