Books

Book 956: The Book of Elis – Lou Skelton

Book cover of "The Book of Elis" with Amazon Affiliate linkWho doesn’t love a childhood friendship that turns into a second-chance romance after one has moved countries away and they reconnect later in life? I know I do, so that’s why when this one landed in my inbox I requested a copy.*

The Book of Elis is the story of Ieuan and Elis who were inseparable as kids, but Elis and his family move from a small village in Wales to bustling Brisbane, Australia. When Elis and Ieuan are in university their families decide to take a joint vacation to Tenerife in Spain and the story goes from there.

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Books

Book 892: Spiced Kisses (Kiss Me #3) – Charlie Novak

Book cover of "Spiced Kisses" with Amazon Affiliate linkAfter thoroughly enjoying the first two books in Charlie Novak’s Kiss Me series, I was most definitely going to read any follow ups, but I wasn’t expecting there to be a non-twink model on the cover. Hello, body diversity (sort of, I mean he’s still totally ripped, but there’s like actual fur on him!?).

This was a quick read picking up not long after the last book and gives Ben (Aaron’s best friend from Summer Kisses) the story he needed with Ianto, a tattooed and pierced Welshman who plays rugby with him. And I am ALWAYS here for a Welshman in a romance novel, the lilting accent even if I have to make it up in my head, yes please.

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Books

Book 835: Legendborn (Legendborn Cycle #1) – Tracy Deonn

Book cover of "Legendborn" with Amazon Affiliate linkI was on hold at the library for months to get this one! I vaguely remember it being released, but didn’t realize it’s connection to UNC Chapel Hill (my undergrad) until I saw the cover and Deonn in one of the alumni newsletters and then of course immediately had to read it, but was stifled by the long hold times :’-(

I wasn’t only drawn to it because of the UNC connection, but also because of the modern retelling of Arthurian legends. I knew this was going to be a fascinating take on them with a Black protagonist, southern history, secret societies, and the first public university in the country, how couldn’t it be!

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Books

Book 803: Sixpence House – Paul Collins

Book cover of "Sixpence House" with Amazon Affiliate linkThis has been on my Kindle since February 2013 and really it should’ve stayed there. UGH.

I distinctly remember purchasing it because it was about books and specifically takes place in Hay-on-Wye (Wikipedia), the book lovers Mecca on the boarder of Wales and England where one of the largest book festivals in the world takes place and there are over two dozen bookshops for the fewer than 2,000 full time residents. How could you go wrong, right?

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Books, The Classics Club

Book 425: A Swiftly Tilting Planet (Time Quintet #3) – Madeleine L’Engle

L'Engle, Madeleine - A Swiftly Tilting Planet (Time Quintet #3)It’s very fitting this is published on February 29. This book is all about time and leaping backward and forward in time. Four year’s isn’t a lot of time the older you get so they seem to happen much more frequently, but growing up four years was a LONG time to wait for something as exciting as an extra day of the year. Okay, on to the book.

I’m sure you’re all tired of me saying it, but I had to put it at the front this time because it’s really driving me crazy! After three books: the denouement needs to be longer! UGH! Invariably, L’Engle wraps up the entire story in less than ten pages with a bit of a and this and this and this type narrative. It’s not bad, it’s just frustrating. I want the details. I want to know why things happened. I want to know how they happened and not just the hints that she leaves. It’s a little too deus ex machina for me.

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