Book Review: The Ex Hex (Ex Hex #1)

Overall: 3.75/5

Plots and Themes: 3/5

Characters: 4/5

Writing Style: 4/5

Attention Grabbing: 4/5 

Ten years ago, Vivienne accidentally got a little drunk and cursed the ex love of her life. She never thought anything came from it, but skip to present day and his return to her small home town is accompanied by a string of disasters. Disasters impacting him and the very magical source that maintains the power of her little world. 

I think this was a cute and quirky read, it was super quick and a little rushed through the end, but fun to read. My new niche is these paranormal rom coms, they're just your usual romcom but with that dash of Sabrina the Teenage Witch magic themed disasters. I don't usually like second chance romances, but I'll make an exception for relatively short teenage flings. At that point, you can both respect the growth you've gone through and acknowledge that you're only better of for having waited. 

I'd recommend this one, I think it's short enough to be appealing yet long enough to give you a little adventure threaded into the romance. I don't know if I'll read the other books in the series just because I like reading these romances as standalones, but I did enjoy this one. 

Book Review: The Bodyguard

Overall: 3.5/5

Plots and Themes: 4/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing Style: 4/5

Attention Grabbing: 4/5 

The Bodyguard is a little reverse of what you might expect if you're thinking of the sort Whitney Houston style Bodyguard of the 90s. Cause though Hannah is smaller than you might assume a bodyguard would be, she's perfectly capable of handling any threat. Including threats to her latest client, Jack Stapleton. Only, it doesn't quite feel like a regular assignment. She has to pose as his girlfriend in order to be close and casual enough to protect him, but it's not always feeling like pretending. 

I think this is a cute read in line with the other books I've read by Katherine Center. She has a nice way of making a slowburn feel significant all the way through, like you're not just building building building waiting for them to kiss but that you're building a foundation outside of physical intimacy and any sort of romance. She also seems to have a thing for workplace romances that she does her best to represent ethically. 

Generally a fun read with a bit of a twist on the traditional. I liked the characters despite how dense they could be. The best friend ex-boyfriend situation was a bit underdone to me, felt like it should've been more important or shouldn't have existed. Other than that, a quick book that won't feel like a waste of time. 

Book Review: Undercover Bromance (Bromance Book Club #2)

Overall: 2/5

Plots and Themes: 3/5

Characters: 2/5

Writing Style: 2/5

Attention Grabbing: 2/5 

Undercover Bromance is the second book in the Bromance Book Club which I did not read the first book in. Liv is a pastry chef, she works at a fancy restaurant for a jerk of a boss. When she spills the dessert on the night of Mack's very important dinner date and sees her boss making moves on a young server, she quickly loses her job and finds herself blacklisted. Now, she's enlisted Mack and his friends in taking her jerk of a boss down. 

The real chemistry between these two came from the fact that they are totally unlikeable and thus deserve each other. Liv is just annoying all the time and whiney and purposefully unhelpful, Mack thinks he's the best for the fact that he reads his little romance novels. It was way too much pandering in an attempt to cater to what one might think romance readers want from a man. Getting the jerky boss in trouble was great, but the way Liv tried to brutally bully the victims into coming forward was disgusting and even more unlikeable. 

I won't be continuing in the series. It's a cute premise it just didn't need to be forced down our throats the whole time. 

Book Review: More Than Anything (Broken Pieces #1)

Overall: 3/5

Plots and Themes: 3/5

Characters: 2/5

Writing Style: 3/5

Attention Grabbing: 3/5 

More Than Anything follows Tina and Harris, two adults who were romantically involved as teens, one of whom was much more impacted by the relationship than the other. Now they're both trying to figure their lives out in some way, and trying to figure out if they still have places in those lives. 

I give this book bonus points for making me cry. It was sort of overdone, making me wonder about how realistic everyone's apathy would be or if it was more of an attempt at continuing to force trauma on an already traumatized female protagonist. I nearly DNFed a couple of times because I was just tired of the sort of cloudy way all the emotions were being portrayed and received. Like it was all about target practice on Tina. None of the other characters had any chemistry and I was frankly a little confused about the family dynamic that I had jumped into. 

But yes, the defining success of the story was how they handled her ultimate trauma and revelation. I was crying at 2AM by the end, which is how you know it's at least good enough to be addicting. So I don't know if I would continue the series, but what I read here was fairly enjoyable. 

Book Review: Love on the Brain

Overall: 2.5/5

Plots and Themes: 3/5

Characters: 2/5

Writing Style: 3/5

Attention Grabbing: 3/5 

Love on the Brain is Ali Hazelwood's second book and pretty much just as quirky and ridiculous as her first but in the most addicting sort of way. Addicting as in it's like a car crash, you just can't look away. Bee gets her dream job heading a program that could be her saving grace, the only catch? She has to do it with her academic nemesis Levi. 

The biggest problem with the plot is that there was absolutely no mystery and suspense. We as readers knew that Levi was just in love with her the whole time, even more than we would usually know in a contemporary grumpy sunshine book of this variety. And if anyone read this and had any doubts about the identity of the anonymous and somehow equally viral identity of her saving grace blogging friend, you probably don't get out too much. Don't even get me started on the convenient placement of the fainting fits- I feel like a neuroscientist should be a bit more concerned about the effects of repeating black outs on your brain function but maybe that's just me. 

I can say it's pretty much what I expected. It's by no means poorly written, just with some questionable decisions by the characters and a tad too much forced drama. I can't say that I wouldn't ever read her books again, they're just addicting like that. But I wish she would give some more depth to them without making them all so needlessly quirky. 

Book Review: All Rhodes Lead Here

Overall: 4/5

Plots and Themes: 4/5

Characters: 5/5

Writing Style: 4/5

Attention Grabbing: 5/5 

All Rhodes Lead Here is the most chronologically recent release in the Zapataverse. It follows Aurora and Rhodes as they navigate sort of cohabitation when Rhodes' son secretly leases out their apartment. All Aurora wants to do is get away, get away from her flopped relationship and get closer to the mother she lost so many years ago. And if she has to live in the apartment of a man who couldn't want her around less, so be it. 

I think this book had so many unique elements. It felt different from Mariana Zapata's other books, probably because it was one of the few not set in Texas. Plus the characters were a tad older than they usually are and I think you feel that maturity. I loved Aurora's relationship with Rhodes' son it was so wholesome and built on such a mutual love and respect. And I also loved how special the whole family dynamic was, I haven't seen anything like it before. 

My only issue was the pacing of the big reveal. It felt the last forty pages were simultaneously too long and too short. The rest of the book was perfect, but the very end dragged. Other than that, it's an easy five stars and I will forever be obsessed with Mariana Zapata. 

Book Review: Druid Vices and a Vodka (The Guild Codex: Spellbound #6)

Overall: 3/5

Plots and Themes: 3/5

Characters: 4/5

Writing Style: 3/5

Attention Grabbing: 3/5 

This right here is the culmination of all the other books, finally some plot progression. Things are falling about, not only is Tori dealing with the whole Ezra's demon taking over, she's dealing with keeping a crystal druid away from certain death/imprisonment. She prides herself in her judgement most of the time, and despite what everyone around her tells her, she's going to trust him. 

These installments are weird because we're trying to build whole friendships and relationships while still providing sort of mundane snapshots into their lives. As I've said before, I prefer the Taming Demons half of this little situation but it's still interesting to get all this insight that I was missing during Taming Demons. I think this one was a lot more action-packed than the last two segments, and I'm finally feeling like something crazy has to happen in the next installment. 

Again, I don't love this series as much as Taming Demons but I'm appreciating seeing everything unfold book by book.