ARC, Books

Book 1,069: The Romantic Tragedies of a Drama King – Harry Trevaldwyn

Book cover of "The Romantic Tragedies of a Drama King"Have you ever read a book and had a moment of “Oh shit, was this me in high school?” I thought this for a millisecond, and then I remembered a friend in our friend group and was like, “OMFG close call, I wasn’t quite this dramatic.

I loved the title of this one, so when the publisher reached out with a galley last October, I jumped at it.* It only took me five months to get to versus the much longer wait many of the others I’ve finished recently. This was the last one though, I’ve officially cleared my galley/ARC TBR pile.

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Book 1,067: Two for Trust – Elle Brownlee

Book cover for "Two for Trust"And just like that, this book took another step forward as the most read book since I started this blog. Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is giving it a run for its money with three reads (Jan 2013; Aug 2013; Dec 2015; and an upcoming re-read), and if you count Austen adaptations it’s no contest. But, I’ve read Two for Trust five times now, twice in 2020 and then again in February 2023 and again in October of 2024.

I genuinely have no idea why I enjoy it so much. It’s a simple love story that’s decently written and it’s squeaky clean. There are a couple of heated moments and 1-2 super heated kisses, but that’s it and that’s definitely part of why I enjoy it. Part of it is how quickly I can read it—if I don’t start too late in the evening I can finish it in one sitting!

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Book 1,065: Pride and Premeditation (Jane Austen Murder Mystery #1) – Tirzah Price

Book cover of "Pride & Premeditation"I had no intentions of reading this book (or the entire series) even though I’m already looking ahead to Manslaughter Park, the adaptation of Mansfield Park I’ve decided to read this year.

HOWEVER, the cruise we went on in early March had an honest-to-god library. Like an entire room with books you could take out and read on the ship and we just happened to sit right beside this and it was too much of a coincidence to NOT read it.

I stuck to my plans and finished up two ARC’s prior to starting, but the second I started I flew through this one thanks to my familiarity with the source material and Price’s great adaptation.

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Book 1,063: The Spellshop – Sarah Beth Durst

Book cover of "The Spellshop"When the publisher reached out about this one they referred to it as “cottage core fantasy” and I was like OMFG I am here for this.* One of my favorite game streamers does cottage core Minecraft and I may have been watching it at the time. This was back in January of 2024 (SHAME ON ME I KNOW) and after a wild year last year I finally picked this one up and it was lovely.

The Spellshop is the tale of Kiela, a librarian from the capital city, who flees to her home island with a sentient spider plant and then causes all sorts of good unintended consequences as she adapts to small town life again. It’s a slow-burn romance set in a light fantasy in which I genuinely forgot on some occasions until someone’s blue skin tone or antlers were mentioned or magic.

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ARC, Books

Book 1,062: Go Luck Yourself (Royals & Romance #2) – Sara Raasch

When the publisher reached out to me with a copy of this, I went back and forth on whether to accept.* I was still making my way through the first in the series and it was a bit of a slog, but as I neared the end I found myself really enjoying that one and wanted to know what happened so I grabbed a digital copy of it—but for real go look at the physical copy . . . I mean those green edges are GORGEOUS!

Picking up immediately after The Nightmare Before Kissmass, we find ourselves with Kris, the Christmas spare, as he’s woefully moping around having confessed his feelings to the Princess of Easter. He’s back at university and looking for an outlet. Unfortunately, that outlet ends up being a massive prank involving a ton of tinsel in a room occupied by Loch, who unbeknownst to Kris is the Prince of St. Patrick’s Day. And it goes from there.

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