Arrogant Devil

Arrogant Devil by R.S. Grey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Enjoyed the lighthearted reading...enjoyed The Belle & the Beau a little better, but still enjoyed this one. Felt like it could have had a little bit more story regarding the abusive husband, but then it might not have been as light & easy to read. I did enjoy the epilogue as well for a good summary ending so I can leave my characters knowing where the path laid out for them. & I think everyone needs a grandma Edith in their life.

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Everyone in Cedar Creek, Texas, knows Jack McNight is an arrogant devil. Physically, I get it: he’s tan and fit, with coal-black hair that’s clearly been scorched by hellfire. Oh, and his personality? It burns just as hot.

When I show up on the doorstep of Blue Stone Ranch, I’m run-down and rockin’ my last pair of underwear. I’m hoping for a savior, but instead, I find him.

My opinion of Jack is marred by a dismal first impression, but his opinion of me is tainted even before I arrive. He’s heard I’m a spoiled princess there to take advantage of his goodwill. To him, I’m more trouble than I’m worth.

Our button-pushing banter should get under my skin. His arrogance should be a major turn-off. Problem is, devils are known to offer their own form of temptation.

Every one of his steely glares sends a shiver down my spine.

Every steamy encounter leaves me reeling.

Sure, it could be the Texas heat messing with my head, but there’s no way I’ll survive the summer without silencing him with a kiss and wrestling him out of those Wranglers.

Who knows…going to bed with the devil might just be the salvation I’ve been looking for all along. 

One of Us Is Lying

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I just devoured this book. So anxious to see what the real story was behind a guy dying after a group of teens were in detention together. The story held me to the very end. I just for some reason envisioned these kids as the gang from Riverdale - I mean, someone died, so it fits. It's like a Breakfast Club meets Riverdale meets Dateline Mystery. I just loved seeing the characters evolve into their true selves & developing relationships together & seeing how they handled themselves when their truth they tried to keep secret came to light. I also was taken back by surprises & twists in the book & in the end, I didn't figure out the mystery of it all, which makes me like a book even more. I also feel like the end was summed up pretty well giving me a 'tied in a bow' ending I feel like I can leave all the characters behind in. This totally could be a movie... or at least a season on Riverdale :)

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Pay close attention and you might solve this.

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. 
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. 
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn't an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he'd planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who's still on the loose? 
Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them."

The Last To Let Go

The Last to Let Go by Amber Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was an interesting story of how a family deals with abuse & the after effects of a mom who no longer can take the abuse. You root for the 3 kids who are left behind & handle the situation so differently. I felt like something was missing in the story, like it didn't connect fully with me, but I still got through it fast as I was anxious to see how it would all turn out.

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A twisted tragedy leaves Brooke and her siblings on their own in this provocative new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Way I Used To Be.

How do you let go of something you’ve never had?

Junior year for Brooke Winters is supposed to be about change. She’s transferring schools, starting fresh, and making plans for college so she can finally leave her hometown, her family, and her past behind.

But all of her dreams are shattered one hot summer afternoon when her mother is arrested for killing Brooke’s abusive father. No one really knows what happened that day, if it was premeditated or self-defense, whether it was right or wrong. And now Brooke and her siblings are on their own.

In a year of firsts—the first year without parents, first love, first heartbreak, and her first taste of freedom—Brooke must confront the shadow of her family’s violence and dysfunction, as she struggles to embrace her identity, finds her true place in the world, and learns how to let go.

Far From the Tree

Far from the Tree by Robin Benway
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a fast read for me & I just enjoyed seeing the stories of these 3 siblings come together to find more of what connects them but each in their own world.

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A contemporary novel about three adopted siblings who find each other at just the right moment.

Being the middle child has its ups and downs.

But for Grace, an only child who was adopted at birth, discovering that she is a middle child is a different ride altogether. After putting her own baby up for adoption, she goes looking for her biological family, including—

Maya, her loudmouthed younger bio sister, who has a lot to say about their newfound family ties. Having grown up the snarky brunette in a house full of chipper redheads, she’s quick to search for traces of herself among these not-quite-strangers. And when her adopted family’s long-buried problems begin to explode to the surface, Maya can’t help but wonder where exactly it is that she belongs.

And Joaquin, their stoic older bio brother, who has no interest in bonding over their shared biological mother. After seventeen years in the foster care system, he’s learned that there are no heroes, and secrets and fears are best kept close to the vest, where they can’t hurt anyone but him. 

Hillbilly Elegy

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I keep seeing everyone reading this & giving amazing reviews.... & the whole time I'm reading this, i'm like, "I dont get it". To me, it was boring & ordinary & nothing groundbreaking or earth shattering. Maybe because it just felt like reading a lot of my own family history? Mamaw & Papaw in this book sounded exactly like my own grandparents, some of the relatives in the book sounds just like my own family & the situations that I read in reviews that people are in shock about, just sounds like ordinary life. I mean, I do live in Kentucky but never considered our family "Hillbilly"... maybe I need to rethink that.


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From a former Marine and Yale Law School Graduate, a poignant account of growing up in a poor Appalachian town, that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class. Part memoir, part historical and social analysis, J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy is a fascinating consideration of class, culture, and the American dream.

Vance’s grandparents were “dirt poor and in love.” They got married and moved north from Kentucky to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. Their grandchild (the author) graduated from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving upward mobility for their family. But Vance cautions that is only the short version. The slightly longer version is that his grandparents, aunt, uncle, and mother struggled to varying degrees with the demands of their new middle class life and they, and Vance himself, still carry around the demons of their chaotic family history.

Delving into his own personal story and drawing on a wide array of sociological studies, Vance takes us deep into working class life in the Appalachian region. This demographic of our country has been slowly disintegrating over forty years, and Vance provides a searching and clear-eyed attempt to understand when and how “hillbillies” lost faith in any hope of upward mobility, and in opportunities to come.

At times funny, disturbing, and deeply moving, this is a family history that is also a troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large portion of this country. 

Still Me

Still Me by Jojo Moyes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After the 2nd book, I was afraid for this one. I really didnt like the 2nd book much at all... but couldnt pass a chance to catch up with Louisa. This one didn't falter at all. I loved it just as much as the first one. I wouldnt even mind another one to continue following Louisa & all the people in her life. I loved all the new characters in this book & just loved imaging Louisa in the Big Apple with her bee tights. & I love we still get snippets of Will in this book. #WilLTraynorForever!!!! I really was sad to see this one end

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Louisa Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam alive across several thousand miles. She steps into the world of the superrich, working for Leonard Gopnik and his much younger second wife, Agnes. Lou is determined to get the most out of the experience and throws herself into her new job and New York life.

As she begins to mix in New York high society, Lou meets Joshua Ryan, a man who brings with him a whisper of her past. Before long, Lou finds herself torn between Fifth Avenue where she works and the treasure-filled vintage clothing store where she actually feels at home. And when matters come to a head, she has to ask herself: Who is Louisa Clark? And how do you reconcile a heart that lives in two places?

Funny, romantic, and poignant, Still Me follows Lou as she navigates how to stay true to herself, while pushing to live boldly in her brave new world. 

What She Knew

What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I've heard a lot of great things about this one & I'm just like Meh... ok then.
I was anxious to find out 'whodunit?' since it was after all a mystery - but it sort of got on my nerves. I felt like a part of the story just drug on & even caught myself just skimming pages towards the end because it was getting too long in areas.
It wasn't awful, it wasn't finger gripping suspense - it was just 'meh' to me.

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Rachel Jenner is walking in a Bristol park with her eight-year-old son, Ben, when he asks if he can run ahead. It’s an ordinary request on an ordinary Sunday afternoon, and Rachel has no reason to worry—until Ben vanishes.

Police are called, search parties go out, and Rachel, already insecure after her recent divorce, feels herself coming undone. As hours and then days pass without a sign of Ben, everyone who knew him is called into question, from Rachel’s newly married ex-husband to her mother-of-the-year sister. Inevitably, media attention focuses on Rachel too, and the public’s attitude toward her begins to shift from sympathy to suspicion. 

As she desperately pieces together the threadbare clues, Rachel realizes that the greatest dangers may lie not in the anonymous strangers of every parent’s nightmares, but behind the familiar smiles of those she trusts the most.

Where is Ben? The clock is ticking...