Reading Recap 4 - Lyla Sage, Peyton Corinne, Jamie Wesley, and more!

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Shout-Outs:

 @Soarinwithsarah and @Makslibrary

Books:

• Fortunate Misfortune 
• Chasing Headlines 
• Stick to Me 
• The Trouble with Love and Coaches 
• Tied Together 
• The Infinite Infinite 
• Liar Land 
• Wild and Wrangled 

For links to the books discussed in this episode, click the link here to take you to the Google Doc to view the list.

For episode feedback, future reading and author recommendations, you can text the podcast by clicking the "Send us a message button" above.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
welcome back.
I'm krista balls and you arelistening to where I left off a
bookish podcast, and today I amsharing a reading recap of what
I have read lately.
I have not done one of these inabsolutely forever and I am
skipping over a lot of books, soI just had to pick some.
And the reason that also it hastaken me forever, uh, to make

(00:32):
one of these is because, a, I'vehad a lot of amazing authors on
and I am going to continue tohave a lot of amazing authors on
, but b is because, um, I justwanted to make this so formal
and like write out my wholelittle like blurbs that I make
for every single book, and Idecided that I'm just going to
record it.
So this one's gonna be a littlebit more casual, like the first

(00:54):
couple I had already written.
So they're still gonna be theirnormal format.
But the back half of the booksI was like I just want to talk
to you about books that I enjoy.
So here you go, you are gettingthat I enjoy.
So here you go, you are gettingthat today.
So it's a little bit more kindof off the cuff, but I really
did love a lot of these booksI'm talking to you about them.
A lot of them I had as arcs andthey are already out now, which

(01:16):
tells you how behind I am.
So, anyway, before I get intothat, I have to tell you a
random, super random story thatactually kind of has nothing to
do with books.
Oh, actually, okay, before Iget into that, I almost forgot
to say I'm like I was notlooking at my outline and then I
looked at my outline, so I needto touch on this before I get

(01:37):
into my random, weird story.
Okay, so I did want to say thatI have actually been reading a
lot of fantasy lately, but todayI'm going to talk to you about
none of that.
Um, and this episode iscompletely all romance just
before we get started.
So you know, this is allromance, we're all all romance.
You know, at some point youmight get some other genres from
me and, to be fair, a lot ofthe author interviews I've had

(02:01):
lately have been more of a mixof different genres.
So there, there you go.
There's where you're getting it.
I am going back to my roots, asrequested from listeners, you
and I am giving you some moreromance.
So, yeah, this is literallythis is all going to be romance.
Some is YA, some is kind of newadult and then most is like
contemporary adult romance.

(02:22):
So you have a mix.
So anyway it's romance.
You should not be shocked,coming from me.
I'm back in my roots.
I wanted to do all romance.
This is an insert, uh, fromediting Kristen I you know.
So I was listening to the storythat I had here.
Originally it was random and itwasn't very entertaining.

(02:42):
So I decided to take this timeto tell you some of the awesome
books that are on my TBR that Ican't wait to get to.
And, you know, maybe you'llfind a new book.
This way, I'm going to kind oflike give you a really rough,
just kind of not really asynopsis, but just kind of tell
you slightly what they're about.
But anyway, this is what iscurrently on my TBR.

(03:05):
So if you're wondering, how doI get TBR recommendations, some
of it is definitely like whatlooks good on Instagram.
Others are authorrecommendations whenever they
come on the podcast, or authorfriends that give me recs, and
then friends or bookstagrammersthat I trust, so you know, or
just seeing books that come out,reading the blurb and liking

(03:26):
them.
So that's kind of what.
What's here, but a lot of these.
I think almost all of these areactually indie books, and I
really like reading indie booksa lot, so I constantly do that.
I'm always looking for newauthors and I try to constantly
just like try a bunch of newauthors all the time.
So that is what I'm doing now.

(03:47):
Okay, this is what is on my tbr.
Book one on my tbr.
This is romance.
It is called fortunatemisfortune and it is by Mia
Oncha, and this is book one inthe clear lake series and it's
she is a soccer player and he isa former nationally ranked

(04:08):
swimmer.
That's all I know about aboutthat, but sounds good.
So that that is romance numberone.
Then we have hold on.
Let me look it up on Goodreads,because it really helps me to
see the covers.
I have most of these justhanging out on my Kindle waiting
for me.
Here we go.
I have most of these justhanging out on my Kindle waiting
for me.
Here we go, chasing Headlinesby J Rose Black, and this is a

(04:30):
baseball book.
I've been trying to find morebaseball.
I feel like I've been readinglike only hockey, and so I'm
trying to branch out to othersports.
Here I am.
This is in the Chasing Victoryseries and it is book one Again.
It's called Ch headlines by jrose black, and there's a texas
school in here.
He's the baseball player.

(04:51):
Texas school what is she?
Okay, so it's set here.
I'm just gonna read a littlebit of it.
Uh, they're chasing the samedream.
Too bad, they're not on thesame team.
When breslin Cooper's majorleague dreams go up in flames,
he's left with his backup plancollege baseball at Texas State
Tech in Vancouver, texas.

(05:11):
I don't know if that's actuallya real place or not.
Okay, let's see.
What is she?
Her family name is synonymouswith baseball.
Why do we know?
Ah, she wants to be a baseballscout.
Interesting, interesting, so,okay, okay, so she ends up.
So she's a reporter, it lookslike at this Texas state state

(05:36):
tech school, and interesting,anyway, he doesn't want to help
her out.
So, baseball romance seems likeshe's a reporter.
I'm in for it.
Sounds great, honestly, soundsgreat.
I know I said I was trying notto go with as much hockey, but
uh, oops.
So this next one is hockey.
I am researching for a hockeyromance episode, like I say at

(05:58):
some point, and um, yeah it.
You know, I'm trying to know,I'm trying to find some.
I'm trying to find some that myfriend has not read and she has
read every single one.
Um, it seems like of hockey.
So I am branching out and thiscover looked really cute and it
sounded good and I'm trying tofind it now.

(06:20):
Okay, stick it to me.
And this is by marion de ray,and, okay, you're opening, but,
like, can you tell me?
Here we go.
Okay, um, he, he's in the nhlwhat position, I don't know.
And oh, they've been friends.

(06:41):
Oh, that's why I like this one,because it was friends to
lovers, childhood friends,lovers, they've been friends,
ooh, that's why I like this one,because it was friends to
lovers, childhood friends tolovers.
They've been friends sincesixth grade.
And oh, she's the coach'sdaughter.
Yep, yep, okay Now.
And oh, and it's closed door.
Okay, cool, so, okay, this is,it's called.

(07:02):
Stick it To Me.
And again, all these will belinked down below.
So, and I'm like falling back inlove with my own tbr, there you
go, um, anyway, next up, I havetwo more, three more, just
kidding, I have three more.
And this one, um, up next, thisis Harriet's book and I think,
like I've said and other things,I can't even remember where
I've said it now?

(07:22):
Have I said on Instagram?
Have I said it on the podcast?
I don't know, but this is thetrouble with love and coaches,
and he is like a marathontrainer and she is trying to do
this like ultra marathon, um, inhonor of, I believe, her mother
, and so that's why she is likedetermined to do this.
Wait, I said marathon.
Is it like a triathlon?

(07:42):
Hold on, let let me look thisup.
I don't want to tell you thewrong thing on Harry and his
book.
Uh, but anyway, I this is booktwo.
I've read the trouble with loveand ink and this is the trouble
with love and coaches and Icannot wait to read this.
It is on my tbr stack and I dohave a physical copy that I
can't wait to get into.
This is in the trouble series.

(08:03):
Like I said, this is book.
Let me tell you the right thingIron man.
She's trying to finish an Ironman.
Okay, so more intense than amarathon by a lot.
Oh, 140.6 miles of swimming,cycling and running, yeah, oh no
, but anyway, she's pretty surethat she's cursed and His he's,

(08:27):
like you know, marathon trainerand I guess his formal, his
rival, is her former coach andwhen she, her coach drops her,
she needs a new one.
He ends up taking her on herroster and everything happens
from there.
And so, anyway, I am lookingforward to this one.
Love Harriet's books, Can't waitto read it, must savor it, do

(08:48):
not want to just like flythrough it for the sake of
flying through it.
So that's why I haven't read ityet.
I think it came out in April.
I pre-ordered it, I purchasedit right when it was out, but
I've been saving it until I havetime.
So I I want to read it and likereally enjoy it, because you
know I have to wait for the nextHarriet book.
So like I have time.
So I want to read it and likereally enjoy it, because you
know I have to wait for the nextHarriet book.
So like, because I'm now I will, after I read this one, I'll be

(09:11):
caught up on her backlist.
So you know that's how thatgoes.
Okay, then we have tied togetherand this is by Bailey Jane, and
hold on, I know the second book.
I bought both.
So I I went to one of theevents that she was going to be
at just to get these booksbecause they looked really cute.
And, um, I already have booktwo, and book two in that series

(09:35):
, which just came out, is hockeyrelated.
So I really want to read that.
But I'm starting from thebeginning and I do have the
special edition version withlike bow sprayed edges, so, okay
, that's a duology, so theduology is actually complete.
Then interesting, okay, so thisis tied together.
It's the Cade siblings book one, and again tied together by

(09:57):
Bailey Jane and let's see thesynopsis on this.
Oh, it's in Paris, it's inParis, okay.
Okay, she broke up with herboyfriend and she's sworn off
men and she's working at amagazine interesting, and oh, he

(10:18):
is her co-worker.
He's her co-worker, okay, andhe's one.
Oh, he's a top magazine editor,okay, at the same magazine.
So we have forced proximity andlooks like friends to lovers,
kind of Cool.
This one looks really good,anyway.
So that is book one tiedtogether and then, of course,
after that best for last, isbook two, and it is hockey.

(10:43):
So I really want to read booktwo and I can't wait to read
book one, so that one's on there.
And then also, okay, um, I havegiven you like a million
romances.
This one is not strictlyromance, but I I'm almost
positive it has like a romancesubplot of sorts.
Um, so there is romance in it.

(11:04):
Hold on, I don't want to getthis wrong either.
So I am literally I'm googlingthem, even though I know, like I
know, but I I don't know.
I just want to make sure thatI'm not, I'm not wrong.
So this one is book one in aseries and it's called the
Feminina series, and this is theInfinite Infinite by MK
Williams.
It is also on my TBR.

(11:25):
Cannot wait to read it, okay.
Okay, so she is kidnapped.
This is a sci-fi, um, sci-fithriller, and it does have some
romance in it.
Okay, it says that, basically,she gets kidnapped across the
multiverse and has to navigateher way home, and she thinks

(11:50):
that her boyfriend may be amurderer ooh, a murderer with
access to the most powerfulinvention in human history.
So that sounds reallyinteresting.
Obviously, I'm going to read it.
I have a physical copy of thisone as well, of the Infinite
Infinite, but this one does havean audiobook, so there are
multiple options to consume thisone.

(12:11):
So, yeah, it's branching out alittle bit.
I am.
And, yeah, that is the InfiniteInfinite by MK Williams and
that is book one in the Femininaseries, and that is what's on
my TBR.
Like up up tip top right now.
Um, those are some of the indieauthors books that I cannot wait
to read again.
I love that you can just findone for every mood that you have

(12:33):
.
And oh, I forgot, uh, for athriller.
I also am going to be readingLiar Land sometime soon and
shout out to Sarah for giving methat rec.
I'd already seen it on MadisonRupp's Instagram page and it
looked really good because it'sa thriller and I believe it's a
YA thriller, if I am notmistaken, but it's a thriller in
a theme park, thriller in atheme park.

(12:53):
I never knew I loved a thrillerin a theme park, but I do, and
so this again is called a liarland by Madison Rupp, and book
two, I believe, just came outand Sarah said that that was
great as well.
So again, thanks to Sarah forthe recommendation.
I trust her recommendations, Itrust Max recommendations and
also, um, I will put.

(13:14):
If I ever shout someone out, Iwill put.
If I ever shout someone out, Iwill put their Instagram handle
in the show notes.
So if you would like to alsofollow them and take their book
recommendations, then, yeah,find them in the show notes.
Again, all these books willalso be linked where In the show
notes.
So if you want to check any ofthem out and read them, tell me
what you thought, let me know.

(13:35):
Yeah, so okay, now we will geton to the actual reading recap.
That was a really long aside.
You tell that I amprocrastinating working on my
book.
I am almost in the final stagesthat I was going to say it's
terrifying and exhilarating, butI haven't gotten to the
exhilarating part yet.

(13:56):
I'm waiting for this to get fun.
Exhilarating, but I haven'tgotten to the exhilarating part
yet.
I'm waiting for this to get fun.
I'm not there yet.
I loved the writing part.
That was fun.
I loved the talking with otherauthors part.
That was fun.
The beta reader part wasstarting to get less fun because
then I had to start changingstuff and now, after all the
rounds of edits, thank you to myeditor for being so nice and

(14:17):
giving me really good feedback.
But I am not a fan of editingand I think that there are two
types of authors some thatreally like the writing stage
and some that really like theediting stage.
And I love the like initialwriting, drafting stage where
literally anything goes, and Iam not loving the editing stage,
but hopefully, on book two inthis series, I will get the hang
of it and I'll feel better andI'll like it better and I won't

(14:39):
be on such a tight deadline.
But anyway, yeah, I am, I amprocrastinating some things that
I need to do that I willobviously get done after I
record this episode, um, as if Ididn't already have other
podcast episodes to record, butyou get me just me for like a
whole episode, anyway, um, yeah,it'll be out in August.
I'll let you know when it comesout.

(15:00):
I'll be annoying, I'll be veryannoying when my book comes out,
but I am, I'm tired right nowand I don't want to think about
it and I just want to talk aboutother people's books that I
really, really liked.
So I'm about to get into thebooks.
Just remember, I do put chaptermarkers so you can skip around
if there are specific books thatyou want me to, that you want

(15:21):
to hear about or don't want tohear about.
I have all of the contemporaryromance up top, at the top of
the episode, and then later on Ihave YA.
But if you don't read YA, Ikind of think you're missing out
.
I kind of think you're missingout, especially with these books
because all of them are so goodand they have so much depth.
So I'm just letting you know.
But I organized it that waybecause I know some people don't

(15:42):
like to read YA romance.
But my question to that is why,like, a good romance book is a
good romance book is a goodromance book, you know?
First up we have Wild andWrangled by Lila Sage, and this
is the fourth book in it'stechnically called the Rebel
Blue Ranch series, but I justlike to call it the Rebel Blue
series because that just kind ofsounds cooler.
Also, I would like to say thatI don't like cowboy romance but

(16:07):
I love Lila Sage.
Cowboy romance is not my thingand I've talked to other people
who are in basically Southernstates like Texas, oklahoma, any
kind of Arkansas, like anywherein that general range.
We're all like eh, you know,the chances that we could
actually run into a cowboy arenot, like, are pretty great, and
we're all just kind of like eh,cowboy romance not for me.

(16:29):
But I have not forced, but Ihave lovingly tried to influence
them to read Cowboy Romance andstart with Lila Sage, and
everyone who has read it hasthanked me.
So I am giving you thisinformation now.
Even if you don't like CowboyRomance, I really do think you

(16:49):
will like Lila Sage.
I am so not interested inanything cowboy related, but I
loved these books, I loved theseries and I devoured them and I
finished them super quick, andthis series is also based on
Friday Night Lights.
So I feel like it's definitelymore about, like the found
family and, yes, they're cowboys, they're on a ranch, they are

(17:10):
working on stuff.
You're going to get some ofthat in the book, but I don't
know Like it.
Just it didn't read supercowboy, even though it is pretty
Western, didn't read cowboy.
For me it just read like anamazing book with really great
writing and great romances.
So, and found family and humor.
So anyway, I really loved it.
But it is technically prettyWestern.

(17:30):
They are on this ranch, theyall pretty much work on it in
some different capacitythroughout the series.
And I will also say that onething that I do that probably
annoys a lot of people, but Idon't care, because we can all
read how we want to read is thatI will read a series out of
order, and so with this series,I started with book three, lost

(17:51):
and Lassoed, which is myfavorite book in the series.
Wow, wow, enemies to Loversdone so right.
Gus and Teddy.
This is like one of the fewtimes where I would say in
contemporary romance we actuallykind of get Enemies to Lovers.
I would say that this is prettyclose.
The entire previous books, gusand Teddy have just been at each

(18:13):
other's throats.
And then you get into Lost andLassoed and it's just, it's so
good and she has to be the nanny.
He has no other options.
He does not want her in hishome, but she has to be there
anyway.
And this is just like forcedproximity at its finest.
I love forced proximity.
I love enemies to lovers.
That's what this was.
It was amazing and it had somuch depth, had so much heart.

(18:35):
I was just.
I fell in love with the seriesby reading Lost and Lassoed
first.
Then I went back and I read umDone and Dusted and Swift and
Saddled, and then I read an arcof Wild and Wrangled.
So I would like to put that outthere, that I read the series
out of order and it did notaffect my enjoyment level in any

(18:56):
way, shape or form.
It is really that good.
I will say that Dawn of Dust,the first book, is probably my
least favorite in the series.
It's not bad by any means, it'sjust I don't know.
There's something about theothers and maybe it's because I
am just getting to know thecharacters in the first book and
by the other books I feel likeI know them better.
So I don't know.
It really could be that.
So if you also have only readDawn and Dusted, I would

(19:18):
recommend continuing the series,um, just because it is so, so
good.
So now, now I'm going to talkabout Wild and Wrangled, book
four.
So this is Open Door.
Um, it's, it's a little bit onthe spicier side, but it is a

(19:43):
pretty slow burn.
So the actual percentage ofspice is probably not, uh, not
really that heavy like in thescheme of things.
But I would say, you know, Ifeel like a lot of authors have
gotten spicier lately, so it'shard for me to even like
quantify this on the spice scale.
Um, I mean, like these booksare are relatively spicy.
I would say that they'rerelatively spicy.
If you're okay with hockeyromance, you're fine with these.
They're not quite at the levelof a hockey romance book, but

(20:06):
they're probably about as spicyas a normal sports romance or a
little bit spicier than atypical kind of Berkeley romance
.
And by Berkeley romance Igenerally mean I generally mean
like Ali Hazelwood, alexa Martin, and when I say Ali Hazelwood I
mean like her original, thatSTEM trilogy of like the love

(20:27):
hypothesis, love theoretically,love on the brain.
I just said those out of order,not not some of her more recent
books that are substantiallyspicier, but kind of like your
general, like Berkeley romance.
I'm trying to think who elsewould fall under that.
I am now blanking.
Oh yeah, kind of like BKMorrison, jessica Joyce, you

(20:48):
know, like, kind of like that,like it's just a little bit
spicier than that is how I woulddescribe, describe that, uh,
describe Lila's books, but who?
They're really good, um,they're are open door, as I just
said, with this whole thing.
Uh, obviously this iscontemporary romance and I loved
it, if I have not said thatalready.
I mean, what a way to end theseries.

(21:09):
So this is the last book, likeI said for Rebel Blue, but Lila
is working on soul searching andthat book, she said, was like a
western ghost whisperer andit'll be out in September, so
that, like you will get anotherLila Sage book pretty soon,
pretty soon.
Um, I did meet her for thesigning and she was super kind,

(21:29):
super funny and very humble, soobviously I'm going to be buying
all of her books forever andever and ever more.
Yeah, uh, yeah, that's justthat's how it is, and I was
sucked into the seriescompletely.
This book was fantastic.
So, anyway, here is like mylittle plot synopsis.
Dusty and Cam were high schoolsweethearts and things didn't

(21:51):
work out.
Dusty has been yearning for Camever since she's getting
married and after an incident onher wedding day she finds
herself heartbroken in thedevil's boot and dusty that's
the like local bar and dustykeeps her company.
Can they reconcile the issuesfrom their past and find a
future in each other?
Read to find out.
So I also forgot to say thatthis was second chance.

(22:13):
This is second chance.
This is forced proximity.
Yeah, that I'm pretty sure.
That's all the tropes I canthink of.
And the whole wedding thinghappens within like first 50
pages.
So that's really not a spoilerbecause it happens right away.
But the book actually hasflashback chapters to their
relationship in high school.
So you get like their currentday and then you get the

(22:38):
flashbacks of when they weredating in high school originally
and then, of course, everythingkind of collides as you find
out why, like what happened tothem before, why it didn't work
out and why they are both stillobviously very infatuated with
each other.
And I really enjoyed theflashbacks.
I don't always enjoy flashbacks.
Sometimes it drives me crazyand it annoys me, but in this

(23:01):
book it was done really well andI thought they were interesting
and it was really cool to seesome of the characters in high
school, so I liked that.
Also, just letting you know,there is a bonus epilogue at the
end of this book for Emmy'sWedding Day, and I think it's
only in some editions.
I don't know that it's in everyedition, so I'm going to need

(23:22):
you to Google it if you don'tend up seeing it.
It brought me to tears, liketears, tears on tears, and I
can't tell you why, but it'sreally really good.
And also, I just love Lila'swriting style.
I feel like I was reading thisbook and when I read Lost and
Lassoed, there were so manytimes where I was just like yeah
, that's great, I love thatwriting.
That's a really good line.

(23:43):
Gonna need to annotate that.
Gonna need to highlight that itis really really good.
So if you have not read theRebel Blue series or if you said
I don't know, cowboys are notfor me, you know what.
Give it a shot.
Like, seriously, give it a shot.
I got the first book, lost andLassoed.
Well, I got book three, thefirst book that I read, lost and
Lassoed at the library and I'mglad that I did and decided to

(24:04):
give it a try.
So if you're not sure, go toyour local library, use a
Spotify or Audible credit, getthe audio book.
I don't know, try it out.
I would highly recommend Wildand Wrinkled by Lila Sage Next
up.
What would a podcast episode behere if I did not have Catherine
Sinter?
This is the Love Haters byCatherine Sinter.
This is her latest contemporaryromance novel and it is closed

(24:26):
door, like all of her books, andI am in the liked it camp and I
really wanted to love it.
But I'm strictly kind of in thelike to camp and you know that
Catherine Sinter is one of myfavorite authors of all time.
So I have read almost all ofher backlist.
I have one book that I have notread of hers from her backlist

(24:48):
and I'm savoring it because Ijust I don't want to be without
Catherine Sinter right now.
But anyway, I have met her.
I say twice.
I have actually met her threetimes.
I was thinking twice, but I mether a third time and I got to
talk to her a little bit morebecause it was kind of more like
a chill signing.
So that was really awesome andshe is just the best and I
officially have all of myCatherine Center books signed

(25:10):
because she is super nice andhas signed all of them and, if
you know, she has an extensivebacklist.
So that is actually kind of anaccomplishment.
Okay, so before I get into thebook, I'm going to give you kind
of a little synopsis.
So I would say trigger warningsfor an eating disorder and
intense natural disaster.
So those trigger warningsbefore I go in.

(25:32):
Okay, here's the plot synopsisthat I made.
Katie works at a videoproduction company and decides
to take a job on location in KeyWest to film a promotional
video for the US National Guard.
The only problem is she can'tswim and is terrified of wearing
a swimsuit.
She packs her camera bag andall her trepidations and heads

(25:53):
to Key West.
She gets the chance to shadowHutch, a rescue swimmer, to Key
West.
She gets the chance to shadowHutch, a rescue swimmer who
seems perfect on the outside butis labeled a certified love
hater by his brother, who isalso her boss.
After hours spent together,will Hutch retire his love hater
title.
Okay, so things that I lovedabout this book.

(26:14):
I really loved the overallmessage of body positivity
throughout.
Katie does not, like I said,she is terrified to wear a
swimsuit.
This is not her starting outgoing like I just love myself.
That is.
That is not what we're goinghere for.
This is the book, is a journey.
The book is a journey for herrealizing that she can love

(26:36):
herself and she can love herbody, even if it is not perfect.
So that is a main standout plotpoint in this novel.
So if you needed to hear thatand she has previously had an
eating disorder after I'm notgoing to spoil it, but a very
interesting, sad thing thathappened to her in her life that
made her spiral a little bit.
So now she's really trying tokind of reconcile with her body

(26:59):
and that hurdle just happens tobe in the form of her putting on
the swimsuit and learning howto swim for the promotional
video.
So she does not get fired fromher job because of course
they're making cuts.
So that was great.
And the scenes with Beanie.
Beanie is her friend which veryinteresting name.
But Beanie itanie is her friendwhich very interesting name.
But Beanie, it always made melaugh, like I laughed a lot

(27:21):
throughout their scenes and Ireally enjoyed their banter a
lot.
Um, but for me, like, the bookwas really good, but there was
just something missing and Idon't I don't know, I can't put
my finger on it and it was not abad book by any means, and I've
heard a lot of people that loveit.
So if you like, if this soundslike your kind of book, give it
a try.
For sure I love Catherine Center, you know this, but I, I don't

(27:45):
know like it.
Just it never picked up for meand I don't quite know why.
And I think what I have kind ofnarrowed it down to is that I,
I'm pretty sure I struggled tojust connect with Katie and
Hutch the way that I normally dowith really any of Cinder's
characters.
To be honest, this is framed asa self-love story over a love
story.
That's how she describes it.

(28:06):
So I think that that's, that'sthe important thing to keep in
mind, and I think that thosetopics were really great to hear
.
But for me it just kind ofslightly overshadowed the
romance and the banter that I'mused to with her books, because
this wasn't like it.
It was a story with love, butit was more about self-love than
it was the love between the twocharacters.
So for me there wasn't as muchbanter because, you know, katie

(28:30):
was trying to figure things outfor herself first, so it just
never really fully picked up forme, even with some of the
intense scenes and as always Ienjoy Catherine Stetcher's
writing style and there werestill points where I was like,
oh, that's good, that's good,but I just, I don't know, like I
wasn't completely invested tothe story, which is really funny
because I thought that I wouldrelate to Katie the most because

(28:52):
she is in Dallas, she is avideo producer and I I don't.
I really thought that I wouldjust completely relate to it,
but I don't know, it fellslightly flat for me, but not
not much.
So I would definitely suggest,I would definitely suggest
giving this book a try, but forme it was more on a liked it

(29:13):
than loved it.
But again, still a really good,really solid Catherine Center
book.
But I think that for me the romcomers, the bodyguard or things
you save in a fire rank a littlebit higher up on my Catherine
Center rating scale, but I meantrue, with Catherine's.
All of Catherine's books, likenone of them are a bad time.
You know, she makes all of herbooks so completely different

(29:36):
and so unique that I never feellike I have a bad time reading a
Catherine Sinter read.
It's just some I like more thanothers and I think that this
one was kind of middle of theroad.
I didn't like it quite as muchas I've liked some of her other
releases, but it was still areally good book.
So you know, maybe I'm just tooinvested in Catherine Sinter.
I don't know.
I don't know.

(29:56):
I've read all of them.
So if you've never read one ofher books before, the love
haters may definitely be for you, if the plot sounds interesting
.
Up next, I don't know that I'vetalked about the series on the
podcast and that really concernsme because I absolutely love it
.
I I did kind of talk about itin the hockey romance episode,

(30:17):
or no, sports romance, sorry,sports romance kind of turned
into basically hockey romance.
I am doing a hockey romanceepisode in the future with one
of my friends that I'mresearching a bunch of books for
now, but that is.
That is besides the point.
So hockey romance, that is whatthis is.
I love hockey romance.
Fyi, I have even gotten intohockey.
I've been watching all playoffhockey all the time.

(30:40):
Um, me and my friends did go tolike our book club.
Our friend group, slash bookclub, went to a hockey game.
It was so much fun.
I now have an appreciation forhockey that I never would have
found before had I not picked uphockey romance books.
So judge me all you want, but II will read a hockey romance
any day of the week.
So this is called the undoneseries by Peyton Corrine and,

(31:04):
like I said, I think I talkedabout it a little bit in the
sports romance episode.
But I need to bug you about itreally quick because, oh my gosh
, so okay, rachel Lewis, whowrote yours unexpectedly on her
episode, she it, and so Istarted reading it and wow, wow,
it was so, so, so, so, so good.
Also, just a quick plug forYours Unexpectedly, by Rachel

(31:26):
Lewis, it's a really good book.
I really enjoyed that one aswell.
So if you want to add that toyour like Kindle Unlimited list
and or buy a copy, you couldtotally do that with hers.
I liked that one a lot.
It is definitely that.
One's like the fun palettecleanser that you need after
your heart breaks with PeytonCurran's series, because Peyton
Curran's series is angsty and Ididn't know that I loved angsty

(31:49):
romance until I read her booksand I do, I do, I do now.
So okay, the Undone series,unstudy, was book one.
No-transcript.

(32:23):
How much she knows Like I lovethis book.
It is so good it's book one.
I would say that these youreally need to read in order
because there are um collidingsimultaneous timelines and with
book one there are some thingsthat are kind of happening on
the side that you find out likethat they were happening at the

(32:43):
same time and why.
And unloved, and I typicallydon't like anything Groundhog
Day, I don't like, you know,hearing the same things over, so
I normally don't likeoverlapping timelines.
I think that this is the bestoverlapping simultaneous
timelines that I have ever read,so incredibly well done.
The writing is phenomenal.
The fact that Unsteady wasPeyton's debut and Unloved is

(33:08):
her sophomore novel justastounds me.
There are going to be morebooks in this series.
She did say that she isreleasing Bennett's book next,
which it's fine.
She is releasing Bennett's booknext, which it's fine.
It's fine.
My friends were really wantingTorrin's book next, but it's
okay, I will be happy withBennett.
But yeah, we're.
We're still trying to get overthat a little bit.
But Unloved book two.

(33:29):
So with this, basically I thinkthis book is almost 500 pages.
I think it's like 450.
And there's been this wholetrend of romance books being
longer and I don't get itbecause half the time it just
makes some like it kills thepacing.
This is.
This is one of the few booksthat I think it could have even
been longer.

(33:49):
I loved the pacing of this.
I thought it was really welldone.
I completely understand whythis book is longer, because the
amount of character developmentthat happens over the course of
Unloved is insane.
So there is Ro and there'sFreddie.
Ro or Rosalie, but she goes by.
Ro is Sadie from Unsteady'sBest Friend.

(34:11):
Ro is the sunshine girl.
She's super upbeat, she's superpositive, her style is kind of
a little bit kitsch, kitschy andcutesy and she wears like
butterfly clips in her hair andshe's just adorable and pretty
and like sunshine reincarnate.
Basically, where he's reallyknown for being a player and he

(34:43):
has basically internalized thatand made himself the life of the
party all the time.
So you kind of have likesunshine meets sunshine, but of
course under the surface they'renot all sunshine meets sunshine
.
Uh, roe has an abusive.
So trigger warning for um.
It's for verbal abuse.
So trigger warning for abuse.
But it's for verb for verbalabuse.
So trigger warning for abuse.
But Ro does have an abusiveboyfriend in the beginning and

(35:04):
Freddie is failing a class and Ibelieve it's chemistry, and she
, she has to tutor him becauseRo is one of the tutors that
like works at the um, works atthe school, it's kind of like
her student part-time job.
So she ends up tutoring Freddie, who has dyslexia and
dysgraphia and I think severe.

(35:26):
Now I can't remember if it wasADD or ADHD, but he, he has a
lot of issues that get in theway of his learning that he just
needs to figure out.
You know how to kind of workaround, but none of his tutors
have ever tried to work, reallywork through that with him.
They are just really rude.
And so Freddie has honestlykind of internalized that he is

(35:47):
not smart, he is dumb and theonly thing he is good for is
basically sleeping around andbeing the golden boy.
So he has a lot of traumapacked into him.
Same with Roe in her abusiverelationship that she obviously
has to get out of before her andFreddie can even form a
friendship and then eventuallyswitch.
So it's literally kind of likestrangers to acquaintances, to

(36:10):
tutor and friends and thenlovers.
So it takes a while to getthere.
So this was more of a slow burn.
These, these books are on thespicier side.
They are on the spicier side.
I think that like L Kennedy isspicier generally and like Elsie
Silver is going to be spicier,but these are probably kind of

(36:34):
like right under that.
They're they're pretty spicy,but again it's like there's so
much character development.
It honestly kind of makes senseLike if I'm going to have a
book that has high spice, I haveto have high character
development, I have to have alot of emotional connection and
that's what these books have.
They work through a lot andthere's one point in Unloved

(36:55):
where I literally could not stopcrying and I had to put the
book down.
It is so good and it is thebest book that I have read this
year so far.
It's not even really a contest,it's just Unloved.
So Unloved by Peyton Corrine.
I would highly, highly, highly,highly recommend this book.
I absolutely loved it.
And if you like the hockeytutor trope but you want a

(37:18):
little bit of angst and traumamixed in, then this is the
series for you, and I can't waitto read Bennett's book.
Cannot wait to read Bennett'sbook, okay.
If only, though, I could showyou like a copy of my book,
because I have so manyannotations in it.
It is insane, like there are somany page flags.
It is completely annotated up.
Anyway, that just shows you howmuch I love this book.

(37:40):
Loved Unloved, okay.
Next up, we have A Legend in theBaking by Jamie Wesley.
Okay, this one is open door,and this is contemporary romance
, and I'm in between liked itand loved it.
I did listen to the audiobook,so I think, if I read the
physical book, I woulddefinitely be in loved it

(38:01):
territory.
And this is the second book inthe series, and I, again, I read
the series out of order.
I have fake it till you bake it, and I haven't read that yet.
But I started with a legend ofthe baking because it was
available on my Hoopla.
So that is that is why I pickedit, and I really needed a good
fun, like I hate to say fluffyromance.

(38:21):
But these all, like most ofthese are on the fluffier side,
like fluffy with some depth.
There we go Fluffy with somenice depth in there, which is
what this was.
I like listening to romancebooks when I am working because,
I don't know, like something,I've learned that something
about an audiobook helps mefocus, specifically like a
romance audiobook.
I don't know why, but I focusso much better at the task at

(38:42):
hand, so I tend to listen tosomething at work, and so this
was my like pick of while I wasworking when I could listen to.
So A Legend in the Baking byJamie Wesley.
Basically, what happens is heis in the NFL and on their off
season they are more involvedwith a cupcakeery that they own.
It is kind of an ode to theirgrandmas who were always baking

(39:05):
and taught them you know how tobake, and they wanted to kind of
do this cupcakeery in theirhonor, and so they tend to run
it whenever they're in the offseason, and I mean kind of on
the side when they're playing.
But, like, this book takesplace in the off season.
So what happens is the maincharacter he is amazing, he's a

(39:28):
great MMC and basically whathappens is he's at work one day
and these guys come in and theystart making fun of just the
fact that it's a cupcakeery andthe fact that, like these huge
NFL players are, you know,working at the cupcakeery and
like, isn't this too girly foryou, stuff like that?
Not the day to say that to him.

(39:56):
He goes off on them and he goesoff in the sweetest, cutest way
, talking about femaleempowerment and how he would be
nothing without his grandma andall this amazing stuff and moms,
and you know, anyway, he givesthis whole amazing speech that
just has everyone in awe of him,every female in the shop just
completely in awe of him.
And of course, as one does,someone films it on social media
and so they capture it.

(40:17):
And now he is nicknamed thetitle called Sugar Bae, and so
the sister of one of the ownersshe just recently had some
issues, she's looking forpossibly a new position and she
is a marketing guru and so shedecides to help them kind of
with some free marketing andcapitalize on the sugar bae

(40:39):
thing.
And, you know, get him to filmand do a bunch of stuff for kind
of promotion.
And he does not want to do thatat all because he does not want
any of the spotlight and theyactually, it turns out.
Um, they were best friends fora while when they were younger.
He's a little bit older thanher, but she was a little sister

(41:04):
of his best friend before theywere ever in the NFL, whatever.
They were just playing footballand like, call it, yeah,
they're in college when they,when she meets him, I'm pretty
sure.
But anyway, so they've beenfriends for a while and then
something happened and then theyweren't, and so they're in
forced proximity again myfavorite, working at the same

(41:24):
cupcakeery and they are in closequarters and I will not tell
you any more than that there's asocial media competition going
on.
Um, it's really funny, it'sreally sweet, it it's really
good.
I enjoyed it a lot and it washonestly just what I needed and
I liked how it was fluffy, butit also had a lot of depth in
there and a lot of really goodlike underlying messages.

(41:47):
So that's my kind of romance.
I would recommend it.
I really liked the Legend inthe Baking by Jamie Wesley and I
also listened to the audiobookand I liked it.
But I feel like maybe I wouldhave concentrated a little bit
more had I read it with my eyes.
So you might want to do that.
I don't know.
You can decide how you want todigest this book, but I would
recommend it.
It was really really goodGetting into YA.

(42:07):
So first up is the RomanceRivalry by Susan Lee, and this
book was good.
Oh, okay, it was really good.
So in the romance rivalry,basically what happens, you have
Irene and she has her own likebook review page and so she will

(42:30):
film, uh, different bookreviews and or like kind of take
pictures on, basically, abookstagram.
She has a bookstagram.
So irene has a bookstagram.
She's going off to college thisis her freshman year, going off
to college for the first timeand she is determined to
reinvent herself.
You start out and you get likeher prom and just kind of a

(42:50):
whole thing of how much she likebasically wants to change her
life from the beginning.
Then she goes to college andshe is determined to reinvent
herself.
She has an amazing roommate whois hilarious and is going to
help her along the way, and thenshe gets to college.
She gets to like her firstwriting class because she is
determined that she wants to bea book editor.

(43:10):
And she gets into class and, loand behold, it is her arch
nemesis online who just happensto literally be at the same
college and in the same class asher.
So they have what's called theromance rivalry.
They have to have like aproject that they're doing

(43:31):
together because of course theyagain force proximity.
You can sense the theme here.
They have to work together on aproject and as they're working
together on a project they kindof come up with a little bit of
a contest between them as welland they both post about romance
books.
But it always seems like he'sposting about the books that she
has also read and so she kindof feels like he is just a

(43:52):
copycat of her and she really isjust not too enthused with him.
So they end up working togetheron a project.
They have kind of a littlecompetition, a little obviously
rivalry going on, and eachchapter is also kind of laid out
like in the tropes.
It kind of tackles differentromance tropes, which I thought
was really creative and a reallyunique take on it.

(44:12):
I really enjoyed it.
Oh, as far as closed door, opendoor, I would say so technically
.
I feel like on the technicalside of things it's probably
technically closed door, butthere is one scene that pushes
the boundary for me of what Iwould feel comfortable saying is
closed door.
So I would say it is.

(44:33):
There's one kind of open doorscene that I think is I don't
know.
I feel like it's really on theline between open and closed
door.
So just know that going in,there is one spicy scene.
If you are, you know, givingthis book to like a teenager,
just know that.
Talk to them about itbeforehand.
Again, it's not, it's just alittle bit descriptive and

(44:58):
technically the book is closeddoor, but it's kind of like.
There is a scene in there thatthrew me off a little bit.
As far as I don't know, but itis classified as young adult.
So clearly the publisher wasokay with it to classify it as
young adult, same with a lot ofthe other books.
They're okay to put that youngadult label on there.
So there you go.
It is technically young adult,but I'm just letting you know

(45:18):
about that scene in case you arenervous or if you read young
adult, because you normally readclosed door.
I've heard a lot of those too.
So just kind of giving you aheads up about that scene.
But in all technicality it isclosed door.
I really love this book.
I was intrigued really fromminute one.
I listened to the audiobook ofthis one and I had already
requested it at my library and Ijust really enjoyed it.

(45:40):
I thought it was a fantasticbook.
The pacing was good, I enjoyedit the whole way through and it
was just a really fun, uniqueread.
For me it felt like a uniquetake.
So keep it up.
Susan Lee, I'll be reading moreof her books.
Uh, she does have a little bitof a backlist I need to catch up
on.
I need to catch up on, likeevery author's backlist.
But two more books to go.

(46:01):
This one is Young Adult andthis is Safe Harbor by Kay Cinco
, and this is in the Scoopseries.
It's book one.
So the Scoop series I had heardabout.
My friend Mac had told me yougotta read them.
You gotta read them.
You got to read them and ofcourse, as you know from having
Mac on, like, I take all of herrecommendations very seriously
and I've been wanting to readthis book forever.

(46:22):
It had been on my TBR but youknow how some books you were
just dying to read and it'salmost like embarrassing how
long they stay on your TBR andhow much you want to read them
but you just never get to them.
Get to them.
That was this book, and one dayI just downloaded it.
I re-downloaded it on my kindleand I was like we're just,
we're gonna read it, that's whatwe're gonna do, especially
because it's like a very summeryseries, because they all work
at this ice cream shop calledscoops so, and it each book in

(46:45):
the series details a differentcouple who works at said ice
cream shop.
So this is book one.
Um, safe harbor it was.
It was a total five star book.
I loved it Very, very good.
Uh, however, just keep in mindit will tear you apart.
You're going to need a lot oftissues.
I thought it was going to belike a kind of fluffy, happy

(47:07):
rom-com and it is very sad.
It hits a point that you werenot expecting.
There are a lot of also kind ofunderlying things that, while
they add depth, they do make ita little bit more on the sad
side.
But clearly, as you can tell, Iloved Unloved by Peyton Corrine
, so I am I'm not going to shyaway from a slightly sad book
and I sobbed at a point in thisbook that I did not see coming

(47:29):
and I literally just kept sayingno, no, no, no, no, no, no when
it happened.
So, anyway, this is safe HarborBasically.
She moves to town and she hasbeen so focused on school and
studying and everything and shehas a dream to go to Yale.
That is her dream, that's herand her dad's dream.

(47:50):
So all that she's been doing ather like preppy board school is
really preppy board school,preppy private school help is
working towards getting thequalifications to be able to get
into Yale.
So that has been her whole lifethus far.
She hasn't really put a lot ofemphasis on like friends or
going out or having fun oranything like that.
Her brother, on the other hand,has had some issues with

(48:11):
alcohol.
Her brother, on the other hand,has had some issues with
alcohol so, again, triggerwarning for alcohol abuse here.
But he has had some issues withalcohol and he has basically
been kicked out of school.
And so her parents decide tomove the entire family and upend
her life and move to this townthat they used to vacation at

(48:32):
when they were little, where,yeah, they're going to be living
now kind of at the beach house.
So her life is turned upsidedown.
She's grappling with all ofthat, she's bored and decides
that she really wants a summerjob and lo and behold, she gets
a summer job at Scoops, where aboy that kind of made fun of her
the first time she went in toget an ice cream cone is there

(48:55):
and he calls her Headband that'sher like nickname, and so,
anyway and they call him theSergeant because he is very
strict on all the rules.
Um, he has had an interestinghome life and he is raised by
his grandparents and so theyboth end up working at Scoops
and that is all I can tell youfrom there.
But this book has a lot ofdepth, it has a lot of hearts

(49:18):
and it was really good and veryentertaining.
I cannot wait to continue theseries and I would recommend
Safe Harbor by Kay Sinko and, ifyou like, if you've already
read Safe Harbor and you'vealready read the Scoops series
and you want something with thatsame kind of feeling, hold on,
I have a book for you.
So this is actually New Adultand this is, if I Never Remember

(49:39):
, by Megan Williamson.
So, okay, with this, there is alove triangle at play and
please, please, please, please,do not look up who the character
male main character lead is inthe next book in this duology,
where the black line ends.
Do not look up his name,because there is a love triangle

(50:03):
in book one and the loser ofthe love triangle gets his own
book in book two.
So do not go looking up themailman characters names of the
series.
Just download book one on yourKindle, read it all the way
through and then they'd go tobook two.
Don't look at the name, it'sgoing to spoil it for you.

(50:23):
So I just wanted to point thatout.
But oh, and this one, safeHarbor, it's looking like I
don't.
Ok, so I believe then thatmeans that Safe Harbor is closed
door, but if I never remember,remember has one open door scene
.
So it has one.
So it's not very spicy at all,but it does have one what I
would classify as an open doorscene towards the back half of

(50:46):
the book.
So just know that Going in.
Okay, if I Never Remember.
So basically she has amnesia,the female main character has
amnesia and basically obviouslyhas no idea what happened.
She knows that she had anaccident and that's about all
her parents will tell her.
She is trying to get her lifeback on track and figure out

(51:07):
where she wants to go and whatshe wants to do, but she's kind
of in this like purgatoryholding period where she's
trying to figure out just how tolive her new life, having no
idea what has gone on.
She doesn't have access to herphone at first.
She's trying to heal, trying topiece everything together and
no one is really telling heranything.
So she's going to have tofigure this out all herself.
So you do get past timelinechapters of what happened before

(51:32):
the accident and ultimatelythey collide and you find out at
the end what happened with theaccident, which threw me off.
Oh my gosh, I think I guessedit like maybe a little bit
closer to, but it it took me awhile to get this one.
So it man.
So anyway.
So she has amnesia.
She realizes that there is thisone boy who her parents won't

(51:54):
really let her talk to and shekeeps finding herself kind of
drawn boy who her parents won'treally let her talk to and she
keeps finding herself kind ofdrawn towards him and she
doesn't really know why.
And then there's this other boy, uh, that they work at the same
kind of like restauranttogether and he's really sweet
and she also kind of feels drawnto him but can't figure out why
.
Ander, it is a love trianglebetween the two guys and she

(52:16):
actually had picked one of thembefore her accident.
And now everything is differentand so she has to decide if she
is going to pick the same oneafter her accident and how her
feelings have changed and whathas gone on.
And this trio, this trianglethey have known each other since
they were little kids.
There is a lot of again,there's a lot of depth, there's

(52:37):
some trauma in there as she kindof uncovers what has been
happening in her life.
And, like I said, the loser ofthe love triangle will get their
own book in the next one.
I need to read that.
I have it on my Kindle.
It is staring me down.
I want to start it.
So bad.
And Megan Williamson is alsocoming out with an adult romance
, contemporary romance book.

(52:58):
I think it's called Sound ofSummer and that's coming out
soon.
So I'll definitely be readingthat.
I love her writing style andshe's also just incredibly,
incredibly sweet.
So I would definitely recommendchecking out Megan Williamson's
books, especially if you lovethe feeling and the kind of mood
of the Scoop series by KaySinko.
I would definitely say thatyou're going to get those same

(53:19):
kind of feelings with this bookand I really liked Megan
Williamson's writing style.
I would highly recommend it,and this definitely falls in the
loved category.
And that is my last book.
Those are all the books that Iam talking about today.
Like I said, all romance, allthe time.
You're welcome.
Eventually maybe I'll talkabout other genres, but I don't

(53:39):
know.
You requested romance, so Igave you romance and I am always
reading.
I've read a lot of books lately.
I'm trying to save a lot ofthem for some of the upcoming
episodes.
I'm going to be talking hockeyromance specifically with a
friend.
I romance specifically with afriend.
I'm also going to be doing adeep dive with Mac about Watch
Me Once.

(54:01):
I read that.
She's already read it.
I'm the slow one here thatneeds to finish it, and I have
some really amazing authors thatI kind of can't believe are
coming on, coming on in the nextcouple episodes.
So we'll just really coming uphonestly in the next couple
months and my book will be outbefore you know it.
So a lot of exciting things.
I'll keep you updated as muchas I can.
And yeah, that is.
That is all that is going ontoday, and thank you for
listening to when I Left Off abookish podcast.