Friday, April 9, 2021

March Top 5

 


It's that time again my friends, time to recap another month of reading!

March was a month. My husband and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. It also marked one year of this pandemic. My oldest child returned to school full time, for the first time in a year. I was also summoned for jury duty in March, but did not have to report. (YAY!) Then there was the fact that both my parents were in the hospital at the same time, in different states, and it was stressful. (both are now fine) In March I also got to see my best friend for the first time in a long time. Outings with her are some of my favorite things. They always bring a smile to my face and I cherish that time with her.

Before we talk about my top 5 books of March, let's go over my stats.

In March, I read 22 books, which totaled 6,338 pages.

The book breakdown is
    • 22 books read
    • 2 physical (library) books
    • 9 kindle books I own/or purchased
    • 11 advanced reader copies
My average rating was a 3.95 ⭐️

Breaking my ratings down a bit further we have:
    • 2   - Five Star
    • 17 - Four Star
    • 3   - Three Star

I also DNF'd a book this month, High Heels in the Highlands, and opted not to rate the book or include it in my monthly stats (other than as a DNF). Nor did I mark it as read on Goodreads. Simply put the book was too slow moving for my liking, and I just could not get involved in the story. Plus it claimed to be a romance, but by the time I DNF'd it (13%), there was no romance to be had. It is what it is, not every book will be the book for you.

My longest book of March was Driven by K Bromberg. It was 806 pages. (to be fair, it was a ebook boxed set)
My shortest book of March was Hockey Hunk by Kat Obie. It was 91 pages.

In March, my new to me author count was 8. So not as impressive as February, but still it's 8 new authors that I've discovered!

Are you ready for my top 5 books of March? 




Thursday, April 8, 2021

I Pucking Love You {a review}


If you've been reading my reviews for the Copper Valley Thrusters hockey series this week, you know that I had a wild idea to read ALL the previous books in the series prior to the release of I Pucking Love You. Seriously, who does that? Apparently I do that. But I needed the backstories!

Well today I Pucking Love You is available!  I am all caught up on the series, and thanks to Give Me Books PR I was able to read an advanced copy of I Pucking Love You.  

If you don't know what I'm talking about, I Pucking Love You is the fifth book in the Copper Valley Thrusters series by Pippa Grant. She just did a cover reveal earlier this week, and has been sharing graphics/teasers on her Facebook page. So you should go follow Pippa Grant's Facebook page and subscribe to her newsletter! (links are down below)

Here are my thoughts about I Pucking Love You.


If you've been during my Copper Valley Thrusters readathon, you'll know that I adored two of the books, and the other two were just okay.  And that's perfectly okay as you're not going to like every book you read. That being said, I was nervous about I Pucking Love You. Especially after coming off Charming As Puck. I mean could Tyler and Muffy make me as happy as Nick and Kami? 

Well my friends, I am happy to report that I Pucking Love You was a very good read. I literally was laughing out loud at times, and I can relate to Muffy. No I didn't leave medical school and tell no one the reason why, only to then open a match making service that has more failures than successes. But being a more awkward person, oh absolutely I can relate to that. Not having what the world deems an ideal body size, oh yep I relate to that too.

If you've read Charming As Puck, then you were able to witness the beginning of the friendship between Tyler and Muffy. In I Pucking Love You, we find out that things happened at a bunny bar, and that encounter didn't live up to the expectations Muffy had (it was just okay). A while after all that happened, Muffy finds herself needing to go back to her college town for a funeral. Knowing what awaits her back there, Muffy is obviously nervous about the situation and decides she needs a date. Who offers up his companionship? Tyler. You see after the night at the bunny bar, Tyler has an issue, and to "fix" it he needs to spend time around Muffy. 

ANYWAYS

The funeral is just a small part of this story. It is more so what happens afterward that made me fall for Tyler. The way he stood up for Muffy. The way he builds her up. The way he doesn't let her get away with saying negative things about herself or her business. Tyler isn't putting up with it. I know it sounds like Tyler is doing all of these things for Muffy and getting nothing in return, but that's not true. These are just the things that stood out to me.

Tyler and Muffy together is just amazing. It makes my heart happy. Oh so happy. I am so glad that she is getting her HEA. Muffy found someone who loves her for who she is. Muffy also has found a great group of friends to be a part of her life. And those two things are everything.

I am so glad that I read I Pucking Love You. No it wasn't my typical hockey romance read, but I'm okay with that. Pippa Grant's writing style is much more rom-com than traditional contemporary romance, and while it doesn't always mesh with me, it does on occasion.

Do I recommend reading I Pucking Love You? Absolutely.  Do you need to read the entire series before doing so? No you don't, but it definitely helps for the backstories. The only thing I have to say, knowing my history/feelings with the series, is to go into it with an open mind. Don't go into it with my view points in mind. Just give it a chance, and if one book doesn't quite hit the mark try another. It worked for me, and it might for you too.

Happy Reading,


Keep scrolling to read the teaser for I Pucking Love You! I've also included a link to add it to your Goodreads TBR, as well as a link to Amazon should you want to buy a copy. That being said, if you're a KU subscriber, this book is included in your subscription.






Title: I Pucking Love You
Series: Copper Valley Thrusters #5
Author: Pippa Grant
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Release Date: April 8, 2021


BLURB

You know those stories where an adorably misunderstood clumsy girl needs a fake date to a wedding so she asks her brother’s best friend and they accidentally fall in love?

I wish that was the kind of life I lead, but it’s not.

I don’t need a date to a wedding. I need a date to a funeral.

Clumsy sometimes fits, but then, that’s true for all of us, right? But adorable? No. Misunderstood? Nope again. I’m just your average girl, standing in front of a funeral invitation, asking it to be a winning lottery ticket instead.

And I don’t have a brother, or a best friend with a brother available, which means I’m stuck with Tyler Jaeger.

Sure, he’s a professional hockey player who also knows advanced calculus, but let’s say we’re not compatible and leave it at that. I should know. I am a matchmaker.

Not a very good one, but that’s beside the point.

I know a mismatch when I see one.

Still, Tyler’s what I’ve got, and I am not going to this funeral solo, so he’s what I’ll take.

After all—what could go wrong at a funeral?

I Pucking Love You is a hilariously wrong romantic comedy about the world’s worst matchmaker, a hockey player with a problem he doesn’t want to talk about, and an awkward date-of-convenience that everyone would prefer to forget. It comes complete with a cat working his way through his nine lives, all the sexy times, fish and chips, and a swoony happily-ever-after.







PURCHASE LINKS

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited







EXCERPT

Tyler

We all have to be at practice tomorrow morning—check that, this morning, as it’s shortly after midnight—but I don’t want to go home.

I don’t want to drink. I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to screw.

I want—

Dammit.

I want a bucket of greasy fried fish and chips, because it’s what my big brother used to take me to get every time he came home on leave from the Marines and got annoyed at being hen-pecked by the four sisters between us.

My car’s cold, thanks to the early November weather, and no, I’m not telling you what kind of car I drive, because yes, it very much feels like compensation tonight.

It gets me where I want to go.

That’s all that matters.

That, and getting my ass to Cod Pieces before they close for the night.

Could I stay at the bunny bar and get fried fish and chips?

Yes.

Will I?

No fucking way.

I’m still stewing in my own misery when the bright neon sign with the armored cod and the storefront that looks like a medieval castle comes into view at the edge of a strip mall four miles the wrong direction from my downtown condo. I roll the window down, letting in a blast of chilly air and the scent of fries.

Just in time.

I holler my order over the sound of my engine, then pull around to the window to get my fish.

Debate calling my brother in Miami.

It’s one AM. He and his wife recently celebrated their kid’s first birthday, and I think they’re working on baby number two.

If I call him in the middle of the night to bitch about how I can’t get it up, he’ll probably hang up on me, then tell our sisters.

And Mom.

She’s a professional comedienne with her own popular Netflix special. There’s no damn way I’m bothering West in the middle of the night for this.

I’ll talk to the fried fish and call it even.

Has as much personality as West had before he married Daisy.

The window swings open. “That’ll be fourteen seventy-three, please.”

My car lurches forward before I remember to put it in park, and I gape up at the woman staring down at me. “Muffy?”

My brain is playing tricks on me.

It has to be.

Because there’s no way the curvy, clumsy, smart-mouthed goddess who’s haunting my dick is standing there wearing a Cod Pieces polo and hat.

But she is.

And I swear to god, her long brown braids are recoiling in horror as her whole face twists, her lip curling, her left eye squeezing shut, before she snaps herself together. “For the hundredth time today, I have no idea who this Muffy person is. My name is Octavia Louisa Beaverhousen.”

Fuck me.

There are two of them? She looks exactly like Muffy. I’m not seeing things, and I’m not projecting just because I want my dick to work again and the bunnies made me think about screwing Muffy in the walk-in fridge at the bunny bar.

“Fourteen seventy-three, please.” She turns away as she holds out a hand, twitching her fingers like she’s waiting for cash or a card.

And that’s when I see the tattoo.

Rufus.
Her cat’s name. It’s on her wrist.

Octavia Louisa Beaverhousen, my ass. This is Muffy.





Read the Copper Valley Thrusters
from the beginning!

The Pilot & the Puck-Up


AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited

ALSO AVAILABLE
AUDIBLE / AMAZON AUDIO
APPLE BOOKS / PAPERBACK


Royally Pucked


AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited

ALSO AVAILABLE
AUDIBLE / AMAZON AUDIO
APPLE BOOKS / PAPERBACK


Beauty and the Beefcake


AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited

ALSO AVAILABLE
AUDIBLE / AMAZON AUDIO
APPLE BOOKS / PAPERBACK


Charming As Puck


AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited

ALSO AVAILABLE
AUDIBLE / AMAZON AUDIO
APPLE BOOKS / PAPERBACK






AUTHOR BIO

Pippa Grant is a USA Today Bestselling author who writes romantic comedies that will make tears run down your leg. When she's not reading, writing or sleeping, she's being crowned employee of the month as a stay-at-home mom and housewife trying to prepare her adorable demon spawn to be productive members of society, all the while fantasizing about long walks on the beach with hot chocolate chip cookies.


AUTHOR LINKS



Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Charming as Puck {a review}

 


As we lead up to the release of I Pucking Love You, I had the wild idea to read the first four books in the Copper Valley Thrusters series in preparation. I Pucking Love You is the fifth book in the series and it releases on Thursday, April 8 2021!

Charming As Puck is the fourth book in the Copper Valley Thrusters hockey series, and features the best friend's sibling trope! In this book we follow the relationship between Nick Murphy and Kami Oakley. You may recognize those names, as both characters appeared in Beauty and the Beefcake! You may also remember that Kami is on of Felicity's best friends. So Kami is worried about Felicity finding out about the friends with benefits relationship that she has going with Nick. Especially since we know how Felicity was telling Kami not to go there in Beauty and the Beefcake.
 

As it turns out, Nick and Kami have been in their friends with benefits relationship for about 8 months. On Kami's birthday though, she's had enough and calls it off with Nick. The fact that he forgot her birthday didn't help matters either. What's been revealed thus far in the book is that Nick pretty much only cares about Nick, whereas Kami is the person who sees the best in every person (and tends to be a doormat).

Now here's the thing, I went into this book with low expectations. I wasn't expecting to like it. I thought it would be just okay, and my time with the Copper Valley Thrusters would be just about over. My reader friends, Charming As Puck was my FAVORITE of the series!

There was just something about Nick and Kami that I really enjoyed. Maybe it was the whole cow situation in the beginning of the book, and how Kami reacted about it all. Maybe it was how Nick realized he is a bit self absorbed. Maybe it's how he couldn't function without Kami. I could go on. Also, Kami utilizing Muffy's match making business, that was so good. (plus it sets up for the next book) I guess for me, it came down to watching the characters grow and their relationship deepen. I'm here for it.

Seriously though my fellow romance readers, I loved Charming As Puck. I hope that Kami and Nick make an appearance in I Pucking Love You, because I need more of these two. 



Happy Reading,


Keep scrolling to read the teaser for Charming As Puck. I've also included the link to add the book to your Goodreads. Also, if you want to buy it from Amazon, I have that link for you as well. For those who are KU subscribers, Charming as Puck is FREE with your subscription!


The man could charm the panties off a nun...

Nick Murphy. Hockey god. My best friend's big brother. My friend-with-mindblowing-benefits. The best thing to happen to my nether regions since my subscription to the toy of the month club. The man I've been secretly in love with for years.

And total ass.

I am so done with him.

Except there's one small problem.

Now that I've cut him off, his hockey game is in the toilet. He's convinced I'm his good luck charm, and he wants me back. But only for his game.

I'll be strong. I will. I'll resist.

Asses don't change their stripes.

Or do they?

This plan would be so easy if the man wasn't Charming as Puck...

Charming as Puck is a romping fun romance between a hockey player and his sister's best friend, complete with farm animals, epic birthday presents, and Berger Twin sightings. This romantic comedy stands alone with no cheating or cliffhangers and ends with a pucking awesome happily ever after.


Add to Goodreads: Charming As Puck

Buy from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3fFIr6L

Sweetened {teaser}


Sweetened 𝐛𝐲 Annie Dyer is coming April 14th!!   


Winning will never taste so sweet...

Lainey Green has got exactly what she wants--the dream location for her equine therapy centre and a place to settle down and call home.

Unfortunately for Jake Maynard, that home is the farm he desperately wanted, and the alpaca owning, farm running, town Romeo isn't about to be on the welcoming committee for Lainey anytime soon.

Irritation turns into rivalry, which morphs into something else entirely.

And pretty soon Jake Maynard is well on the way to hanging up his playboy ways for good. Lainey is the only prize he's interested in winning.

Now all he has to do is persuade his feisty, independent neighbour to feel the same about him.

𝗣𝗿𝗲-𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆! mybook.to/Sweetened
Add to your Goodreads TBR ➜ https://bit.ly/2RdHzfB


     


About the Author: 


Annie lives in the north of England, not too far from the amazing city of Manchester. She is owned by several cats and many hens, narrowly avoiding being a mad cat woman by enslaving a very understanding husband. She’s an avid reader of many genres and if she’s not writing a book, she’s usually reading one.

Where to find Annie:







Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Beauty and the Beefcake {a review}

 


As we lead up to the release of I Pucking Love You, I thought it would be fun to read the previous books in the Copper Valley Thrusters series. I've already read The Pilot and the Puck Up, as well as Royally Pucked. In each of those books I found myself curious about Ares, as there was just something about him that drew me in.

When I learned that Beauty and the Beefcake would be his story, I was intrigued. My hope, going into the book, was that there would be an explanation behind Ares's selective mutism. Would Ares have conversations with his friends and family within this book? Would he communicate (verbally) with Felicity? Or would he just skate through life with no communication other than throwing out the occasional one word answer (that made no sense with the question asked)?



If you read Royally Pucked, then you know the large cookie order that Nick Murphy had placed. You also know that it was going to Felicity's ex-boyfriend. In the beginning of Beauty and the Beefcake, we learned that Felicity had been living with the ex, and was now living at the house she inherited from her Grandma. Anyways, the ex wasn't too fond of the cookies, and he delivered them to the front lawn of Grandma's house.

For reasons I cannot remember, Nick shows up at the house and brings Ares with him. Nick then tells Felicity that Ares needs a new place to crash, as he can't live with Manning and Gracie any longer. Plus Ares was just placed on the injured reserve list, and he needs to stay off his ankle to let it heal. There could be no better place than with someone who is currently training to be a physical therapy assistant! Or so thinks Nick.

Ares moves in. He is still giving grunts as answers, or using a lot of facial expressions. Occasionally he will mutter a few words, but that's really it. The explanation given, as to why he doesn't talk, is for the first six years of his life he couldn't hear. Then once he had tubes put in his ears, things improved but he still chose not to say much of anything. Ares is simply a man of few words.

Then there is Felicity. She is a ventriloquist, and her characters come out to talk frequently. Felicity just can't help herself, she easily slips into those voices/personalities. Felicity is more than just a ventriloquist though. She is extremely intelligent, and has numerous college degrees. Yet for some reason she struggles to find (and keep) a job.

Let's get down to it. The first half of this book was aggravating. Felicity drove me bonkers, and Ares wasn't much better. I was finding myself frustrated, and contemplated DNF'ing the book. I pushed on though, and am somewhat glad I did. I will say the last 25% of the book was what I wanted. It showed the relationship between Ares and Felicity, but it also showed the sibling issues between Felicity and Nick. Honestly, that last 25% of the book, is what I wanted the entire time. Yet I had to go through the slow burn, and deal with the character voices first. 

Overall I marked Beauty and the Beefcake as 3 stars on Goodreads. The last quarter of the book is what helped to garner this rating. What I've been learning through reading the Copper Valley Thrusters series, is that not all of Pippa Grant's books are for me. Out of the three Copper Valley books I've read so far, I've only truly enjoyed one. Let's keep an open mind, and see what happens when I read Charming As Puck.

Have you read any books by Pippa Grant? 

Happy Reading,


Keep scrolling to read the teaser for Beauty and the Beefcake! I've also included the link to add it to your Goodreads, as well as  a link if you want to grab it on Amazon. If you're a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, it's FREE for you!



There are two kinds of women in the world - those I can bang, and those I can't.

My teammate's sister?
She's a can't.

I moved in with her to protect her from a nasty ex, not to be the next guy in line.

She's the brains.

I'm the brawn.

She's the fruit.

I'm the sausage.

She talks too much.

I don't talk at all, if I don't have to.

Should be easy to resist her.

But every minute I spend with Felicity is another minute she gets under my skin. She makes me feel like something more than a dumb puckhead with a big Zamboni pony. And it's getting harder to remember why I need to keep my hands to myself.

Beauty and the Beefcake is a vegan-friendly standalone romantic comedy featuring a hockey player whose vocabulary is the only thing smaller than a hockey puck, a book smart but aimless ventriloquist with too many voices in her head, a dilapidated old house that may or may not be haunted, and no cheating or cliffhangers.

Add to Goodreads: Beauty and the Beefcake
Purchase via Amazon: https://amzn.to/3wsAckq



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