book review

The Unhoneymooners

| enbyyourself

Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: The Unhoneymooners

Author: Christina Lauren

Year: 2019

Genre: Romance, enemies to lovers

Queer shit: gay brother, nearly insignificant character so he felt kind of token-y

Vibe Check: twin sister and entire wedding party get food poisoning but honeymoon is non-refundable so this twin and the best man are sent on the trip instead, enemies to lovers

Pile of Opinions: Enemies to lovers is a tough one for me because if it’s not done well it feels abusive. This one was leaning into the bullying behavior and came across extremely annoying and immature. The story is about a twin sister who is the maid of honor in her twin’s wedding. The bride is big into giveaways and winning stuff so she ends up winning most of her wedding vendors (including a seafood buffet that gives the entire wedding, except our two leads, food poisoning) and the entire all expenses paid honeymoon. The maid of honor has a seafood allergy and the best man has an aversion to buffets so they are the only two wedding guests who do not get sick. The bride decides her twin sister should pretend to be her to redeem the non-refundable honeymoon and the groom tells his best man to pretend to be her new husband. It took me 150 pages before I felt like the book was readable for me. I enjoyed pages 150-300 because they were unpacking misunderstandings and spending time together on purpose and they had stopped bullying each other even if they didn’t quite admit to liking each other yet. I’ve liked other books by Christina Lauren so I pushed through to finish this one but I don’t think this was their best work. The plot was choppy and the last 100 pages felt like another book’s ending, like there were too many stories going on at once. I appreciate the story being layered and involving a large family so naturally there would be many stories, but by the time we got the happy ending it didn’t really feel that happy. I feel like this book leaned too far into the cliché of the trope and then swung too far the other way trying to add more plot and depth than a common romance and it didn’t feel like it fit. This book was a perfectly fine romance read if you like chaos and drama and don’t mind the enemies to lovers, I think this one was not for me. I didn’t hate it but It’s not going on my reread list personally. Feel free to share in the comments if you read this one and what you thought.

Buy The Unhoneymooners

The Notekeeper

| enbyyourself

Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: The Notekeeper

Author: Hannah Treave

Year: 2023

Genre: Romance? I actually don’t know. Is grief fiction a genre? It should be

Queer shit: none that registered

Vibe Check: Hospice nurse works through her own grief while giving her patience the best death she can

Pile of Opinions: This book was an absolute HR nightmare haha Our MC is a hospice nurse from Australia who has been working in England for a couple years. She tragically lost her child and fell apart with no idea how to begin processing her grief. She abandons her marriage and goes to England to work at a hospice house. Her mission becomes to help others have the most comfortable and dignified death she can give them. She spends her spare time writing cards and notes to residents and makes time to take down unofficial final words and wishes from her patience. Sometimes people want to apologize to a family member, sometimes they need to say goodbye to someone. She delivers these letters after they pass as part of her own grief processing and to honor their wishes. The hospice house gets bought by a new owner who sends someone to evaluate the hospice house’s practices and management. This, of course, throws off the unconventional way she does things and she will have to convince him of the value of her notes. This story celebrates the beauty of people being in our life for a meaningful and sometimes short amount of time. The stories tug at your heartstrings and address many complexities of grief. The love story in this book sort of threw me and felt almost out of place honestly. Also the timing of this book was super confusing and the entire thing possibly took place over two or three weeks? I assume it was more like 6-12 months but even that is a big gap and I’m super unsure. I enjoyed the stories and books about grief always hit me hard. The MC had to rebuild her life, and her career, while finding ownership of her decisions and building a life she chooses. This book was full of found family, rebuilding after loss, and building your dream life.

Professional Reader

Buy The Notekeeper

Must Love Books

| enbyyourself

Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Must Love Books

Author: Shauna Robinson

Year: 2022

Genre: adult fiction, romance, book lover, career

Queer shit: If there was any, it was not memorable so likely only side characters

Vibe Check: reevaluating life after your dream job disappoints you

Pile of Opinions: This book was not at all what I expected and that wasn’t a bad thing. BIG trigger warning for suicide ideation with this one. I think I was expecting a cutesy book about finding love when you feel like your life is kind of falling apart. It was that and also was not that at all. I bought this book literally based on the title and only glanced at the description before I started reading it. Nora has worked in publishing for 5 years and continues to have others’ work piled on her by the company without compensation or promotion. She is made some vague promises if she can get a certain author to sign his contract. She picks up some side work with a rival publishing company after her job cuts her salary and she can no longer pay her rent. Now, I have big opinions on workplace toxicity and exploitation of workers because it is the majority of what I studied in undergrad. If a company cannot pay their full time worker a livable wage, they should have absolutely no fucking opinion about what other work a person does to make up the salary difference. Idk, pay her a livable wage and then also more for being such a loyal employee and doing the work of people with higher up titles than her? Anyway, Nora struggles with a lot and as is so common with so many people (normalize and remove the stigma y’all) she struggles with why she’s even alive and what’s the point of it all anyway. I can assure you she is safe and tries nothing, but her struggle is so common for so many people. I have a hard time admitting I liked this book simply because I struggle right alongside Nora, so it felt too close to home for me. But I enjoyed watching her grow and learn, remember her self worth, and go after what she wants. I felt the sensitive subjects were handled well by the author and I find myself wanting to text Nora to see how she’s doing because I am so damn proud of her. This book was not what I expected when I read the title, it was better, and I am really glad I impulsively bought it. 

Buy Must Love Books

Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling 

| enbyyourself

Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling 

Author: Elise Bryant

Year: 2023

Genre: YA romance

Queer shit: Lesbian couple, maybe more that was small or in passing?

Vibe Check: a shy powerhouse of a singer finds her voice and self in a way she never expected, a D&D loving blogger finds that who he is as person is enough

Pile of Opinions: I love everything Elise Bryant has published thus far and I safely assume I will love everything she ever publishes. This story and these characters are so sweet and sincere and this book shares so many real struggles many adults and young adults alike face as they try to find their way without losing who they are. Reggie is a Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast with an anonymous blog calling out the problematic areas in the D&D game and community. Delilah finds herself with the chance to sing with her friend’s band and it scares the shit out of her and she does it anyway. She finds she loves it. Reggie and Delilah bump into each other a few times by accident and then eventually on purpose as they learn who they are and the power of their voices. I really enjoyed how raw this book felt. This book spanning over a year gave space for organic growth and some real time processing. I found myself so frustrated with Reggie’s choices and realized it’s because I related so hard and felt super called out. Society (and sometimes even our own communities) so often send the message that what we like and who we are is wrong and the path to revealing our truest selves can often come with some little lies for self protection, but at a price. I love coming of age stories and I love seeing character growth. Let me know what you thought of this one in the comments.

Professional Reader

Buy Reggie and Delilah’s Year of Falling

Holiday Read

| enbyyourself

Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Holiday Read

Author: Taylor Cole

Year: 2023

Genre: Romance, Surfing, 

Queer shit: one queer side couple barely mentioned

Vibe Check: Surfers in Cornwall, writers and readers, found family, extensive detail on random subjects and choppy incohesive plot 

Pile of Opinions: This one was rough… I think this book was a really great idea with poor execution. I was dragging myself through the book. There were too many stories going on that sort of came together at the end but not cohesively and it felt really forced into a tidy wrap up. I felt like there were many things well researched and understood but I could not tell you what this book was about other than surfing because there were so many stories and substories. I think this could make a great mini series show but it did not make a great book. The plot twists felt like plot holes and there were so many niche rabbit trails of information that I felt like they took away from the story instead of fueling it. The lead character fell flat for me but then would react explosively with great rooted values and character that were shown nowhere else in the book. It was unclear what she wanted in this book so in the end when it felt like she got some things, it wasn’t satisfying because it was set up so choppy. I wanted to like this book because I love found family but this felt like an unpolished draft. Also the title and cover do not reflect the book and though covers aren’t everything, they matter quite a bit to readers. I would like to petition for the cover to be of the ocean and her van as that intrigues me and feels like it reflects the book. I would also like the title to be changed to “Writing the Waves” because I think that is also intriguing and more in line with what the story is. This story is not just a romance, it has so many other pieces and is long enough and webbed enough that it really needs a title and cover that show that. This book is for you if you love surfing, if you love Cornwall and/or Hawaii, if you are looking for a little escape to another town, if you love found family, and if you read it in a single weekend so you can keep up with all the side stories. 

Professional Reader

Buy Holiday Read

City of girls

| enbyyourself

Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: City of Girls

Author: Elizabeth Gilbert

Year: 2019

Genre: Fiction, female relationships, building a life, responsibility (idk, these aren’t genres)

Queer shit: One side gay character, a threesome, lesbians, theater (IYKYK)

Vibe Check: Young woman decides to go against the plan her family had for her life and moves to her Aunt’s theater in NYC after dropping out of college in 1940

Pile of Opinions: This book as a whole piece was confusing to me as it felt like the first 250 pages were one book and the last couple hundred were a second book. I enjoyed both books but they didn’t feel cohesive. I felt like the first part felt like what I expected the book to be about and I loved it and enjoyed it. It was very coming of age, finding your purpose outside your parents’ expectations, understanding the value you already have that you can contribute to a community, fitting in without losing yourself. I loved the friendships and lessons learned and observations. I enjoyed the second part of the book, living through the war and building an independent life as an adult in NYC. I loved the friendships in this book and enjoyed seeing how they change over decades. This book was told from the perspective of the lead woman looking back on her life and telling her stories as an old woman. Seeing friendships over a lifetime and how someone can be our everything for a time and out of our life another time and that doesn’t make the relationship any less valid or important. I read this book in a few days and I feel like perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I had read it over a longer period of time. Some shows aren’t meant to be binged in a single weekend and some books aren’t either. I really enjoyed this over all once I accepted it as more than the 250 I expected it to be and enjoyed it for the collection of stories that it was. I love a good found family and there should be more books about the beautiful chaos of a theater community.

Buy City of Girls

Blanca and Roja

| enbyyourself

Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Blanca and Roja

Author: Anna-Marie McLemore

Year: 2018

Genre: YA Fantasy/Fiction/Folktales/swans

Queer shit: Trans/non-binary, queer relationship, gender fluidity and expression, pronouns. 

Vibe Check: the vibe of this was kind of like panicked siblings left unsupervised. I really liked that set up though because it also was big about the complex nature of sibling relationships and how your siblings can be your best friends and your biggest enemies then back to your best friends in the same conversation. Sibling dynamics are very interesting and very sacred to me. Also big swan vibes. 

Pile of Opinions: Anna-Marie McLemore has quickly become one of my favorite authors the last couple years after a friend introduced me to their work. I love the folklore vibes of all their books (that I have read so far) and thoroughly enjoy how the stories are told. Blanca and Roja are sisters but their family has a dark curse; each generation always has two daughters, and one is always taken by the swans due to a questionable deal made with the swans generations ago. The sisters must work together to find a solution, but the sisters are also rivals because you don’t know who the swans will take. This book covered sibling bonds, exploring gender identity and expression, delicious apples, and teen shenanigans. I really enjoyed this story and wish I had all of McLemore’s books when I was younger. The way they keep mystery throughout the story and sweep you up in storytelling is beautiful and soul-healing. I find myself getting caught up in the characters and don’t try to predict the outcome, I just enjoy the storytelling. 

Buy Blanca and Roja

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

| enbyyourself

Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Year: 2017

Genre: Fiction, romance, Historical Fiction, Queer, Hollywood

Queer shit: SO MUCH! You got gays, you got lesbians, you got bisexuals.

Vibe Check: Glam, queer, struggle for love, our self that we put into the world and our self we truly are. What we do and give up for what is most important to us. Dignity.

Pile of Opinions: I read this book right after an overly heterosexual romance and had very low expectations of loving this book. This one was recommended by people and kept popping up on social media. Every so often I have to buy books that have been haunting me and pop up everywhere. I knew nothing about this book when I started it other than it was about a hard tear who was a famous actress in the 50’s. This book is about a 79 year old woman who was a famous movie star for decades and disappeared from the spotlight years ago, and she is finally ready to share her full story. This story is the journey of her telling her life story to a biographer. Her life, relationships, secrets, and most importantly the truths behind her seven husbands and who her true love was. I enjoyed this story for the characters and the stories. I loved to see character growth and hear the stories of these people across decades of their lives. The friendships in this were as good as the romance, which is not as common in books as I’d like and also one of my favorite things. Books that have friendships as interesting and important and nurtured as much as the romantic entanglements give me life. I finished this book and was ready to read it again immediately. This would be a great book to bring on a weekend away or vacation because the storytelling feels best read in a few sittings (or one sitting if you really want it). Looking forward to reading this book again soon. 

Buy The Seven Husbands of evelyn Hugo

Holiday Romance

| enbyyourself

Book Review (more just a pile of my personal opinions from my personal experiences)

Title: Holiday Romance

Author: Catherine Walsh

Year: 2022

Genre: Romance, travel, Irish, Christmas

Queer shit: Nods to queer side characters

Vibe Check: this friends to lovers set over years of traveling home for the holidays just hit me right in the romantic feels, I loved it so much 

Pile of Opinions: I read this book digitally as an Advanced Readers Copy through NetGalley. I hoped for a cozy Hallmark Christmas vibes book with maybe a little steam and this did not disappoint. Friends to lovers over Christmas, sunshine and grumpy, and kooky families, I love it. This book had me laughing out loud at their banter and I loved the way they communicated. I get so annoyed when characters unrealistically keep secrets or do unbelievable things to keep the plot moving. This book had none of that and this felt like an adorable telling of a believable pair of pals falling in love. I am looking forward to reading this book again at Christmas time and I have added the author’s other books to my TBR.

Professional Reader

Buy Holiday Romance