PLBR Book Reviews 2018 - ELLES BOOK BLOG

ELLES BOOK BLOG

A VERY BOSSY CHRISTMAS BY KAYLEY LORING

11/27/2020

A Very Bossy Christmas is the first book I've read by Kayley Loring and I am officially obsessed! This is a hilarious novel, one I fell in love with the second I started reading. I highly recommend it!

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: October 26, 2020
Genre: Romantic Comedy | Holiday Romance
Series: Complete Standalone
Pages: 255ages
Format: eBook. Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited.

What’s the actual last thing you’d ever want your executive assistant to see you doing the morning after you had hot, drunk, angry sex with her in a terrible hotel room? Dancing around your terrible hotel room to “Come and Get Your Love” like Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy—naked? Yeah. Me too.

And yet, here we are.

This isn’t even the most unprofessional thing that’s happened between us in the past couple of weeks.

The first was when I agreed to let her have Christmas Day off, but only if she goes with me to three family gatherings as my fake girlfriend.

The second was when she caught me belting out a Christmas song on stage in the awful hotel bar.

MEXICAN GOTHIC BY SILVIA MORENO-GARCIA

11/24/2020

While I thought Mexican Gothic was good, it didn't live up to the hype for me. I thought the beginning was strong and towards the middle all the way to the end it was too bizarre for my liking.

Rating: ★★★
Release Date: June 30, 2020
Genre: Gothic Horror. Historical (the 50s)
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 334 pages
Format: Hardcover from the Book of the Month Box.

An isolated mansion. A chillingly charismatic aristocrat. And a brave socialite drawn to expose their treacherous secrets. . . .From the author of Gods of Jade and Shadow comes “a terrifying twist on classic gothic horror” (Kirkus Reviews) set in glamorous 1950s Mexico.

After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region.

Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her

NO-ONE EVER HAS SEX ON CHRISTMAS DAY BY TRACY BLOOM

11/22/2020

Tracy Bloom does it again! No-One Ever Has Sex on Christmas Day is another hilarious book in the series! This one is full on Christmas cheer and I enjoyed it immensely.

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: October 24, 2017
Genre: Chick Lit. Holiday Reads.
Series: No-one Ever Has Sex series #3 (read in order).
Pages: 298 pages
Format: Paperback. Purchased.

A dream family Christmas or a total nightmare? Katy and Ben are about to find out...

Katy’s been stuck in the office away from her family so she wants it all: snow (fake or real), the Michael Bublé Christmas album, whatever it takes.

There’s only one thing missing as far as her husband Ben is concerned: another baby to complete their family. But Katy isn’t so sure she's ready yet…

Ben may be playing the role of Master Elf in the pre-school nativity but he is struggling to master his own family life. With romantically-challenged friends, an ex who refuses to go away and Katy's mum's 64-year-old toy boy thrown into the mix, Christmas looks like it could be going off the rails… Never mind family planning, can Katy and Ben even plan to make it to the end of Christmas Day?

BREAK ME BY MEAGAN BRANDY

11/22/2020

I've been looking forward to Royce's book since the beginning of the Brayshaw series and this one did not disappoint! Ladies, you are going to love this brooding bad boy!

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: November 18, 2020
Genre: Enemies-to-Lovers, new adult romance.
Series: Brayshaw series #5 (can stand alone).
Pages: 500 pages
Format: eBook. ARC kindly provided by the author.

I had a plan, and it was solid.

Track down what was hidden away and take pleasure in toying with it.
Toying with her.

That plan, it worked like a charm.
Until it didn’t.

Turned out, the feisty little thing I found was far from what I hoped for.
She was different from all I knew and more than I expected.

She was light, and I’m the bastard who led her into darkness.
But this girl... she followed with a smile.

I told her I break pretty things. She asked me to promise.

THE TWELVE DATES OF CHRISTMAS BY JENNY BAYLISS

11/20/2020

If you're looking for a sweet and festive holiday read then you can't go wrong with The Twelve Dates of Christmas! I adored this one. It put me in the Christmas spirit!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: October 13, 2020
Genre: Christmas Romance. Chick Lit.
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 368 pages
Format: Paperback. ARC from the publisher.

'Tis the season for finding romance in this hilarious and uplifting holiday read

When it comes to relationships, thirty-four-year-old Kate Turner is ready to say "Bah, humbug." The sleepy town of Blexford, England, isn't exactly brimming with prospects, and anyway, Kate's found fulfillment in her career as a designer, and in her delicious side job baking for her old friend Matt's neighborhood café. But then her best friend signs her up for a dating agency that promises to help singles find love before the holidays. Twenty-three days until Christmas. Twelve dates with twelve different men. The odds must finally be in her favor . . . right?

Yet with each new date more disastrous than the one before--and the whole town keeping tabs on her misadventures--Kate must remind herself that sometimes love, like mistletoe, shows up where it's least expected. And maybe, just maybe, it's been right under her nose all along. . .

NO-ONE EVER HAS SEX IN THE SUBURBS BY TRACY BLOOM

11/18/2020

No-One Ever Has Sex in the Suburbs is the second book in this hilarious series by Tracy Bloom. If you enjoy chick lit novels about motherhood, marriage, and shenanigans, you need these books!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: June 23, 2015
Genre: Chick Lit. Romcom.
Series: The No-One Ever Has Sex series #2
Pages: 400 pages
Format: Paperback. Purchased.

Praise for No-One Ever Has Sex on a Tuesday:

"This hilarious book will sweep you up in its sheer brilliance" Marie Claire

Ben and Katy haven't had sex since Ben found out about her one-night stand with her childhood sweetheart, Matthew.

Not only that but the arrival of a new-born baby has blown their relationship apart like a hand grenade.

Drastic measures are required, so they swap roles hoping that everyone will be happier... Only it’s not as easy as they thought. When a desperate Ben starts secretly accepting help to solve his childcare disasters – from Matthew’s wife – it could mean the end of everything. Can their relationship survive the lies and suspicions and will they ever have sex again?

HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT BY LAURA HANKIN

11/15/2020

Happy and You Know It was an unexpected pleasure! It's a scandalous read, and one perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Sarah Pekkanen. I can't wait to read more from the author!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: May 19, 2020
Genre: Women's Fiction
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 383 pages
Format: Hardcover from Book of the Month Box

A dark, witty page-turner about a struggling young musician who takes a job singing for a playgroup of overprivileged babies and their effortlessly cool moms, only to find herself pulled into their glamorous lives and dangerous secrets....

After her former band shot to superstardom without her, Claire reluctantly agrees to a gig as a playgroup musician for wealthy infants on New York's Park Avenue. Claire is surprised to discover that she is smitten with her new employers, a welcoming clique of wellness addicts with impossibly shiny hair, who whirl from juice cleanse to overpriced miracle vitamins to spin class with limitless energy.

There is perfect hostess Whitney who is on the brink of social-media stardom and just needs to find a way to keep her flawless life from falling apart. Caustically funny, recent stay-at-home mom Amara who is struggling to embrace her new identity. And old

SEE ME AFTER CLASS BY MEGHAN QUINN

11/12/2020

See Me After Class is a hilarious romantic comedy about two teachers who can't stand each other (at first). I loved this book so much! It has all the belly laughs I needed and more!

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: November 12, 2020
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Series: Complete Standalone (so far...)
Pages: 430 pages
Format: eBook. ARC kindly provided by the author.

"Did you have relations with my brother . . ."

Good question.

I’d like to preface this by saying it was never my intention to ever get involved in a workplace romance, let alone get involved with the most surly, agitating, and pompous man I’ve ever met who just so happens to be my new friend’s brother.

My intentions were to show students how English and reading books could actually be fun and make a new life for myself in the suburbs of Chicago.

But so far, I’ve managed to be called into the principal’s office.

Coerced into participating in the teacher's badminton league.

And instigated into passionate fights with Arlo Turner over

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS BY WENDY LOGGIA

11/9/2020

This is my first Holiday read of the year and I am so excited because it was a winner! All I Want for Christmas is a sweet, clean, young adult romance with all the holiday cheer!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: November 3, 2020
Genre: Young Adult, Holiday Romance
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 240 pages
Format: eBook. ARC from the publisher.

This sweet and magical romance about a girl who has just one wish--someone to kiss under the mistletoe--is the perfect holiday escape!

Bailey Briggs is counting down the days to Christmas: she lives for holiday music, baking cookies, going on snowy sleigh rides, and wearing her light-up reindeer ears to work at Winslow's bookstore. But all she really wants this year is the one thing she doesn't have: someone special to kiss under the mistletoe. And she's 100 percent certain that that someone isn't Jacob Marley--athlete, player, and of questionable taste in girlfriends--and that Charlie, the mysterious stranger with the British accent, is the romantic lead of her dreams. Is she right?

This will be a December to remember, filled with real-life Christmas magic . . . and, if she stays on Santa's nice list, a wish that just might come true.

GET A LIFE, CHLOE BROWN BY TALIA HIBBERT

11/6/2020

Get a Life, Chloe Brown is one heck of a charming read and I loved every minute of it! While there were minor things that bothered me, when I think of the book as a whole, I loved it.

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: November 5, 2019
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Series: The Brown Sisters #1 (can stand alone)
Pages: 387 pages
Format: Paperback. Purchased.

A witty, hilarious romantic comedy about a woman who’s tired of being “boring” and recruits her mysterious, sexy neighbor to help her experience new things--perfect for fans of Sally Thorne, Jasmine Guillory, and Helen Hoang!

Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost—but not quite—dying, she’s come up with seven directives to help her “Get a Life”, and she’s already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamorous family’s mansion. The next items?

Enjoy a drunken night out.
Ride a motorcycle.
Go camping.
Have meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex.
Travel the world with nothing but hand luggage.
And... do something bad.

GOURD TO DEATH BY KRISTEN WEISS

11/4/2020

The Pie Town Mystery series is one of my favorite within the cozy genre and Gourd to Death did not disappoint! This is the perfect fall read as well.

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: August 25, 2020
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Pie Town Mystery series #5
Pages: 302 pages
Format: eBook. I received an ARC from the publisher.

This Halloween, pie shop proprietor Val Harris must patch together clues to solve a murder by pumpkin . . .

As the owner of Pie Town, Val’s been tapped to judge the pie making contest at the annual pumpkin festival in the coastal California town of San Nicholas. Things could get sticky though—her boyfriend, cop Gordon Carmichael, is entering the competition with his “special” family pumpkin pie recipe. But Val’s got bigger problems than a conflict of interest when she and her flaky piecrust-maker Charlene discover another contestant crushed under an enormous pumpkin.

When grudge-holding Chief Shaw comes up with a half-baked reason to toss Carmichael off the case and onto the suspect list, it's up to Val and Charlene to find the tricky killer. But as they dodge lethal pumpkin cannons and follow the clues into a figurative and literal maze, the pie pals are in for the scariest Halloween of their lives—and it may be their last . . .

WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING BY ALYSSA COLE

11/2/2020

While When No One is Watching is one of the most original thrillers I've ever read, the story was extremely slow. I loved the plot but I feel like I needed it to be faster paced.

Rating: ★★★
Release Date: September 1, 2020
Genre: Psychological Thriller. Suspense.
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 360 pages
Format: Paperback. Purchased.

Rear Window meets Get Out in this gripping thriller from a critically acclaimed and New York Times Notable author, in which the gentrification of a Brooklyn neighborhood takes on a sinister new meaning…

Sydney Green is Brooklyn born and raised, but her beloved neighborhood seems to change every time she blinks. Condos are sprouting like weeds, FOR SALE signs are popping up overnight, and the neighbors she’s known all her life are disappearing. To hold onto her community’s past and present, Sydney channels her frustration into a walking tour and finds an unlikely and unwanted assistant in one of the new arrivals to the block—her neighbor Theo.

But Sydney and Theo’s deep dive into history quickly becomes a dizzying descent into paranoia and fear. Their neighbors may not

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