Review: Alchemy of Secrets - Stephanuie Garber - October 2025 After falling head over heels for Stephanie Garber's Once Upon a Broken Heart series and Caraval, I've learned something important about reading order: sometimes it matters more than you'd think. While I adored Caraval, I made the mistake of meeting Jacks first in the Broken Heart series. When I later encountered his portrayal in Caraval books two and three, I just couldn't reconcile them , I'd already fallen for the version of him I knew, and seeing a different side felt impossible to accept. So when I picked up Alchemy of Secrets, I'll admit my expectations were cautiously optimistic. I thought it would be a solid, perhaps average read. Reader, I was spectacularly wrong. From the first chapter , a gripping twenty pages that had me cursing my lunch break's inevitable end. I was completely hooked. Stephanie Garber has crafted something truly special here, weaving together mythology, folklore, a...

Review: Three Single Wives - Gina Lamanna - September 2020 This book's cover grabbed me as I just loved the juxtaposition of the glass shards with the three women's faces in them. This book starts at a book club promoting Marguerite Hill's new Self-Help book all about females taking back what was taken from the males in their lives and gaining back their freedom - the book was called Taking Charge. The conversation flows with wine and then turns a bit dark as they end up bringing up the topic of hypotheticals of how would they kill their husbands or partners. Would they use a gun, poison, or a knife? Would they make it look like a suicide or an accident or would they frame someone else for murder? The book then jumps to the present time and we are at a court trial where Penny, Eliza, and Anne are on the stand as one of the husbands has been murdered and now they are all being looked at as suspects. The book then jumps back timelines to how the four women first met each ot...

Review: To Die For - Lisa Gray - August 2023 I had enjoyed Lisa Gray's Jessica Shaw series, so I was looking forward to reading To Die For. This book is set in the world of real estate and how much of a cutthroat business it can be. The book starts with Andi Hart who is looking to go out on her own after her boss David tried to hit on her. She just finds now she can't trust him and the best idea for her is to strike out on her own as she is a good seller, which is probably inherited from her parents as her mother was a real estate agent and her father an investor. Andi left home when she was a teen after her mother died as she always blamed her father. Now years later, it looks like he is back in LA and wants a connection with Andi, but she's not willing to give him one. When a new house comes on the market and the commission for selling is One Million Dollars, it becomes every man and woman for themselves as we are about to read just how dirty people can play to get thei...

Review: The Love Code - Book #1 Chemistry Lessons Series - Susannah Nix - June 2017 As a reader who identifies as a bit geeky and quirky, I love the fact that STEM romances are becoming a big fan and that it is showing as well that straight people can be awkward, quirky, geeky, and nerdy. As I recall when I attended RT2017 one of the panels I wanted to listen to was Geeks in Literature. I turned up to the panel and all panelists were queer writers and their characters also queer. This part I didn't mind too much but I did find that often in literature back then all the characters that were nerdy, geeky, and quirky were asexual or part of the LGBTQA+ community and I was neither. Hell, even my own Dad thought I was a lesbian because I wasn't out there partying, doing drugs, and dating. Then STEM romance arrived and I finally was among characters that I could relate to. Those females who are a bit bigger than your average model archetype, girls who have glasses and a brain. In The...

Review: Behind the Door - The Dark Truths and Untold Stories of The Cecil Hotel - Amy Price - October 2023 In the shadowy corridors of downtown Los Angeles' notorious Cecil Hotel lies a saga of intrigue, tragedy, and the haunting presence of the past. Amy Price, the steadfast protagonist of "Behind the Door," beckons readers into this labyrinth of mysteries, where she unveils the chilling truths lurking within the hotel's walls. At first glance, "Behind the Door" appears to be a mere account of Elisa Lam's enigmatic demise, as showcased in the controversial Netflix documentary series, "Crime: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel." However, Amy Price's narrative transcends the confines of a singular tragedy, delving deep into the hotel's tumultuous history and her own gripping experiences as its manager for a decade. From her serendipitous entry into the Cecil Hotel in 2007 to her eventual ascendancy as its stalwart manager, Amy Price's ...