lisaluvsliterature's reviews
4112 reviews

Canadian Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Okay, I LOVED this book! It was sooooooo good! The characters were great, the storyline was great, the narrators too were great! There was so much more than just romance. Both characters had back story issues that they were working on, both did seek therapy in the book, but also were able to work through some of the issues with each other there as a friend. It was funny how the author had Aurora always say his whole name, “Mike Martin” every time she thought about him, based on him being her imaginary boyfriend from when she was a teenager. I thought that totally made the story, even when it was a little annoying, lol. My only real complaint was that even though I knew what was going to be the third act break up reason, I thought it was totally ridiculous for him to be that upset about it. I don’t care how much it fed into his own issues, it was a stupid thing to get that mad about. And so in the end, the way it all came back together was done very well, but I still had to drop it to 4.5 stars.
All Better Now by Neal Shusterman

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

4.75

Once again this author has written a story that makes you think, but in a fascinating, entertaining way. Overall I really enjoyed this one, although there were one or two spots that dragged a tiny bit for me. But not enough that I ever didn’t want to keep reading, and I hated how busy everything was when I was trying to read this one that I couldn’t sit and read as much as I wanted.
So, even though the publisher did send me a finished copy, I decided to read the e-galley because the book was a little bigger and it was easier to hold my Kindle, lol. So some of the lines I’ve quoted may not be in the final copy, I should have looked to see! I wasn’t even 10% of the way in when I found two quotes that really spoke to me.
  1. People who did follow the science and the rules wished death upon those who didn’t.
  2. If we judge the work by the sins and temperament of the creators, the world would be virtually void of art, literature, and music.
Both of these spoke to me so much. Even if the second one was from a character that hadn’t contracted the virus Crown Royale yet and was a not so great person, it is something that seems to be more and more true the closer we look at some artists/authors/musicians. The first one is something that always made me angry at the hypocrisy of some people in certain situations, although the “science” followed wasn’t always anything more than what was being reported by the media. As a former science teacher, believe me, I did my research in all things before making decisions. 
What I love about this author is that his books make you think. Not just the teens that these books are written for, but as an adult, when I’ve read all his books as an adult, they made me think too. They made me see both sides. In my opinion they call out the good and the bad and facts of both sides. Because yes, there are facts on both sides, even people don’t always follow the truth when they make their decisions, or they use it to try to prove things that aren’t connected.
Yes many people don’t want to read books about THE pandemic we just went through. And so the fact that this is about a “next” pandemic might turn some off. But wow, Crown Royale, I think I want to get that virus! I totally felt for Mariel and her bad luck with the virus, although some didn’t see it as bad luck. And then there were the downfalls from this wonderful new disease/virus that gave some credit to the idea that we don’t want everyone to think exactly the same, that there does need to be a voice out there making you think and not just agreeing with everything.
The book was so good, and I don’t know why I assumed how it would end, because the author knows how to do endings that might make you gasp a bit! Such a wonderful, wonderful story!
Royal Valentine by Sariah Wilson

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

3.75

With Any Luck by Ashley Poston

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funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Drop, Cover, and Hold On by Jasmine Guillory

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funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Rosie and The Dreamboat by Sally Thorne

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

5.0

A River Connects Us by Allie Winters

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I first read this author through the SmartyPants Romance series. Then when she started this series two books ago, she reached out to me and I read and reviewed those two, and enjoyed them! So when I heard the third sibling’s book was coming, I was excited to read Grayson’s story.

Now Grayson was someone that I didn’t really know yet. I mean he didn’t live in town where his family was, where he grew up. That made it so this was his intro as well as his story. It was nice spending time with his brother and sister and their significant others. And seeing how he related to his hometown, and the glimpses into his life outside of Crescent Pass. However his attitude was one that made it easy to see how Abby could totally end up getting hurt.

I definitely connected with Abby though! A shy librarian, who doesn’t really let people know when she is upset, not wanting to make others upset. She was your stereotypical innocent librarian though, in EVERY way! Something she didn’t let on to Grayson until the moment it was really going to happen. I also had a hard time reading about her family, because what she was dealing with her parents’ illnesses reminded me so much of the last year or two and the loss of my stepdad, even if there were no deaths in this story.

In the end this was another wonderful romance from this author, with sweet times, funny times, and some steamy bits!
Not Your Biggest Fan by Sara Ney

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funny hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

So happy to have a new book by one of my favorite authors, and she did not disappoint! Starting with the crazy out there “meet cute” and follow up meeting. Followed up by both characters’ crazy families and/or friends. As usual we got a fast paced and fun rom-com. I loved the sports aspect of it, and how Harlow literally had no idea who Andy was, because even though she lived in a big football city, she didn’t really care about the sport. Of course, it’s not like her town’s football team was doing well enough that everyone knew players’ names like they do here in KC with our guys.

There were definitely some parallels to good old Kelce and Swift’s relationship, only the Swift was an actress in this story, and not at all like our beloved Taylor Swift, lol. The banter was fun as always with Ney’s books. I also loved how she had one character write a dating ad bio, as one time I even asked the author to write one for me, and I did use it for awhile, however I’m still single, so who knows how that went, lol.

Anyway, it was another fun, sexy, rom-com from Sara Ney, and I’m looking forward to the second book which we get a preview of who it’s going to be about at the end of this one!
Zoe Brennan, First Crush by Laura Piper Lee

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 18%.
I really tried, because I liked the last book by this author. But just had problems getting into it. And in 2025 I'm not going to force myself to keep reading if I'm not enjoying.
How Do I Tell You by Nicola May

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Did not finish book. Stopped at 9%.
Just couldn't get into it.  Maybe not my type of writing style?