REVIEW: My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren

Title: My Favorite Half-Night Stand

Author: Christina Lauren
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press

Release Date: Dec 4, 2018 

Acquired: Purchased for collection

Goodreads: ADD

Purchase: Amazon/Indigo/Book Depository

Millie Morris has always been one of the guys. A UC Santa Barbara professor, she’s a female-serial-killer expert who’s quick with a deflection joke and terrible at getting personal. And she, just like her four best guy friends and fellow professors, is perma-single.

So when a routine university function turns into a black tie gala, Mille and her circle make a pact that they’ll join an online dating service to find plus-ones for the event. There’s only one hitch: after making the pact, Millie and one of the guys, Reid Campbell, secretly spend the sexiest half-night of their lives together, but mutually decide the friendship would be better off strictly platonic.

But online dating isn’t for the faint of heart. While the guys are inundated with quality matches and potential dates, Millie’s first profile attempt garners nothing but dick pics and creepers. Enter “Catherine”—Millie’s fictional profile persona, in whose make-believe shoes she can be more vulnerable than she’s ever been in person. Soon “Catherine” and Reid strike up a digital pen-pal-ship...but Millie can’t resist temptation in real life, either. Soon, Millie will have to face her worst fear—intimacy—or risk losing her best friend, forever.

REVIEW: With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

Title: With the Fire on High

Author: Elizabeth Acevedo
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Publisher: Harpercollins (Teen)

Release Date: May 7, 2019

Acquired: Library Borrow

Goodreads: ADD

Purchase: Amazon/Indigo/Book Depository

With her daughter to care for and her abuela to help support, high school senior Emoni Santiago has to make the tough decisions, and do what must be done. The one place she can let her responsibilities go is in the kitchen, where she adds a little something magical to everything she cooks, turning her food into straight-up goodness.

Still, she knows she doesn’t have enough time for her school’s new culinary arts class, doesn’t have the money for the class’s trip to Spain—and shouldn’t still be dreaming of someday working in a real kitchen. But even with all the rules she has for her life—and all the rules everyone expects her to play by—once Emoni starts cooking, her only real choice is to let her talent break free.

Word of advice before you start reading this book: make sure you've eaten. The food prepared in here made me hungry on a whole other level; Acevado can describe a meal like no one else.

Emoni Santiago is a teen mom in her senior year of high school, she also has an effortless penchant for creating incredibly delicious and memory-provoking dishes. College applications are on the horizon, but with a full plate at home taking care of her daughter and working a part time job, she's had little time to think about what her future might look like. After being encouraged to take a new culinary course offered at school, Emoni soon realizes that her dreams are bigger than she initially thought, but is raw talent enough to help her impress the right people? Or will she finally learn where a little focus and discipline can get her?

If you asked me to define 'wholesome' with a novel, With the Fire on High would be my response. The stakes were low, the conflict was non-existent and the food descriptions were mouthwatering. I found a lot of the aspects in here to be a little too well explained; ends too neatly tied up, and would have really liked to see the characters placed in some deeper waters, however the family dynamic warmed my heart, and the romance was innocent and cute (even though it felt a little forced at time). If you're looking for a breezy, thoughtless narrative, you should consider reading this one!

Read if you like:
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson
You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

Key themes: 
friendship, romance, family, love, cooking

credit: https://christinalaurenbooks.com/bio 

ELIZABETH ACEVEDO is a New York Times bestselling author of The Poet X, With the Fire on High, and Clap When You Land. Her critically-acclaimed debut novel, The Poet X, won the 2018 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. She is also the recipient of the Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Fiction, the CILIP Carnegie Medal, and the Boston Globe-Hornbook Award. Additionally, she was honored with the 2019 Pure Belpré Author Award for celebrating, affirming, and portraying Latinx culture and experience.

Her books include, Beastgirl & Other Origin Myths (YesYes 2016), The Poet X (HarperCollins, 2018), & With The Fire On High (HarperCollins, 2019), and Clap When You Land (HarperCollins, 2020).

She holds a BA in Performing Arts from The George Washington University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland. Acevedo has been a fellow of Cave Canem, Cantomundo, and a participant in the Callaloo Writer’s Workshops. She is a National Poetry Slam Champion, and resides in Washington, DC with her love.

CONTACT LINKS 

Website | Instagram | Twitter

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BLOG TOUR: Kingdom Above the Cloud by Maggie Platt (SPOTLIGHT)

Title: Kingdom Above the Cloud

Author: Maggie Platt
Genre: Young Adult - Christian Fantasy
Publisher: Ambassador International

Release Date: April 17, 2020

Goodreads: ADD

Purchase: Amazon/Google/Book Depository

What if the nine Fruit of the Spirit and the Seven Deadly Sins were locked in a battle for control?

Abandoned as infants, Tovi and her twin brother were raised by an eclectic tribe of warm, kind people in a treehouse village in the va lley. After her brother’s sudden disappearance Tovi questions her life and her faith in an invisible King. Ignoring her best friend Silas’ advice, she decides to search for her brother in the kingdom on top of the mountain.

Above the cloud, the Council of Masters receives their orders. Tovi and her brother are the objectives. King Damien has a plan and Tovi is the key. The Council of Masters want her, but will she remain unscathed?

Amidst the glamour of the kingdom above the cloud Tovi is torn between her own dark desires and unanswered questions. It starts with a snake and a crown. When the ring is complete, will her life be over?

May 2020: To Be Read

-MAY TO BE READ-

Let it be known that this was the month I decided to take on more buddy and group-reads than I can possibly handle *sigh. But I am determined! I will read like my life depends on it, and my MAKE MYSELF PROUD.

I also want to attempt to not buy 1000 books from Bookoutlet, but who are we kidding!? I buy books in my sleep now.

As always, keep an eye on my Instagram at the end of the month for the 'May Giveaway' announcement. It's going to be an EXTRA special one because I hit 1k on my Bookstragram recently!

Here are the 13 books (+ blog tour read) I have planned for May: