Hi everyone!
I don't want to be cliche, but I can't believe we're at the end of the second month of 2022 already. I know February is supposed to be shorter, but damn.
This month was pretty busy for me in terms of studying and as well as blogging AND family events, and I'm glad to be ending it on a productive note.
Anyway, I stayed on track with my reading goal this month and read some pretty amazing, others not-so-nice books. So without further ado, let's have a glimpse at all of them!
1) Love Lessons by Heidi Cullman-
RATING- ⭐⭐⭐⭐
After reading Antisocial by Heidi Cullinan, I was hooked on the way the author wrote her characters and the beautiful way she deals with the most complex topics.
Love Lessons is the beginning of a series and the author starts on a comparatively lighter note, but it is an equally emotional and amazing romance story.
It is opposites attract + a roommate toe story with a nerdy introvert/ confident social butterfly cherry on top.
I am always pleasantly surprised at just how well the author can go deep inside the characters' minds and dissect and lay open their hearts for us to see. We have two main characters, Kelly Davidson and Walter Lucas, who are opposites of each other but they end up as roommates and have to get along. They quickly become friends despite their vastly different personalities and worldviews.
Kelly is a romantic at heart with a strong love for Disney movies, and a Prince Charming waiting out there for him. But despite that, he is not naive. He may want what he wants but even that doesn't make him stupid enough to fall for Walter.
Walter is his very attractive Casanova roommate who everyone seems to warn him away from. And so he does his best.
The author builds a torturous slow burn with heavy angst and tension, chapter by chapter, to a glorious conclusion.
You can jump right on board if you love themes like forced proximity, silent pining, sexual tension, and characters fluttering over each other with concern.
Walter is an adorable mother-hen sort of character who shows his love for people by constantly doing things for them.
He has had just a terrible experience with family relationships and just people in general who were supposed to love him unconditionally. All this has hurt his confidence that people can love him for who he is and contributed to his abandonment issues.
"moments of something this good, this unexpected and off his usual path, they always dredged up old shit, like somehow happiness came with sorrow as its anchor."
Both the characters have their journey to get through, plus some new obstacles in the way that comes up. It's very easy to get endeared to the characters, more so after you see their love for Disney movies and childlike bonding. It's more on the heavier, contemporary side of romance but I would still highly recommend it.
"Sometimes the ones we love are like butterflies, flitting all over, and we have to sit and wait patiently for them to land. Sometimes they never do, and that’s a risk we take. But sometimes what they need most is to see us sitting still, patient, waiting. To understand that we’re going to be there no matter what, that we’re the ones who are always sitting there waiting, loyal, loving. Sometimes that’s more powerful than any words."
2) Lonely Hearts by Heidi Cullman-
RATING- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Please check the content warnings
Lonely Hearts, the third book in the Love Lessons series, is I think thematically as well as emotionally the heaviest, most difficult to read by far because it deals with so many topics.
More than anything I love how Heidi Cullinan writes the characters and the statement she makes through them.
Sebastian 'Baz' Acker, our main character, is someone who suffers from chronic pain and has a retinal injury that forces him to wear shades all the time because the slightest bit of light hurts his eyes. Even though he does not admit it, he struggles with this part of him a lot.
I appreciate how well-researched his character and his physical condition were.
There were a lot of things standing in the way of Baz Elijah's relationship- external as well as internal demons.
Elijah had extremely homophobic parents who sent him to reparative therapy and then his own had father tried to kill him.
He also had to resort to doing "tricks" for money because he was so desperate. there are also his internalized issues about his class and financial background.
It is simplified all the more because it is completely at odds with Baz, whose mother is a politician and uncle a Senator, which means that practically rolling in money.
"As far as Elijah Prince was concerned, gay weddings could choke on their own cheery goddamned glitter and die."
It makes me feel shitty and alone. I don’t want to be alone.” He sagged. “But I think maybe I have to be. Even in a crowd of people, my heart will always ache.” The statement resonated in the furthest hollows of Baz’s soul. “Then we’ll be lonely hearts together.
Other things as well, such as the close-knit friend group, the absence of toxic masculinity, and the inclusion of a subplot where a new side character is navigating their identity as trans; truly does justice to that character.
I felt that nothing was piled on just for the sake of it, but it actively contributed to the overall development of the story.
"Hush, Sophie. You’re beautiful.” It was, mostly, a quote from the movie, and it finished Elijah off. Shutting his eyes, he leaned into Baz’s touch. “Don’t eat my heart, Howl.” “Never,” Baz vowed, sealing the promise with a kiss.
"he knew now Sebastian Acker could wear all the wigs he wanted, could play all the games in the world, but he’d never be dark. He wasn’t even Howl with his heart in a demon’s belly. He held it aching in his own bare hands, desperate to give it away, terrified to try.
He had, for quite some time now, been passing it to Elijah. Over and over and over."
3) The Best Men by Sarina Bowen, Lauren Blakely-
RATING- ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sarina Bowen and Lauren Blakely have become some of my auto-read authors because their duo has written so many amazing romance novels. If I'm ever in the mood for a quick, light, and satisfying romance to pick up, this is the author duo that I look to, mostly because they have written a ton of books that fit that vibe.
The Best Men was another such book that I picked up for a light mood read and it did its job perfectly. It is a standalone, enemies-to-lovers, opposites attract romance.
We follow the story of two characters, Mark Banks, who is the uptight, formal suit-wearing and no-fun brother of the girl who is getting married.
Asher St. James (just the name itself is so cool) is a laid-back ex-hockey player and photographer who is also the groom's best friend. The author duo nails these two characters and their chemistry. Their personalities always seem to clash and they love teasing each other and pulling each other's legs. They also love to ogle each other.
I love that their banter doesn't fade after they hook up or even when they start gaining feelings for each other. Their chemistry is electrifying till the very end.
Bonus points for well-written side characters, and a low-angst resolution that still is so very satisfying.
4) Egotistical Puckboy by Saxon James-
RATING- ⭐⭐⭐. ⭐
As much as I loved the combined and individual works of the two authors, Saxon James and Eden Finley, this was a bit of a disappointment for me.
While reading the CU Hockey series, Ezra, the main character in this book, makes two brief but memorable appearances that immediately made me interested to know more about him and I was very excited to find out that he would be getting a book of his own. I was itching to get my hands on a copy and immediately dived into it when I finally got one.
But alas, this book failed to make the impact the others did.
The story was by no means boring or not good enough in any way. I truly just didn't vibe with the characters. It is a rivals-to-lovers trope, with dual POV, and that alone is stating the perfect romance mix for me. But unfortunately, I felt that there wasn't enough build-up to the two finally hooking up.
I also wasn't a huge fan of the other perspective, Anton Hayes, and just thought he was unnecessarily mean sometimes. Even Ezra just going along with it didn't sit right with me.
However, I did like the closure it gave to Ezra and Weston's relationship. I also loved the glimpse of interaction we get between between the all the characters from the other books.
5) You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen-
RATING- ⭐⭐⭐⭐
From what I saw in the synopsis and the review, I knew that this book was going to be very powerful, but I had no idea just how much I would relate to it personally. You Truly Assumed is the story of three young, black Muslim girls coming together to stand for what they believe in and make a statement.
6) Wolf in Sheep's Clothing (#4) and Cry Wolf (#5) by Charlie Adhara-
RATING- ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Hihihi! Alright, so because I loved this series, and it was my best read this month, AND because I have so many thoughts, I'm thinking of doing a whole dedicated post towards it. So look out for that!
7) Headcase by Onley James (Necessary Evils #4)
RATING- ⭐⭐⭐
The Necessary Evils series is the story of 7 psychopaths kids that were adopted by a millionaire scientist named Thomas Mulvaney and trained to be secret killers of all the bad guys. Essentially a team of genius, efficient boys that would get to criminals to whom the police couldn't.
Headcase is the story of one half of the Mulvaney twins, Asa. For the first time in his life, he is being separated from his twin, Avi, for a month with miles of distance between them and he is going crazy because of it. Reading this series requires a certain suspension of disbelief and rigid morals because things get bloody and grey here.
All of the adopted brothers, August, Archer, Atticus, Avi, Asa, Adam, and Aiden lie in different places in the psychopath spectrum (??) (so out of my depth here), in terms of how much they can feel.
And Asa lies strictly on the other end of it.
I feel that the reason this particular installment in the series didn't work for me, despite being a fan of all the the previous works, was that I couldn't relate to the romance too much. It was too insta-lovey for me, even for this series.
Usually what happens in these books is that one of the characters will see the other and something will immediately just click inside them and say, "yes, this is what I want." and it's not creepy or weird.
But with Asa and Zane, it was too quick and I didn't like that. Other than that, the plot also felt like it was a a new issue fitting into the same template sequence of events.
It was fine, overall. I'm still pretty excited for Mad Man, Avi's book, and of course hoping we get a book for Thomas and Aiden as well!
Currently Reading
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross (70% done)
March TBR
Hook, Line, sinker by Tessa Bailey
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
The Chandler Legacy
The Burning God
Time to Chat!
Let me know how your reading month went! What are you planning to read in March? Any other exciting plans you want to share?
As always, thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed today's post. Until next time,
Bye!
