Books

Book 1,061: Yours, Eventually – Nura Maznavi

Book cover of "Yours, Eventually"I knew I would read some Jane Austen this year, it’s her 250th, but I didn’t realize how much or that I’d decide I’m going to re-read all six of her novels plus an adaptation of each. That’s new because when the publisher reached out about this debut novel, it put me at 1/3 of the way done so I was like “heck yeah!”*

Yours, Eventually, is a modern day retelling of Austen’s Persuasion set in a Pakistani-American community in California. I loved that it wasn’t your expected setting or even culture! I immediately was reminded of Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin which has languished on my shelf for far too long, but it’s a Pride and Prejudice adaptation, and there are a million of those, so I’m glad I went with a less-often adaptation first!

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ARC, Books

Book 1,060: The Nightmare Before Kissmas (Royals & Romance #1) – Sara Raasch

Book cover of "The Nightmare Before Kissmass"This was one of those that almost didn’t happen. Not because of anything particular in the book, even though it does start off pretty slow.

And OOF—it took me so long to get this, Raasch is actually getting ready to publish the sequel next month, which the publisher has also reached out to me about!* And after finishing this one I did accept, so fingers crossed I get to it a lot sooner than it took me to get to this one.

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Books

Book 1,059: Most Ardently: A Pride & Prejudice Remix – Gabe Cole Novoa

When my local yarn store announced they were doing a book club with this AND having a skein of yarn dyed inspired by the cover, there was no question I was going to read it. I already have plans to re-read Austen’s six novels in her 250th birthday year. No guarantees, but maybe I’ll also read one fan-fiction/adaptation/inspired by of each as well!

This book is 100% inspired by and definitely not an adaption of, and if I’m honest it could’ve been a little less inspired by the original work. Novoa, probably could’ve done a better job if they let a few more characters or sub-plots go. Seriously, it could’ve stood on it’s own as an adorable historical queer romance, but the constraints of the adaptation made him wedge too much in giving discredit to some amazing aspects of the orginal and some potential to this remix.

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Updates

Q3 & Q4 Recap 2024

This is a VERY quick post to say that I’m slowly on my way back to book blogging. I doubt I’ll ever be as prolific as I was before, but I am slowly getting back into the habit after an almost 6 month break after completing my degree. I didn’t plan to take the break, but I did and now I’m slowly catching up on posts from last year and trying to figure out the future of this blog.

The biggest thing book wise is I’m slowly transitioning from Goodreads to Storygraph! So go add me as I figure it out 🙂

With over 1,000 reviews to clean up, it’s going to be a while. I also have no idea what I’m doing over there, so it’ll be interesting. Along with this I deleted my Twitter/X and Tumblr accounts, I’m streamlining.

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Books

Book 1,055: Idol Moves (Idol Romance #2) – K.T. Salvo

I was so excited when Salvo revealed there were two more books in this series. What I didn’t realize is that it wasn’t a series, it was a trilogy and that it was the continuation of Jason and Tae Hyun’s story rather than a traditional MM Romance series with new protagonists.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against a trilogy, but when you’re mentally prepared for a more traditional series and that’s not what you get, it knocks the wind out of your sails—as can be seen by my 20 day read time. This book would probably have taken me 2-3 days at most if it weren’t a continuation of the story.

Idol Moves is the continuation of Jason and Tae Hyun as they’re relationship grows after the events of Idol Minds. This novel is less romance and more action packed thriller. Sure there are moments of squeal-inducing adorableness, but the bulk of the novel seems more about who is trying to keep Tae Hyun from becoming the successful independent solo artist he knows he can be.

The most powerful scenes in the novel were after Jason and Tae Hyun had fought (more often about something stupid) and were learning to navigate being together in a conservative society and as public figures. They just felt the most delicate and consequential. The biggest was after the climax of the novel when they found each other again. Salvo’s writing was so raw that it felt like spying on them reading those passages.

Honestly, the book I want from Salvo is Naomi’s. She’s a badass and I just want to know her whole story 😀 That being said there were moments of levity and humor I really appreciated:

Raven laughed as she tried grabbing one of Jason’s biceps. ‘You could do a lot worse than with this bomb-ass beefcake at your back, baby.’
Tae Hyun grinned as he recalled how Jason had literally been at his back several times recently. ‘Actually, we take turns being in the back.’
Raven’s well-shaped brows briefly shot up before she barked out a laugh so loud she almost choked.
‘Oh shit,’ she called out, playfully smacking Tae Hyun’s arm.
‘You’re all right, Tae Hyun.’ Then she wrapped her free arm around his shoulder and pulled him close.
‘I see J finally met his match.’ (66)

Recommendation: Overall, the book was fine. It wasn’t what I was expecting so it took me a lot longer to read than it probably would have if I knew what it was going into this one. Salvo did a great job with the main storyline, which was more thriller than romance, and they definitely beefed up the minor characters giving more depth and variety to the novel. I wasn’t happy with the cliffhanger, but since I figured the third book would be part of the trilogy, it wasn’t totally unexpected.

Opening Line: “Once more from the top!”

Closing Line: “You’re father never changed his will. He left you everything.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)

Additional Quotes from Idol Moves
“Naomi remained silent for long enough that Jason thought the call had dropped. ‘Jason.’ Her ability to pack an entire scolding’s worth of impact into a single word was always impressive, even if it never worked.” (47)