Year: 2022

Summer in San Sebastian by Joy Skye
Genre: Rom Com
Publication Date: 28th February 2022
Standalone Fourth Book in Sublime Retreats Romance series
Estimated Page Count – 221

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Abigail’s world has disintegrated, leaving her jobless, homeless, and loveless in a remarkably brief space of time.

​Where else can she lick her wounds but in Spain with her dippy Aunt May? She pulls on her big girl pants, swears off men, and leaps on the opportunity she’s offered in San Sebastian. Determined to get her life back on track and find her place in the world, it finally all seems to be coming together.

​Until she meets Gabe. Gorgeous, grumpy, incredibly annoying, and obviously hiding a secret, but she has to battle against the insane attraction she has for him. He’s only there for a week, after all.

​When his secret spills out on National TV, can she overcome her past hurts and learn to trust again, risking her newfound job and family in the process?

Purchase Links
UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09PRP6D2L
US – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09PRP6D2L

Before I begin my review I quickly have to thank Rachel’s Random Resources for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour and for graciously sending me an eArc of the book to read for my review today.

I know I say this all the time but I am so appreciative of being able to be a part of blog tours and getting emails inquiring if I want to join because I hear about so many great books that I honestly would not have known about otherwise. The same goes for discovering new to me authors. This is the perfect place to discover some hidden gems.

Summer in San Sebastian is the fourth book in the series and I don’t think you really need to read the books in order. I was able to read this without feeling I was missing out on something. The previous books are Corfu Capers, Clueless in Croatia, and Falling in Florence. I managed to pick up the books in ebook and I plan on reading them this month because I really enjoyed this one and would love to see what the previous books are like.

I did see this on Joy’s website:

WELCOME TO SUBLIME RETREATS ROMANCES

A series of interconnected romantic comedies that will have you laughing and falling in love. They’re heartwarming stories of love, romance, hope, new beginnings and second chances featuring unique characters all set in beautiful locations.

So it does appear as though they are interconnected. Perhaps it’s the Sublime Retreats company that is the linking factor.

Anyways back to my review.

The book takes place in San Sebastian, Spain and it sounds so beautiful there. I have never been to Spain but hopefully one day I will be able to visit.

Our main character is Abigail aka Abi and she has had a rough year, she was let go of her job, and then discovers her boyfriend basically was cheating on her for the past 6 months and his new girlfriend is pregnant is just the icing on the cake. With nowhere to go, she decides it’s time to visit her aunt May in Spain. Who she hasn’t seen in many many years.

Abi knows that she needs to get her life back on track and swears off men because she feels as though she can’t trust them. I could see where she is coming from because her father left her when she was younger and her ex was cheating on her. I am sure many would feel the same way.

Abi quickly gets a job to support herself with Sublime Retreats and also helps to organize her aunt’s gallery shows along with a protest. It seems like a developer is coming in to build on a green space that is used by a local orphanage and a nature park. Will they be able to stop this from happening or is it too late?

Enter Gabe. We don’t know much about Gabe at first. I thought he was a bit arrogant and was happening he would not be like this the whole way through the story. He was very reserved. He clearly didn’t make a great first impression to Abi in the beginning and you definitely could feel the attraction between the two of them as the story progressed.

Can Gabe break down the walls and trust that Abi has built up or will Gabe just be another man she can’t trust when she finds out what he was really in San Sebastian to do?

This was a really quick one-sitting read for me and I could not have picked a better day to read it because I read this on a day when it snowed all day long. I am now at the point of being tired of winter and longing for the summer days.

This was such a fun read that I couldn’t put it down because I needed to know what was going to happen next.

Author Bio –
Joy lives on the seductive island of Corfu with her four dogs and an embarrassing number of cats.

Her many years working in the tourist industry on this sunny isle and her love of all things literary inspired her first novel Corfu Capers which recently hit the #1 spot in Parenting and Family humour much to her delight.

She loves to cook, dance and drink wine, usually at the same time, and is currently working on her next book, due to be released later this year.

She also loves to travel, absolutely anywhere, and is looking forward to jumping on a plane!

Social Media Links –
https://twitter.com/JoySkye4
https://www.instagram.com/joys.kye/
https://www.facebook.com/JoySkyeAuthor
https://www.tiktok.com/@joyskyeauthor

A Night To Die For by Lisa Schroeder

Genre: Young Adult Horror
Publishing date: March 1st, 2022

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indigo | IndieBound

Synopsis:

The Night Of meets Carrie when a boy finds a girl’s body in the ditch on prom night…and becomes the primary suspect in her murder.

All Mario wants is one normal night before he graduates. He’s spent most of high school riding solo and gaming with his only friend, Lucas. But when his mom asks him to take Elana Dexter to the prom as a favor to her father, his mother’s boss, he figures this might be his chance to be less of a loner.

Only, the night takes a turn quickly. First, Mario gets crowned Prom King alongside the school’s it-girl, Maribelle Starr. Which is weird enough. But what’s weirder is that when they put the crown on his head, hundreds of worms slither out of it and all over Mario. Just when Mario thought the night couldn’t get any worse, he sees something on the side of the road while driving Elana home. That something is Prom Queen Maribelle Starr—murdered and left for dead.

All Mario wanted was to go to prom…but somehow, he ended up in hell.

Underlined is a line of totally addictive romance, thriller, and horror paperback original titles coming to you fast and furious each month. Enjoy everything you want to read the way you want to read it.

Before I begin my review I quickly have to thank TBR and Beyond Tours for allowing me to be a part of this book tour and for providing an eArc of the book to read for my review stop today.

Do you ever read a book by an author you never read before and wonder why you have never read this author before? Well, that was the case for me, why have I not read Lisa’s books before this? If they are anything like this one then I definitely need to check them out.

A Night to Die is told in first-person narratives by almost a dozen characters involved in prom night.

The book opens up with Mirabelle, the prom queen at the prom dancing with the prom king, Mario. Then the next thing a deputy spots Mario on the side of the road looking into a ditch at dead prom queen. How did she get there? Did Mario have something to do with it? No one knows for sure because his date is drunk in the passenger seat of his truck. One thing that piqued my curiosity was how fast a deputy was on the scene. Was he just driving around because it was prom night? Mario is instantly arrested not for murder but for contributing to the delinquency of a minor because his date was drunk. But that quickly changes when new evidence comes to light.

Then enters Parker, her boyfriend. He had plenty of motive but he can’t recall what happened after he dropped her home because he went home to drink after she broke up with him. Could he have done it because he doesn’t remember what happened?

As the story progresses we soon realize that Mirabelle was leading a whole other life that no one really knew about.

Lucas, Mario’s best friend knows he can’t let his friend who is innocent go to jail for a crime he never committed so he decides to dig around in hopes of finding out what really happened since the cops are focused on Mario. Will Lucas be able to crack the case?

I ended up reading this in one sitting because I was instantly hooked. I wanted to know who killed Mirabelle. I have to admit that for the first 3/4 of the book I really didn’t have a clue and was shocked at the end. I didn’t really see that coming but once I sat back and reflected on the book I could see it and why it lead the person to do it. There was definitely plenty of twists and turns to keep you on your toes in guessing who the killer was. The storyline was fast-paced which I love in mystery/thriller kinds of books.

I loved the format of the book. Not only was it written but it also included Twitter messages, text messages, press releases, newspaper articles, and also letters. I also think that those are fun elements to a book. This was definitely a quick read with very short chapters.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

TOUR SCHEDULE:

February 28th
Stuck in Fiction – Promotional Post
Struck by Stories – Review & Mood Board
The Book View – Mood Board

March 1st
Confessions of a YA Reader – Promotional Post
Cindy’s Love of Books – Review
thebookwiccan – Review & Playlist

March 2nd
Pages & Plots – Promotional Post
The Girl Who Reads – Review
Books With Michelle – Top 5 Reasons to Read A Night to Die For & Mood Board
PopTheButterfly Reads – Review

March 3rd
AndOnSheReads – Review
Kait Plus Books – Promotional Post
BookMeSomeTime – Review

March 4th
The Book Dutchesses – Promotional Post
Artfully Bookish – Review, Favorite Quotes & Mood Board
Monogamist Reader – Promotional Post
Book Corner – Review

March 5th
Nine Bookish Lives – Promotional Post
Jen Jen Reviews – Review
Reading Stewardess – Review & Playlist

March 6th
Rae’s Reading Lounge – Review & Favorite Quotes
Book Lover’s Book Reviews – Promotional Post
Just a Gal and Her Books – Review

To view the Instagram schedule, please click HERE.

Influenced Love (Black Beauty in Love #1)
By Shellee Marie
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age category: Adult
Release Date: 22 February 2022

Blurb:
A beauty influencer polls her followers to pick her date and ends up fake dating a fellow influencer, but real sparks fly when she begins to fall for the man behind his image.

After a scandal threatens her reputation, popular beauty influencer, Alivia Fae, attempts to distract her followers by polling them to pick her date. When they pair her up with a fellow influencer, Moe Gava, he takes notice and asks her out. Unfortunately, she soon realizes he’s not as desirable as he seems online.

Despite her disinterest, when it’s suggested that she and Moe start a fake dating relationship, to keep up engagement with their fan
s, she begrudgingly agrees. As the plan unfolds, she begins to grow closer to his low-key assistant, Travis. Leading her to re-evaluate what she truly wants to influence her life—love.

Links:
– Goodreads

Before I begin my review I quickly have to say thank you to Lola’s Blog Tour for allowing me to be a part of this book tour and for the eArc for me to read for my stop today.

This is Shellee Marie’s debut novel and the first book in the Black Beauty in Love series. I really enjoyed reading this and am excited to continue with the series. I should mention that this is currently free to read on Kindle Unlimited in both Canada and the US.

Our main character is Alivia and she is a beauty influencer and entrepreneur who is making her own line of hair care products.

The book begins with Alivia being the best woman at her best friend Dan’s wedding. They have known each other since they were in school together. Now, this is not just any simple wedding with friends and family, no it also includes Dan’s teammates (he is a baseball player) and the media.

With any wedding day, you hope it goes off without a hitch right? Well for Alivia it all falls apart from the get-go. Then one thing leads to another and it’s reported that Dan and Alivia are romantically involved. I guess looking in from the outside you could see that. This doesn’t make Dan’s new wife, Donna very happy and she begins to think that something is going on between the two besties.

Alivia tries to do damage control amidst the negativity so she comes up with a plan. She polls her followers asking who her next date should be and it just happens to be Moe who is a fitness influencer. When the fake dating trope was announced I knew that this wouldn’t go well because what Alivia doesn’t know is Moe’s assistant Travis is helping him out and she can almost spot the difference between the two when it comes to messages. Can they pull this off or will it be another thing for the media to discuss?

Although behind the scenes Alivia and Travis are always together and I loved their interactions. As you read you can’t help but wonder if there is more to this “friendship” than meets the eye. I know as I was reading I was rooting for Alivia and Travis. The chemistry was there instantly. The whole time I was reading I was really surprised they weren’t exposed sooner for as much as they were out in public together.

Will Alivia admit her true feelings to her followers?

I really enjoyed this and definitely can’t wait to continue the series.

About the Author:
Shellee holds a Master of Arts degree in Political Science from Ball State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from Purdue University. She also has two minors, in Women’s Studies and Political Science, and is a member of the Independent Book Publishers Association.

Shellee is an avid reader, and in her spare time, she can frequently be found curled up with a good book. She loves a wide variety of formats and genres. She also enjoys spending time with her brilliant daughter, Trinity, and her favorite pups, Myla and Chino. Shellee currently resides in southern Maryland, where she grew up.

Author links:
– Website
– Instagram
– TikTok

This is my post during the blog tour for You Won’t Know Her Name by Shanti Hershenson. You Won’t Know Her Name is written by a fourteen year old author and is based on a true story.

This blog tour is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours and the tour runs from 21 February till 6 March. You can see the tour schedule here.

You Won’t Know Her Name
By Shanti Hershenson
Genre: Contemporary
Age category: Young Adult
Release Date: July 27, 2021

Blurb:
“I thought they were my best friend…”

There lives a little girl whom you will never know the name of, and for her, a terrible storm is coming. She is going to a new, public middle school knowing no one but her sister, and the horrors are absolutely endless.

But she doesn’t expect what is to come.

In her first few months of school, terrible and unspeakable things begin to happen, that go beyond what is considered “normal”. Finding the courage to get away from the wrong people is a difficult thing, but when a horrific incident occurs, she finds herself running from who she once thought to be friends.

Now lost and alone, The Girl turns to one thing to help her get through her darkest moments. Writing poetry is the one way she can express her anger, and when her school announces that they will be hosting an open-mic night, she knows she has to enter. But entering means that she will have to face her demons, and it could be her worst nightmare…

From a teenaged author, You Won’t Know Her Name shines a light on a heartbreaking reality that often goes unspoken about – the issue that is bullying in middle school. From hateful comments to real, shocking violence, this book shares what cannot be ignored.

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

About the Author:
Shanti Hershenson’s first two novellas were published when she was in the sixth grade, although her writing journey started long before then. Ever since she could hold a pencil, marker, or crayon, she was creating stories. They started from pictures, mere scribbles, and eventually, turned into captivating tales.

Author links:
– Website
– Twitter
– Instagram
– Tiktok

Before I begin my review I quickly have to say thank you to Lola’s Blog Tour for allowing me to be a part of this book tour and for the ebook to read for my stop today.

I have to mention right away that You Won’t Know Her Name is told in verse format and it’s a format that I want to read more of this year. I have read a few books in this format over the years. I also have to mention that Shanti mentions right from the beginning that this has a lot of trigger warnings. Each new poem lists the trigger warnings so you will know beforehand what it will discuss. Some of them include verbal abuse, bullying, and assault.

This was a quick but heavy read. Our main character is a young girl who is attending a new school with her sister. Not long into the school year, it begins. At first, it’s little things but then it quickly escalates. She knows she needs to find a new group of friends to hang out with because this is trouble but yet she can’t.

Before long a person she thought was her friend decided to take it to the next level. She knows what this person did is wrong and is brave enough to speak up. To cope with all this our character takes to writing poems. It’s a place she feels comfortable expressing herself. When the school announces they will be hosting an open mic she decides to take part. She knows it will be tough but she is determined to face it head-on.

This definitely hit home for me. It was only when I hit junior high that I started to get bullied. There was making fun and name-calling and no one spoke up or defended me. They always said something when no teacher was around. It was stuff that I had no control over. I always wondered how can kids be so mean to someone. I tried not to let them get to me but it was hard. I didn’t fit in. I felt like a little fish in this huge pond. I never told anyone what was going on because I thought no adult would believe me and they would bully me more if they knew I told someone.

It’s heartbreaking that in this day and age that adults ie teachers/principles/adults still don’t believe a child when they tell them what is going on and if they do they don’t protect the victim.

This is definitely a must-read. I plan on picking up a physical copy of the book very soon.

Giveaway
There is a tour-wide giveaway for the blog tour of You Won’t Know Her Name. 5 winners will win a paperback copy of You Won’t Know Her name by Shanti Hershenson (US Only).

For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

I can’t recall how I stumbled upon the Owl Diaries series because it’s been quite a few years now but I must have spotted it on a shelf at Chapters and flipped through it and instantly fell in love with our main character Eva. These books are an automatic buy and read for me.

Eva is just your typical little owl trying to make it through her day-to-day life and even though she is just an owl she struggles with things and situations like most kids do but with the help of her friends, she manages to get through it.

I know I am not the demographic age for this series since it’s geared towards 1st and 2nd graders but this series is too cute not to pass up and read. The illustrations are bright and colorful in each and every book and they draw you into the story. With its easy to read text with speech bubbles even. The storylines move at a good pace and you always walk away with a little message at the end of each book. Plus an added bonus is at the end of the book there are a few questions that are asked to see how much you remember from reading it and I think that is great because it forces you to remember what you just read. It can also be a conversation starter if a parent is reading the book to a child.

You don’t have to read these in order as each can be read on its own and I highly recommend this series to new readers. I even managed to get a dad who was looking for books for his daughter to pick up a few books in the series as I am sure she will love it.

I personally can’t pick out a favorite because I truly enjoyed them all. Eva is just the cutest owl is she not? To date, there are 16 books in the series (the newest one is called Get Well, Eva) and as of posting this, I should say I don’t see a book 17 yet.

Here are just a few of the books in the series.