hayleygray's reviews
69 reviews

Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Things We Do to Our Friends by Heather Darwent

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The Night Ship by Jess Kidd

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challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

You've Reached Sam by Dustin Thao

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emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Romance lovers will love this book! It’s sexy, emotional, tense, and the relationship between Piper and her sister, Hannah, is a main focus which I loved. 

Honestly, the only thing that let me down was how intense Brendan was throughout the book. Everything moved SO fast between him and Piper and he seemed very controlling and intense (and sex-focused). I began to care more about Hannah and Fox’s friendship in the background rather than Piper and Brendan’s relationship. 

Other than that, this was exactly what I needed and I really enjoyed it. 
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The Christmas Wish by Lindsey Kelk

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Such a feel-good, Christmas read. Perfect for this time of year!

Kelk took Groundhog Day and made it festive, romantic, diverse, and relaxing. It didn’t take me too long to finish this book as it was such a fun and easy read, it was easy to curl up on the sofa and enjoy it. 

As a huge romance reader, it could have been a bit more spicy in the romance field. But, I also understand it is more of a story about self-discovery than romance.
However, Gwen and Dev are lovely together and I would have loved for that hot tub scene to be less PG
Exes and O's by Amy Lea

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Huge thank you to Penguin Books UK and Viking Books UK for the gifted ARC!!

To all my romance book obsessed girlies: Tara is us. We are Tara.

This has knocked Emily Henry's Book Lovers off the no.1 spot for my all-time favourite romance book. From the first page, I was laughing due to the sheer relatability of Tara and her love for all things books and love-related. The bookstagram aspect of the narrative was so clever within a social media generation of book lovers and I was agreeing with everything Tara, and her followers, said throughout concerning romance tropes, men, and Trevor.

Trevor gave me Eddie from the TV show, 9-1-1, vibes and I was absolutely LIVING for it. Trevor and Tara are the ultimate depiction of grumpy boy and sunshine girl, but in such a realistic and ambiguous way. Their interactions – verbal and physical – just screamed soulmates and being a part of their journey felt so heart-warming, emotional, and left me happy. Everything about it was perfect – I mean, except Seth.

If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would.

Please buy this book when it released in January 2023... you will NOT regret it!!
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The Kiss Curse by Erin Sterling

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Just like The Ex Hex, this book was fun, emotional, ✨spicy✨ and just an all-round great witchy romance. I think, the only thing that I wasn’t a huge fan of was how fast everything happened in the storyline: there wasn’t much of a romantic build up for an enemies to lovers arc and the unfolding of other events came and went pretty fast too. I felt like at some points I had accidentally missed a chapter when in reality, the plot had just processed so quickly. 
Other than that, it was so enjoyable and I loved Gwyn in the first novel as a secondary character so it was great to experience life and love with her in this novel as the main protagonist. Wells also has my heart, but Rhys will always be my no.1 ❤️
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Dirty Laundry by Disha Bose

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Huge thank you to Penguin and Viking Books UK for the ARC!

For a novel where all the characters were so unlikeable, I couldn’t stop reading it. The story and characters were written in such a real way and had characteristically natural flaws, problems and relationships. This intense, domestic thriller was like Big Little Lies met Desperate Housewives and had a messed up baby. 

Now yes, I must admit it is a slow burn and I must confess I was not satisfied with the ending (of which I guessed pretty early on in the story) but something about this book makes it impossible to put down. 

I was so intrigued and caught up in the suburban gossip of the women that I was almost waiting patiently for their worlds to fall apart and see who came out unscathed.
technically, everyone except Caira was untouched although all their secrets were revealed


Overall, although it wasn’t my favourite read of the year, it is one in which held my attention, curiosity and interest and I enjoyed throwing myself into the battlefield of suburban life. 
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