Review: To Kill A Kingdom by Alexandra Christo // enemies to lovers!! playful banter!! sirens and pirates!!

Finding the right book to read is hard.

There are people that are constantly talking about certain books to the point that they seem overhyped, mixed reviews are EVERYWHERE and you don’t know who to trust, the book might have cliché and overused tropes, bland characters or shitty writing—everything could go wrong.

But guess what? None of that was the case with the book I want to introduce you to today. *big sigh of relief*

I was delightfully surpried at how much joy I felt while reading To Kill A Kingdom. It even managed to land a spot on my favourites list which is something that rarely happens!

If you’re into pirates, sirens and the enemies to lovers trope, you won’t want to miss this.

February Recap // A successful reading month, actual (!) update on my WRITING, first ever physical ARC and RESTORE ME RELEASE!!!

Do you ever get that wholesome feeling after finishing a Wrap Up post when you realise how successful your month has been?

Because that’s how I’m feeling right now.

I feel so at ease because not only did I manage to read amazing books this month, but I also took care of my mental health and did a lot of things I enjoy but have neglected over the last few months (eg. WRITING!!!) and it feels so GOOD.

And as you can tell by the title of this post, I have some very exciting things to share with you guys!!!! Ahhh!!!

Thanks for being awesome @ February.

RANT REVIEW: Snowsisters by Tom Wilinsky and Jen Sternick // a pointless story, transphobic trash and one-dimensional characters

I have bad news.

I wish my first review of the year was a positive one, but this book was just.. very disappointing. And it made me extremely uncomfortable.

Spoiler alert: this is a 1 star book.

I honestly don’t give out 1 or 2 star ratings often because I’m simply too nice lol but after writing this sort of very RANTY review, I realised that there is nothing good about this book and I gave it 1 lonely star.

Obviously, this review is going to include spoilers of the book, but I honestly wouldn’t recommend any of y’all to read it anyway so I think you’ll be fine 😛

5 Reasons Why YOU Should Read Warcross by Marie Lu RIGHT NOW // EPIC, DIVERSE AND MIND-BLOWING

Have you ever had exceedingly high expectations for a book and then it ended up letting you down???

Oh.

BECAUSE I HAVEN’T. At least not with Warcross.

As we all know, Marie Lu is a freaking LEGEND (hA, get it????!!!?!)* and I had no doubts that I would love Warcross. And boy did I loveit!!!

I decided to switch up my reviewing style for this post and give you 1000 reasons (actually, it’s only 5-ish) why you should read Marie Lu’s Warcross (including loads of Gifs!) to make this post a lot more fun!

There will be no spoilers for the book (as always, but I just thought I’d mention it again) SO KEEP ON READING AND ADD WARCROSS TO YOUR TBR IMMEDIATELY.

*I swear I’ve made that joke like 50 times now kill me

The Big F by Maggie Ann Martin // Very fun and uplifting summer read! + Giveaway

Oh, hi there! Guess who’s back with another blog tour? *points at self* THIS GIRRRLLL.

Welcome to my stop of the The Big F blog tour hosted by Xpresso Book Tours! Today, I’ll be sharing my review and the tour-wide giveaway with you!

Coincidentally, I seem to have been a part of many blog tours which promoted books from Swoon Reads (such as this one hehe) and I’ve always had luck with their books thus far! They always have such fun and relatable contemporaries that I find very easy to read—and The Big F was no different!

Keep on reading if you’d like to know why I loved reading this book!

PS. You can follow the rest of the tour here!

ARC August TBR // let’s tackle those ARCs we’ve been avoiding!!

Oh looooook, I found a super cool challenge to participate in next month!

I’m so happy that I stumbled across the #ARCAugust hashtag on Twitter because I’ve been needing some motivation to get through some of my Netgalley ARCs that I’ve been meaning to read since March!

My current Netgalley ratio is 75% WHICH IS AWESOME and the highest it’s ever been!!! But I’ve never actually reached that precious 80% so that’s what I’ll be attempting to do in August!

I currently have 8 ARCs left to read on Netgalley. While I don’t plan to read ALL of them next month, I want to get through a good chunk of them!

I’ve also received some ARCs from authors or for blog tours which need to be reviewed this month so I’m quite determined!

You can still sign-up for the ARC August challenge here!

#ARCstravaganza: The Dragons of Nova

Yay, second time in a row!

I’m back today with the #ARCstravaganza meme! Because you can never fangirl enough about ARCs you receive! 😛

ignore that I am a day late

#ARCstravaganza is a weekly meme hosted by YA and Wine to give book bloggers/bookstagrammers a chance to show off the ARCs/eARCs they are excited about! Comment on their weekly posts with a link to your own #ARCstravaganza blog post, or post a picture on Instagram using the #ARCstravaganza hashtag, and you will be entered to win an ARC copy of an upcoming YA novel! One winner will be chosen at random each month.

#ARCstravaganza: The Tiger’s Watch

Look at me! I am finally participating in the new #ARCstravaganza meme! I’ve been meaning to do so ever since Krysti and Sarah announced it but I kept forgetting about it! Whew, thank god I finally remembered 😛

#ARCstravaganza is a weekly meme hosted by YA and Wine to give book bloggers/bookstagrammers a chance to show off the ARCs/eARCs they are excited about! Comment on their weekly posts with a link to your own #ARCstravaganza blog post, or post a picture on Instagram using the #ARCstravaganza hashtag, and you will be entered to win an ARC copy of an upcoming YA novel! One winner will be chosen at random each month.

Review: The Map That Leads To You by J.P. Monninger – stunning!

via Goodreads:

“”Romantic and unforgettable.” –Nicholas Sparks

A romantic, vivid novel that takes place in the tender time of a young woman’s life:

Heather has graduated from college and is traveling around Europe with her two best friends. She’s left school responsibility behind and adult responsibility is looming, but this is her one, ONE last summer to be free.

Heather doesn’t expect to even meet Jack, let alone fall in love with him. Jack is an enigmatic Vermonter a few years older than she is, who is following his grandfather’s journal to various cities around Europe.

But in the same way that forces are bringing Jack and Heather together, life and duty are pushing them apart. And Jack has a secret that is going to change absolutely everything.”

Review: The Nanny Arrangement by Rachel Harris

“Soft-spoken and shy Hannah Fisher is determined to make the man she’s loved her entire life finally see her as a woman. With the help of a makeover, a new mission—Operation Find My Happy—and the convenient forced proximity of a tour bus, she vows to win her best friend Deacon’s heart.

Former bad boy and current fiddle player Deacon Latrell has the world at his fingertips: a new gig with a famous band, plus his best friend on tour as his son’s nanny. Life couldn’t get much sweeter. Now if only he could stop imagining kissing the daylights out of his childhood BFF…

With one friend set on pushing the boundaries and the other afraid to rock the boat, one thing’s for certain—their story would make one heck of a country song.”

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Title: The Nanny Arrangement

Author: Rachel Harris

Genre: Contemporary, Romance

Published: May 22^nd 2017 by Entangled Publishing, LLC

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“The best love stories always start with friendship. Luke and Lorelai, […] Harry and Sally. And don’t even get me started on my books. That’s my favorite trope by far.”

*I received a free ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This did not influence my opinion in any way!*

I was in the mood for a quick, light and easy contemporary read and when I stumbled across The Nanny Arrangement and spotted the childhood sweethearts trope, I WAS SOLD! This was the kind of sweet, cheesy love story that I was looking for!

The Nanny Arrangement is the story of shy and sweet Hannah who makes it a mission to make her childhood best friend Deacon, the man she’s secretly in love with, finally see her as more than just her best friend. Deacon is the new fiddle player in country music’s hottest band and he needs a nanny to look after his 2-year-old son while he’s on the road. And who could be better for the job than his best friend Hannah?

This was such a cute and adorable story! It made me feel all fuzzy and warm inside – mixed with a little bit of angst towards the end of the book. This was such a quick, light and adorable book, I flew through it in 2 days!

I mean, the term ‘best-friends-to-lovers’ literally already tells you what the story is about and how it is going to end, so I guess you could say that the story was predictable. But did I care? NOPE! ABOLUTELY NOT! 😀

The BFF to lovers trope is one of my favourite tropes ever – if it’s well-done – and The Nanny Arrangement definitely was!

It was lovely to see how Hannah and Deacon worked together as best friends and how much both of them loved Deacon’s child Max! Hannah had such a bright and happy personality and that really showed when she was around the kids! She has such a creative and silly mind and it was so endearing to read about it!

And there is just something about single-fathers that I love! I mean, it is kind of attractive, right?! 😛

You could really tell that Deacon loved his son to death and he would do anything to make him happy! Being in a band and touring the entire country did take its toll on Deacon because he thought he’d make Max feel abandoned – but Hannah always made sure to reassure Deacon and get him to get out of his head!

I really liked the dynamic between Hannah and Deacon and it was adorable to see how the both of them realised that they had feelings for each other! And the grand gesture at the end definitely made me tear up!

As I said, I AM A SUCKER FOR THE CHILDHOOD SWEETHEARTS TROPE!!! ❤

The Nanny Arrangement was a perfect read for me – it had best friends falling in love, a single-father with an adorable son, a band *swoons* and some great, supportive friendships along the way!

I would totally recommend it to people looking for a short contemporary read and fans of the friends-to-lovers trope who don’t mind some cheesy-ness and fluff!

 (4 OUT OF 5 STARS)

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Goodreads / Amazon US / Amazon UK / Barnes & Noble

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Thank you for reading!

PS. Have you noticed? I am trying to keep my reviews short and not ramble too much 😛

Are you a fan of the friends-to-lovers trope? Don’t you just love the adorable-ness and fluff that comes with it? What are some of your favourite tropes? Let’s chat in the comments!