Beau and Bett by Kathryn Berla
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This left me underwhelmed.

There was some dialogue that left me bored, they spent a whole page talking about mundane stuff that doesn't really drive the plot forward. The plot seemed to speed ahead while dragging along simultaneously.

I liked that this was a modern retelling that didn't rely on the use of magical realism. Not that I don't like magical realism but that seems to be the only way to make a modern beauty and the beast retelling work.

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For Time & Eternity by Allison Pittman
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Since becoming exmormon I've been loath to use the term "antimormon" but I'll use it for this book.

I was intrigued by protests of the author's use of exmormon forums for research. Despite this I ended up disappointed with the author's "research". The mormonism she portrayed was only somewhat accurate. For instance, Mormons do in fact read the bible. The author clearly had an antimormon pro-christian agenda and cherry picked what she chose to portray to make the mormons look bad.

I wouldn't even call this book a romance. Just straight up Christian Literature with a "mormons aren't christian" bias. I'm sorry I wasted hours of my life reading this drivel.

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House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I'm a sucker for fairy tale retellings so despite not being familiar with The Twelve Dancing Princesses I was excited to read this. I went ahead and read the synopsis on Wikipedia so I at least knew a little about it.

I don't know why but fantasies have a high dnf rate from me, unless they're fairy tale retellings, of which I will happily ride all they way to the end. Not being familiar with the OG tale put the book in the former camp and my attention did drift some and I put off reading. However, whenever I picked it back up I was sucked right back in. The world building was top notch.

It was part murder mystery and part romance and part something else, with some parts shining brighter in some places. The murder mystery was on-the-edge-of-your-seat compelling and the romance was nice and sweet, the other part was sort of blah.




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The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

You'd think Romy Silvers was someone amazing, the first person born in space and captaining a spaceship at the age of 16. But really, she's not. She's a regular teenage girl thrown into extraordinary circumstances. Aside from the being able to do astrophysics part.

I liked how well the author portrayed her loneliness, she has literally not seen another person since her dad died, that is unthinkable.

No spoilers, but I really liked what the story turned into at the end.

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Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Has there ever been a small detail in a book that made you angry every time it came up? For me it was the "ocean views". Camano Island is not on the ocean, its on the Puget Sound and trust me, they are not the same thing.

My family grew up in poverty so I'm no stranger to it. However, its not something I've had to face as an adult. And I enjoyed reading about it on the other side. I knew we were poor but I never thought about what it meant for my parents.

The insights she gave into the homes she cleaned were pretty funny. She gave some of them names like "the porn house." I'm tempted to drive over there and see how these people live.

➼4.5 stars



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