Rachel Out of Office by Christine Hovland

 I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC. Thank you for letting me read this.

Rachel, Out of Office was my first book by Christine Hovland. The book is romantic comedy -kind of book. The book is about Rachel, who is a single-mom with a business. Rachel struggles with her life, she wants to be a perfect mom and she really wants to make her work perfectly. 

I think that the most of the moms out there recognize these same problems. Every mom wants what's best for her children and they do their absolute best to provide it to their children. Rachel has some problems with his ex-husband. She has problems with her work. She has the same problems we, the moms in real world, have. It made Rachel very likable and I could easily relate to her. 

I liked how the book had very little drama. I liked how the family worked, it felt real family. The tension and passion between Rachel and Travis was believable. I liked the twins and I really, really liked Travis. 

There were moments I found a little unbelievable, but nothing major. My main problem was the fact that the book was written in third POV, but that's just my problem. 

I really liked the ending and the fact that Rachel learned something that we all need to learn, no one is perfect and no one needs to be perfect.

This was a nice read with likable characters and plot. I can recommend this. 

⭐⭐⭐½

Rachel, Out of Office by Christine Hovland

2021

In The Penalty Box by Lynn Rush and Kelly Anne Blount

 An ARC received for an exchange of honest review. Thank you!

In The Penalty Box is a sweet YA -hockey romance. 

Willow is a figure skater with an injury. She was on a path to win gold metal in Olympic games. Now she doesn't know what to do, when all she knows and loves has taken away from her. So she joins in hockey team to rehab her achilles. Not all of the players want her to in their team, but Brody sure wants to. I liked how strong Willow were, both mentally and physically. 

Brody is the hockey star, the one player all adores. Even the arena has his name on it. On the outside everything seems to be perfect and in place in his life. But that couldn't be more wrong. Brody has his own battles that no one knows about. I liked Brody's way of living, I liked how he put his little brother on first place. 

Willow and Brody meet and sparks fly. Hockey teams coach has stated "no fraternizing" -rule that Willow and Brody do their best to follow. You can guess how well they manage to follow that rule. They had to make decisions that affected people around them. 

This is a sweet YA-romance with little drama.  You can read this book in one sitting, just like I did. Or you can read few chapters now and then, but I guarantee that you'll enjoy this book.

I liked the characters, I liked how much hockey there were in this book, I liked how their life were presented in; their feelings and actions truly felt teenagers. But still being teenagers these characters knew what they wanted and what was important in life, it was wonderful to read about these two. I liked the side characters. I just liked this book, okay?

⭐⭐⭐⭐

In The Penalty Box by Lynn Rush and Kelly Anne Blount

2020

The Not-Outcast by Tijan

Thank you for Social Butterfly PR and Tijan for giving me an ARC to read and review.

Wow. This might actually be the first book by Tijan that I am actually reviewing on my blog. How odd, because I have read and loved multiple books by her. One of my all time favorites is Ryan's Bed, everyone should read that book.

I didn't know what to expect when I started reading this; all I knew is that I get to read Tijan's writing. I like the way she writes and builds the world in her books. You will recognize her writing. She has a very unique style to write, most of her characters have very unique names, too.

The Not-Outcast is a contemporary romance. At first we get to know a little about Cheyenne's past. It was very eye-opening. Throughout the book we learn more about Cheyenne and her condition. I have not read the blurb so I don't know what's revealed in there, but I won't say much. All I am going to say is that I lovelovelove, LOVE, how Tijan writes about hard subjects in this book. 

Cheyenne has loved Cut since the first time she saw him. Now years later they meet officially and nothing has changed. I liked how Cut got a feeling that Cheyenne is his, when he saw her first time. It's like a love at first sight. He felt the need to protect her, which is always a good thing in my books.

The characters had so much chemistry between them, so you could feel the electricity vibrating through your Kindle. I read this book in one sitting. I got so hooked up on it that it's unreal.  This book is really a worth of reading. It tells you story of love and friendship. You don't need much else. But also; this book tells you about the daily struggles that some people go through in their head without anyone knowing. And that's really worth of knowing and understanding. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Not-Outcast by Tijan

2020

Say Hello, Kiss Goodbye by Jacquelyn Middleton

Thank you for Grey's Promotions and Jacquelyn Middleton for giving me an ARC to read and review.

At first I want to say I am sorry that my review is late, but here it finally is. 

I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. There were some awesome things in this book, but then there were few things that wasn't for me. 

The things I liked in this book were the names of the characters; just think about the names; Leia and Tarquin (What awesome names!), how their story begins; in black out at Ikea. It truly shows that you always get something you weren't supposed to get when you shop in Ikea 😁 I liked Leia's profession, she's a fashion designer. I haven't read many books with a character that works in fashion industry. I liked the secondary characters also. I liked how London and New York city played a huge part in this story. London is one of my favorite cities in the world. It was wonderful to read about! 

The things I didn't like so much. The third person POV, I like dual POV, but the third person POV is always a hard for me. Sex, I don't like to read about sex, but hey! Some of us likes to read about that so this might work just great for them. The book was quite slow from time to time and I had to make myself to keep reading.

This book contains many very hard subjects like anxiety issues, depression, alcoholism and few others. For that reason some people might need a trigger warning. The way this book deals with mental health issues was great. A huge thank you for that! You can never talk enough about mental health issues. We need to remove the stigma and this book sure helps to do that. 

These two meet and have a fling. Things happen and time goes on. I don't want to spoil this book, so I won't write anything more. Buy it and read yourself.

⭐⭐⭐½

Say Hello, Kiss Goodbye by Jacquelyn Middleton

2020

Every Sweet Regret by Lexi Ryan

Thank you for Grey's Promotions and Lexi Ryan for giving me an ARC to read and review!

This was my first book by Lexi Ryan. I have heard so many good things about her books that I wanted to read one myself. 

Every Sweet Regret is a second book in Orchid Valley -series. It's possible to read this book without reading the first book of the series. I surely did so. But I think you would benefit for reading the first book before reading this one. 

I rarely read blurbs, but this one I read and I instantly liked the idea of this book. The idea of falling in love without knowing how the other person looks like is ideal. In these days people put so much value to the looks that it feels unreal sometimes. With this way you actually need to get to know each other. You can  never put too much value on good communication. I liked how Kace was forced to get to know other things than just focusing on how Stella looks like. 

I really liked how the story went forward. The pace was steady and it felt like the author hadn't had any problems with her story. Just the way I like 😊

This was a friends-to-lovers and brothers best friend -book. One of my favorite tropes! 

For my liking there was pretty much sex. That's purely on me and is in no way authors fault! I also didn't understand why characters acted the way they did in some points, but that's on me, too. 

Over all, I liked this book. I really liked the way this book is written. Fun and fast read that made you miss summer, sun and pool 🍸 

⭐⭐⭐½

Every Sweet Regret by Lexi Ryan

2020

Varsity Rulebreaker by Ginger Scott

Thank you for Ginger Scott and WordSmith Publicity for giving me an ARC to read and review.

Varsity Rulebreaker is the third and final book in Varsity-series by Ginger Scott. I read the first book, Varsity Heartbreaker, when it came out. Somehow I missed the second book, but I'll read it as soon as possible. 

Once I got into reading I couldn't put this book down. This book has some content in it that makes you think. It explores what's it to be like a woman and play with men. You might get a glimpse  if it's even possible to play a sport that is considered for a sport for men. I really wanted to read this and know how it all will end. 

Hollis is a senior in high school and she loves to play baseball. She is new in Indiana, but in there she can just maybe show that she's more than a coaches daughter and she can earn her spot in team. 

Cannon is a new in Indiana, too. He's there to play ball with his cousin, Zack. It is implied that they play well together. At first it seems that his relationship to his cousin is easy and good, but as the book goes on we get to see more Cannon's thoughts and maybe he's growing a bit, too.

Cannon and Hollis meet and there's attraction between them. A New Years kiss is all it takes from them to be imprinted in each others mind. Too bad that they didn't know they'll be playing ball together.

Zack isn't taking it well that he now needs to prove how good he is. He doesn't like competing against Hollis. Stuff happens, as always. Cannon needs to decide what matters most; love, friendship, family bonds, doing what is right or loyalty? All equally good things, so it might be hard for him to be in between Hollis an Zacks mess.

I really liked the chemistry between Hollis and Cannon. I liked the dual POV. I liked how the sport really was a part of the story, not just a some thing a hero did. I liked how the story went forward. It was easy and happy read with little drama. I can for sure recommend it for everyone who likes YA sports romance-books. A great end for the series, loved the epilogue!

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Varsity Rulebreaker by Ginger Scott

2020

Escaping Eleven by Jerri Chisholm

Thank you for Entangled Publishing and NetGalley for giving me an ARC to review!

Escaping Eleven brings a whole new world to you. It's the world of violence, order and dreams. It's a world where those dreams usually die. The hierarchy is everything in this world.

Eve lives in compound eleven. Four generations ago the earth became to dangerous to live on. They decided to move underground. Now the life underground is all Eve knows. She loves to read and has read everything about life before the ground got uninhabited. Eve lives in the floor nr. 2. In her floor they fight and she's good with it. She needs to decide a profession soon and she's thinking about going pro.

Her latest fight is different, though. Her opponent isn't some punk from same floor. He's a kid from top floor with eyes that show every emotion he has. These two fight, meet, spend time together. Eve is determined to make chances on her life, she wants so much more than the compound eleven can offer to her. Maybe this kid with amazing eyes can change her life.

This is your typical YA dystopian novel, but this label takes nothing away from this story. If you have read The Hunger Games, Uglies, Under the Never Sky or Matched  you'll love this book, too. I have read YA dystopian as long as I can remember, some of those books are better than others, but this is still one of my favorite genres. 

I loved the chemistry between characters, I loved how the story went forward. I loved how this was written. Amazing debut novel!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Escaping Eleven by Jerri Chisholm

Entangled Publishing

2020