Tag: book of the month

March 2023 Book of the Month Review: 

.Reading time 6 minutes.

Title: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi

Author: Shannon Chakraborty

Rating: 3.5/5

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

Why yes, I am aware that it is May, my apologies I think I got Covid in April and I was already dealing with allergies so I was down for the count for like weeks. It was not great. So finally, here is my March Book of the Month review…only like two months late.

         Well, this month the book kind of went off the rails and it took me four days to read it. I wanted to love it from the beginning but it took over 200 pages for me to actually get into it, but I promised myself that unlike last month I wouldn’t forget to write the blog post and I still haven’t posted the February Book of the Month as of the time of me writing this because sometimes while I like blogging, I just don’t have the energy or the want to write a post. I have cut back so much on posting in the last six or so months so I don’t really know how long that this blog will be sustainable in my life. 

         I think that is not what I need to talk about at the beginning of this post, but I felt the need to preface what’s going on in my thought process while I am writing this post. 

         I did want to like the book, I really did, but it took so long to get anywhere, the premise was cool and I love the thought of a bad ass lady pirate, I really did enjoy it as a whole, but it was so slow to start that it took half the book for me to start to enjoy it at all. 

         I loved the characters, the setting, the plot (once it got there was amazing!) The combination of history and magic was amazingly done and the prose were well written. There was a few things that I was confused about, but nothing that I felt detracted from the plot. 

         The whole section where she gets her future mission, if that would be the plot of the next one, maybe I would read it even though this one did take some time. The fact throughout that she is balancing the want to explore, to be free but also to get back to her daughter. Spoiler, she married a being of chaos and he is a disaster and that was about the moment that the book started to pick up. 

         The sailors who were kind of like the crew members of the Flying Dutchman in Pirates of the Caribbean where they start to transform into creatures of the deep, that was a fun parallel that I thought of while I was reading it. 

         It did get so good when it got there, the island plot, the fight at sea with the monster, the return from the magical island, and then the ending which could have been left where that is the ending, it could have been a stand-alone in my brain, though a series makes sense with the potential content described late in the book.

         I do want to know more about the artifacts and the devas, also what’s going to happen with her disaster husband, like she’s such a cool character and I would love to read a story with her as a younger captain, but I don’t think that’s in the cards. 

         It was good, but it took such a long time to go anywhere, but if you like pirates, magic, and absolute insanity this for sure is for you.

         Seriously, all of the characters in the main cast on the ship were all a mess and amazingly faceted, again, would love a look back at their earlier adventures that happened during their original cruise. 

         If you want to check out what else I have read this year, you totally can with January and February. 

         Until the next time I get around to writing a post I hope that everyone stays safe, happy, and healthy!

         -MJ 

February Book of the Month Review:

.Reading time 7 minutes.

Title: Georgie All Along

Author: Kate Clayborn

Rating: 4.4/5

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            Well, I am going to be honest, I thought I wrote this post weeks ago when I actually read the book but February clearly got very away from me in total and that is really unfortunate. 

            I liked the book, there should be no secret that I like books and I love a good rom-com with a grumpy/sunshine relationship dynamic and this for sure was a very grumpy/sunshine dynamic even though the main female is not sunshine all the time.

            The story starts out with Georgie having to return home because her boss decides that she’s going to take some time away and change career paths and that means that Georgie has to find somewhere else to be. Her best friend is having a baby and that seems to be a project that she wants to tackle. 

            They find a “bucket list” friend fic from middle school before they got into high school and it’s all the stuff they wanted to do around town, I kind of loved that idea.

            Well, there is only one problem, the former town bad boy was invited by her parents, who are out of town, to stay at their place and they didn’t mention the other to either of them.

            His dog is my favorite, seriously, I read this a good three or so weeks ago and I have read so many books since then. Though I really liked that holding onto tradition ideal with the necessity and understanding that times change. 

            The whole narrative with Levi’s family was so interesting and his dad was kind of the worst. I can understand why he acted out. 

            This whole book was about understanding that you don’t have to have all the answers all the time and sometimes the answers that you get are not the right ones for you no matter how much you want them to be. 

            Everyone should also know how much I hate the third act break up, that hasn’t changed, that is such a cliché in romance novels, the third act break up. I have a vow in my own personal writing to never actually have a third act break up because I don’t personally like them. 

            Overall, it was a quick, easy read that I really enjoyed and only took a few days to read. I have never read any other books by Kate Clayborn but this one for sure made me want to read other novels by her. It also really left me craving a strawberry milkshake even though I would need to pop a lactaid before or risk getting very sick in the process because your girl can’t process milk.

            Of course there were moments that I didn’t really like, her best friend can be a little over bearing and while I understand that there were still moments where that struck me the wrong way. 

            It had a happen ending and did leave the epilogue open to the future which is one of the better ways to end an epilogue in my opinion.

            I want to have more clarity, I promise that I do, but I read this weeks ago and I don’t remember all of the details, I remember a lot because I enjoyed the book but there are pieces that I don’t remember whatsoever that I feel like I should. It was a touch spicy but so much fun to read.

            I would say that if you are looking for a not too serious rom-com beach read this one for sure is for you. 

            Super short, sorry, I just don’t have a lot of words on this one, though I wish I could go back to middle and high school me and tell her that yea it takes a while and you never really have it together like you hope but that’s life, roll with the punches, you will be okay. 

            If you want to check out what I read in January you totally can because that has been up for a while and I am enough of an idiot that I forgot to write this, seriously, told myself I was going to write it and then…I forgot. 

            Alright, until next time I hope everyone stays safe, happy, and healthy! 

            -MJ 

January 2023 Book of the Month Review:

.Reading time 8 minutes.

Title: Lunar Love

Author: Lauren Kung Jessen

Rating: 3.6/5

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            Here is to a new year and plenty of new Book of the Month books, I want to branch out a little more this year, but in retrospect I did that last year and got really disappointed by a few books that I got in my boxes throughout the year itself. 

            Well, for January there was like three books that I thought sounded really great, this was one of them. I love a good rom-com we all should know that by now because that tends to be what I gravitate toward because I love stories about love, I always have. Though in the last year or so that has changed slightly to different kinds of love stories. 

            If you want to read the book and don’t want spoilers, cool, I will see you with the next post, because this one for sure will have spoilers. 

            It was very clean, if you are someone who is worried about spice, this was very very tame compared to some of the books that I have read in the past, very sweet, very cute. That’s about it with that. 

            I love the character of Olivia, she is head strong, strong willed, anxious, and an over thinker. Her family is absolutely hilarious and I wish that my grandmother had been like her Po Po, that would have made my life so much easier. I loved how traditions were integrated throughout the novel and that was such a fun thing to experience. I know very little about Chinese cultural festivals, I don’t but they are super interesting. 

            Having a whole matchmaking service around your zodiac animal was a fascinating concept, I know that is something that happens, matchmaking and online dating do go hand in hand, I have chosen to stay away from both. I am the year of the monkey and that seems ridiculous, but I know so many women who ask their dates what their star sign is, so I get it. I am on the cusp so if you ask some, I am an Aries and others I am a Taurus, it’s very interesting. I have done my star chart; do I believe in it completely? No, but do I understand how when you are born might shape your traits? Yes.

            So going between Olivia’s matchmaking service and Bennett’s app using a very pared down version of what Olivia does make for some great tension. I love a good enemies to lovers and their meet cute was super cute. Learning how to be less analytical for Bennett and more open for Olivia, it showed so much growth for both of them throughout the whole book.

            Alright, it was cute, but it was also incredibly predictable, I called the ending pretty much as soon as the app was introduced, as soon as Bennett’s job was revealed. The third act breakup didn’t make much sense to me over all to be completely honest, it really didn’t and felt out of place and a little forced, like they have to be separated to come back together. They didn’t need to be, her grandmother’s death was a huge plot point that made me sad, that could have been the thing, but here we are. 

            The whole sub-plot with the real estate agent didn’t make sense, it really didn’t fit into the storyline and it was so sparse that it just felt like a footnote, another thing to bring them together and that didn’t make sense to me. 

            The podcast bet was interesting and a more and more common trope, the manipulation on both sides made it a little weird, but again, it worked out in the end and that was what I wanted to see. 

            It was of course a happily ever after and if it wasn’t I wouldn’t call it a romance novel, if it doesn’t end happily ever after or at least happily for now it doesn’t make much sense to me. 

            Super quick read, I read through it in two days and enjoyed it, it was just predictable, so very predictable; which in some ways is expected with romance novels, but not in others. 

            Alright, well this is the first book of the year so I don’t have much to link, I’ll link December of last year because that will have the links to all of the months of last year if you want to go and see what I read from Book of the Month last year. 

            I will be back later in the week with another post, but until then, I hope that everyone stays safe, happy, and healthy. 

-MJ 

December 2022 Book of the Month Review:

.Reading time 9 minutes.

Title: Babel 

Author: R.F. Kuang

Rating: 3.8/5

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            There are probably going to be spoilers, there are going to be some brutally honest opinions on this one, and I am not going to apologize for that. So if you want to not know, cool, I’ll see you soon for another post. This is just something that I need to get out. 

            I finished the book two days ago and this book threatened to put me in a reading slump, which was super disappointing! With how this book was hyped up and the fact that everyone loved it I am trying to figure out why I just couldn’t get into it like everyone else seemed to. 

            I walked into it not knowing much besides the fact that everyone who I had seen online who read it was head over heels for it, it was over 500 pages. I slogged through it, I liked it, I did, but there were so many parts where I felt like I was reading a whole bunch of stories rather than one cohesive one. 

            All the twists and turns, it was a fascinating novel, it was very well written, and it was a good story underneath all of the prose. There was just so much prose and footnotes, I have never read a fiction book that has so many footnotes, it felt like I was reading a nonfiction because sometimes it was half the page that were footnotes. I didn’t read them, if I wanted to read footnotes, I would find something non-fiction.

            The story itself was fascinating and compelling, pretty much until patricide and then everything fell apart and like everyone died. I loved the story of coming up at Oxford, of learning to be as a person. I loved the translation institute, the use of silver and match-pairs to aid in technology with magic. I loved that element; it was so cool. There were so many parts where I thought of The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman, which was book that I loved so much earlier in the year. 

            When everything started to fall off the rails, I got sad, I got unhappy with the fact that it felt like everyone became a martyr, that that was the only way out of the situation. I know that not everything can have a happily ever after, but I love a happily ever after and just to have so many of the main characters die, that was difficult to stomach. So many people died, I know that to spark a revolution blood must be spilled, but a lot of it felt almost needless. 

            Like imagine the fall out after the thing happened at the end of the book, that is what I am not going to spoil because it’s a big culminating event that left me questioning my own sanity.

            Letty’s betrayal threw me, her whole character though threw me, I never liked her and then she did what she did and I was pissed, for so many reasons. 

            I wanted to love this book; I really did. I wanted to see the hype and the mastery that everyone else saw because this was such an anticipated book. I loved the concept, but it was so dense and could have been slimmed down a little bit in density and page count. I love long-winded prose; I write a lot of long-winded prose there is no denying that. I know that I do because here I am writing this. It was just a little too much for me, felt too much like a non-fiction for me really to immerse myself in it. 

            Everything in this book felt like a means to an end, like everything was set in motion on the path to destruction really early on, that everyone was done for even before they started and I understand that might be one of the points, that there is no such thing as a happy ending, it’s blood and sacrifice and everyone suffers. 

            There were so many good things about this book, it was vivid and amazing, the story was compelling and the characters felt like real people. There was just a lot of things that chafed me funny. Not every book is for everybody, I have learned that several times this year with so many of the books that I loved that others didn’t and vice versa. 

            That is my last Book of the Month for 2022 though and there were for sure some real hits and misses this year, which is surprising, it really is to be honest. I feel like there were some that I loved so much and some that I just couldn’t wait to finish. 

            If you want to check out what else I have read for Book of the Month this year, you totally can, I have read 12 and this is finally December where never month I don’t have to link a billion posts again at least for a few months. Seriously though, if you want to check out what else I have read you totally can; January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, and November. 

            Alright, I think that I need to stop because I might like this book more the longer that I am away from it. So, until my next post I hope that everyone stays safe, happy, and healthy! 

            -MJ 

November 2022 Book of The Month Review:

.Reading time 8 minutes.

Title: The Heart Principle 

Author: Helen Hoang

Rating: 3/5

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            There are going to be spoilers. I can promise you that. So, if you don’t want spoilers, walk away, I’ll see you next post. 

            I want to start this one off by saying that this book was a Book of The Month selection from August or September 2021, I would have to look at the hardcover, but I don’t want to walk over to it. I only got this one because none of the books this month actually interested me. That’s a little sad that all of the book selections this month didn’t actually look like anything that I wanted to read. So it was one of those ‘member favorites’ selections because I wanted to get my add-on which is The Kiss Curse which is the second in The Ex Hex series, which was my book of the month in October of last year. 

            I wanted to like this book, I wanted to like it so badly and the beginning had such promise and then it got to the point where it was making me itch. I like the idea of overcoming trauma in books, it makes so much sense because that’s what people do. 

            This book as a whole felt really disjointed, I have never liked the ‘I want an open relationship before marriage’ trope, you want that…cool, we are breaking up. For good. Her boyfriend was an ass and I know that’s what we are supposed to think so we can like Quan, so we can get invested in their relationship.

            I get anxiety, I have that and depression with a touch of OCD for certain things, I am probably neurodivergent and I know that everyone experiences neurodivergence differently. What I go through someone else with similar issues may not experience. I have a degree in Psychology and I preferred the differential diagnoses, that’s a personal opinion. I grew up with someone who had Asperger’s but he was male and his manifested differently than others. Again, no diagnosis is the same, none of them. Am I glad that there is more exposure to conditions? Yes. Am I glad there is more research? Yes. 

            I needed to say that because I finished the book last night and I had to walk away before writing this post. I had to step away from it before I could write about it. 

            I am not Asian, but I understand the cultural implications of expectation from a lot of those cultures. I get generational trauma, I understand caring for elders and giving up everything for that person.

            Her sister was the worst, seriously, the worst. 

            Her father had a stroke and her sister took over the whole situation and then forced others to get involved, her mother forced her to almost marry a man who had suggested an open relationship, and her family has this insane expectation as to who Anna should be because she masks everything. 

            Saying no is hard, saying no is so hard because I do the same thing. You take things onto your plate because you don’t want anyone to be disappointed in you, you go through the torture and pain of other’s words and expectations because you want them to like you and not think there is anything wrong with you. I felt that. 

            There was a lot about Quan and Anna’s relationship that I really liked, I did, they fit well and I was happy that they got together. 

            The ending though, the ending left me with a lot of threads and the last forty or so pages spanned two years. Two full years and that felt very strange, it left me feeling unfulfilled to be honest and I just had to step away from it like I said because I had to temper my temper before I wrote this post. 

            Was it my favorite book this year? No, it wasn’t and I am on book 113 now, I think. I know that my tastes change throughout the year or even throughout the month but I found myself smiling so much less at the end of this book than I did the beginning. I know that was part of the content, it was heavy. It was so heavy for a contemporary romance. 

            This was the third in a series and I don’t plan on reading the other two even though I have heard of them, even though they were popular for a while. I don’t think that they are up my street and that’s okay. 

            If you want to check out what else I have gotten from Book of The Month this year you totally can, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, and October. 

            I will be back later in the week with another post, so until then I hope that everyone stays safe, happy, and healthy.

            -MJ 

October 2022 Book of the Month Review:

.Reading time 7 minutes.

Title: Sign Here 

Author: Claudia Lux

Rating: 3.5/5

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            There are going to be spoilers because I had some feelings about this book and some of them weren’t great. They are my opinion and that’s how it always has been and always will be, no one is going to be sending me books anytime soon. I can pretty much guarantee that because I don’t hold punches. 

            Seriously, if you want to read this book, I will see you with the next post, if you don’t want the whole thing spoiled, I will see you later, bye. 

            So, where do I start? This book was marketed by Book of the Month as a tale about hell, someone living and working there and working toward a promotion. I didn’t know it was also going to be a murder mystery with like teenagers being killed either by murder or accident. Like there were so many twists and turns in this that I felt like I was getting whiplash.

            The chapters were super short and they switched between like a half dozen or so characters and that was just too many. I didn’t really get that feeling of much of the story being in hell or who the main character actually was. I didn’t find half of the characters likable. I wanted to like this book so much, but there was like references almost to grooming teenagers and a lot of stuff that just rubbed me the wrong way.

            Like the holy army militia thing that Cal grew up in and the story of her father, I get religious cults and extremism but all of that just felt so unnecessary. 

            This book felt like it was about a half dozen books all trying to be one book. If it was the story about hell, cool. If it was the story of the Harrison family and their clearly glaring issues, cool. Cal and her family dynamic about growing up in a religious cult where fighting was a rite of passage, cool. It was all of those things plus like some really unnecessary plot devices about cheating and manipulation. 

            With all of the shifting, with all of the almost lack of emotion in this book it just didn’t grip me, reading parts of it was a slog. 

            It all pretty much starts out with a murder, well, not all of it starts that way, but the Harrison family sections, it was an accident or maybe it wasn’t. I still have no idea, to be completely honest the whole storyline with Sarah and Gavin, that whole thing with Gavin that just hit me in all the icky places. Cheating is a pretty common trope in books but he seduced her to kill her child, to take revenge for the death of his sister. Like there was nothing solved. 

            I would have been so much more interested in the story involved with the underworld, with Peyote and Cal and the deals department, that would have been so much cooler and that’s what I thought I was getting because Book of the Month is pulling baits and switches on me this year it seems, which is annoying. 

            The narrative about self-harm and drug use, that hit me in a place that I don’t want to be hit, I never used drugs but I had some dark times as a teenager and I would have liked a trigger warning on that one. I would have also liked a trigger warning on a few other things throughout this book, but here we are. 

            I feel like I am just tearing this book apart, and I did like parts of it, but those parts were overshadowed by a lot of stuff that was really messed up. It left me more confused than satisfied at the end and that’s never fun when you are trying to love most of what you read. This left me underwhelmed.

            If you want to read about what else I have read this year you totally can; January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, and September.

            Alright, well, I will be back later in the week with another post so until then I hope that everyone stays safe, happy, and healthy. 

            -MJ 

September 2022 Book of the Month Review:

.Reading time 6 minutes.

Title: Other Birds

Author: Sarah Addison Allen

Rating: 4.6/5

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            Well, here we are in fall, finally. I am hoping that by the time this post comes out that it’s not like 90 degrees outside, that at this point is the goal. 

            Alright, there might be spoilers, I don’t know yet. I never really do as I start these posts whether or not there is going to be spoilers for the novel. I try not to, but in the course of a review it might happen. 

            I read this book in one sitting, I didn’t mean to. Seriously, I didn’t mean to read it all in an afternoon but it was a quick read. It took a minute for me to get into and then when I was into it, I couldn’t put it down. 

            This is book 90 of the year for me which is crazy because I didn’t think I would get anywhere close to that number. 

            So, this book shifts between characters pretty frequently and that worked in this novel, in some it just doesn’t, but in this one it made sense because you are seeing the lives of the people who live in the Dellawisp condos and I love the quirky cast of characters in this novel. You meet Zoey first, who is moving across country, well halfway for school and because her father doesn’t want to be a part of her life. Everyone knows how much I love the found family trope, everyone by now should. 

            There is a death in the building and it’s Zoey and Charlotte cleaning out the apartment, it’s building relationships between the residents and bringing up old issues and secrets. It’s half a ghost story too, but in the best way. I would say more guardian angels rather than ghosts. Frasier, the caretaker, can see them, but they are just there at the fringes and that was such a fun concept. 

            Seriously, the relationship building in this novel was amazing, that made this novel so fun and so worth the read because it felt real, it felt like the natural progression of how you find people who make you whole. 

            Mallow Island seems like a fun place and I would have liked to have seen more interaction with it, but I understood why most everything happened at the condo complex. I liked the bird aspect throughout and the invisible bird that followed Zoey around, it took me most of the book to figure that out, but I loved that symbolism. 

            There are so many characters mentioned that were in the fabric of the main cast’s lives that you never see in person and I thought that added so much to the story as a whole. One decision, one person can make such a difference in your life and that’s true in reality as well. 

            I would for sure recommend this one, it’s an easy and quick read that holds a lot of meaning through its pages. The shifting perspectives and the chapters of the reality and the ghost stories was done so well and the added in ghost stories gave so much more to the story than at face value. 

            I really enjoyed this one, I really did and I would suggest it if you like found family, a bit of quirk, and some magical realism, a touch of drama and intrigue as well. There was a moment that this book went from zero to sixty in about seven seconds and then it hit its conclusion pretty fast as well, but again, that worked here. 

            If you want to see what else I have read this year, you totally can with the rest of my Book of the Month posts for January, February, March, April, May, June, July, and August.

            I will be back later in the week with another post, but until then I hope that everyone stays safe, happy, and healthy.

            -MJ

August 2022 Book of the Month Review:

.Reading time 6 minutes.

Title: Small Angels

Author: Lauren Owen

Rating: 3/5

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            As usual there are going to be spoilers. I feel the need to start out with that because I should. 

            Alright, so overall, the story was interesting, but it wasn’t for me. There were a lot of things in this book that were so interesting, the woods, the tales of Harry Child and all of that. The family bound to the forest, the rituals and necessities that they took to keep the village safe from him and what had happened to him. 

            If it was just a ghost story, if it was just horror, it would have been fine. The add in of Chloe and Sam’s wedding, I understand that her actions were the catalyst for it, but the wedding felt unnecessary as a whole event. It was interesting and further the plot, but it could have been something else because the characters started to become unlikable with their weaponized ignorance of what happened in the woods and their unwillingness to even acknowledge it. 

            Not every book is for everyone and this one wasn’t for me and that’s okay. I liked so much of it but there was just stuff in it that felt unnecessary, there was a romantic subplot which was strange and really didn’t feel fleshed out or needed. (I don’t read a lot of LGBTQ fiction; I support the lifestyle, of course, but it is not generally a subgenre of fiction that I read.)

            There were also errors in the text, I counted six or seven that were in the formatting random dialogue marks words that should have been one that were separated and I know that is in the revision and editing process, but it was noticeable. 

            Overall, it was interesting, it was horror and there were parts of it that gripped me, but the characters, I just feel connected to and that makes things hard when you read through them. I feel like I am repeating myself and I will apologize for that because I feel like I am bashing someone else’s work. This had an audience, that audience is just not me. 

            The ending was good, well the ending with Harry, the rest of it felt rushed but left threads open, it’s a story told in a story which is super interesting and I love a good book within a book. This just didn’t hit for me because it shifted through four perspectives. 

            There were parts that confused me, there were and that’s true in a lot of novels, you can have parts that make no sense in the whole of it. The imagery was great and I feel like I am doing pro, con, con, pro like I am back in my college sorority when we were trying to end on a good note. 

            It was interesting and a compelling horror story in its own way, but not for me as a reader. We will not love everything we read and this was the only one of the books this time with Book of The Month that even piqued my interest, out of seven books this month I think, this was the only one that interested me because it was all thrillers. Maybe I should have chosen one of them. 

            I don’t know, okay, I don’t because I have such a mixed bag of feelings on this book and I feel like I am not articulating this well for someone who writes as a hobby and teaches children as a profession. I am always really on the fence about unhauling BoTM books, but there are three this year so far that I don’t want in my permanent collection. Which is fine.

            If you want to check out what else I have gotten with Book of The Month this year, you totally can, January, February, March, April, May, June, and July.

            I will be back later in the week with another post so until then I hope that everyone stays safe, happy, and healthy.

            -MJ

July 2022 Book of The Month Review:

.Reading time 8 minutes.

Title: The Bodyguard

Author: Katherine Center

Rating: 4.3/5

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            Well, I read it in literally an afternoon, I could not put it down. I have not read many bodyguard romances, but this was a reverse of that, she was the bodyguard and I loved the dynamic. It was super cute. I am going to start it out with that, it was very cute with a lot of tropes that I really enjoy. Some that I for sure do not though, but those were minor in this one. 

            Alright, per usual with these there might be spoilers so roll with me and if you want to read this one, don’t read this review. That’s just what it is at this point.

            I love the character of Hannah, she’s so much fun, the beginning starts out so sad for her though losing her mom and then her boyfriend dumping her literally the day after the funeral. I did not like the character of Robby, there are plenty of characters in fiction that I would really like to kick; he is one of them. Then he sleeps with her work bestie, not cool my guy, not cool.

            So, she gets an assignment to protect Jack, who looks like Zach Efron on the cover of the book. It is just an observation, nothing more. I love his character and their meet cute of him thinking she was his housekeeper was hilarious. Then she flips him over her shoulder and I knew that of course they would end up together.

            There is a scene with cows which I loved so much! Like the banter in this book is amazing, such good banter.

            There are so many twists and turns in this as Hannah and Jack start to work together and then she has to be his fake girlfriend because his mom is sick and they don’t want to worry her because he is being stalked. So, she has to go with him and you watch this amazing relationship bloom. You find out really early on that his brother died in a car accident and there are some really conflicting stories about it throughout. Until it is revealed late in the story what actually happened.

            So she has to leave because someone threatens “the girlfriend” and she is forced off his case. She goes to Thanksgiving they make out a little and he asks her on a date for the next day. 

            Then there is a rejection and it almost made me throw the book across my living room. I was so mad! When I tell y’all that I was livid, I was! Then you find out that there is someone in his house threatening his life and then Hannah gets to put her skills to use. 

            Of course it is a happy ending and I was so happy that it was a happy ending because if it wasn’t, man I would have been upset. The epilogue was a little long for me, but I also am not a huge fan of epilogues, I have written a few, but they are not my favorites. 

            I need to talk about the book stylistically. Just for a second. It was a super cute read content wise and story progression wise, no spice, which is totally fine in a romantic comedy. It didn’t have a lot of detail, there were pages that were just dialogue and I was confused at times who was speaking. That’s okay and I know that some writers don’t do sweeping prose, I am guilty of that in my own writing. But the lack of dialogue tags or extra descriptions was jarring. 

            I loved the banter; it was only 302 pages so it was a short little beach read and I really enjoyed it. I liked that it was from one perspective even though I would love to have seen some of it from Jack’s point of view because I want to see when he really fell for her. I want to see when he went all heart eyes for her. I think it’s mentioned in the book, but I loved it. 

            So, this book was really good and if you are looking for a cute little palette cleanser, (which I for sure did) this one is for sure for you. 

            If you want to check out what else I have read from Book of the Month this year, you totally can because all of those posts are already live: January, February, March, April, May, and June. 

            I will be back later in the week for another post so until then I hope that everyone stays safe, happy, and healthy!

            -MJ

June 2022 Book of The Month Review:

.Reading time 7 minutes.

Title: The Stardust Thief

Author: Chelsea Abdullah

Rating: 4.5/5

Hey hey, it’s MJ,

            I’m going to be thinking about this book for weeks if not the rest of the year! I need to start out with that. There will probably be spoilers in this post so if you want to read it (which you totally should!) I will see you for the next post. 

            I have had Book of the Month for a year now and this book blew me away! It’s going on the favorites shelf because I need it in my permanent, ‘I keep this out all the time’ collection and recommend it to everyone I know!

            It has so many twists and turns and I love all the magic throughout the story. I got real sad several times because Chelsea, don’t kill my fave character! I love the bodyguard; I love him so much. Like I want a jinn bodyguard! It for sure took me a little while to get into it and then when I did, I watched a film in my head with it. 

            This book has amazing and dimension characters, a brilliant story, and imagery that could rival an actual movie. I loved the building of the story through the relics and the tales told throughout. I loved this book and let’s be real I might change my score on it to a 5 eventually. I loved it. 

            I was so sad multiple times because there is a lot of death, like so much. The twist! I didn’t picture it until like a chapter or two before it happened and man, Omar’s a bitch. That’s it, that’s all I’m saying Omar a bitch. I don’t like to swear on here but he is and he deserves to be called as such. 

            I am so glad that it’s part of a trilogy because this one left it open and now. I need the next one, soon, please, I am begging you. (As someone who writes, I get that it takes a long time to plan, write, and publish (I am still always at the writing stage because I fear rejection)) Though normally I don’t want to read the next book right now. I do want this story to settle in me and this is for sure one that I could reread and that for me is rare. 

            I don’t know a lot of the myths but I loved the Forty Thieves in this, again, huge twist with this. There were so few threads that were left untied and that is so rare for a book. I cannot and I know that I just said this, I cannot wait for the next two. 

            I cannot wait to see the jinn city and learn more of the truth of Qadir. I cannot wait to see where she takes the characters next, I really can’t. I have certain things that I would like to happen, but they probably won’t. 

            If you want a book that touches on the old legend of the Forty Thieves and gives major Aladdin vibes, this book is so for you! A strong female lead, a bumbling but lovable prince, and a really bad ass and protective jinn bodyguard. Magic, jinn, sword fights, all of it. It was so good. I was also totally okay with the shifting perspectives and I am glad it was only three though I would have loved some chapters from Qadir’s point of view I think they would just be him groaning because the humans were getting into trouble. 

            I would say that if you are averse to a lot of mentions of death, suffering, and even torture be aware as you walk into this one. It’s not super focused on, but there is a lot of death involved throughout. 

            If you want to see what else I’ve read this year with Book of The Month, you totally can! January, February, March, April, and May.

            Well, I think that’s about it for me so I will see everyone later in the week with another post and until then I hope that everyone stays safe, happy, and healthy.

            -MJ