Kaitlyn's Reading Round-Up: July to December 2024
Warning: Many of the reviews below contain some minor spoilers. Read at your own risk.
Reading Stats for July to December 2024
- Total Books Read: 9
- Reading Mediums: 9 physical books
- Books Owned vs. Borrowed: 2 books owned, 2 books semi-owned (see individual book reviews for reasons why), 5 books borrowed from library
The Nanny by Lana Ferguson
Reading Medium: Physical
Owned vs. Borrowed: Borrowed from library
Synopsis: After losing her job and being on the brink of eviction, Cassie Evans finds herself with two choices: get a new job (and fast) or fire up her long-untouched OnlyFans account. But there are no jobs to be found, and as for OnlyFans... Well, there are reasons she can’t go back. Just when all hope seems lost, an ad for a live-in nanny position seems the solution to all her problems. It’s almost too perfect — until she meets her would-be employer.
Aiden Reid, executive chef and DILF extraordinaire, is far from the stuffy single dad Cassie was imagining. She is shocked when he tells her she’s the most qualified applicant he’s met in weeks, practically begging her to take the job. The idea of living under the same roof as Aiden feels dangerous, but with no other option, she decides to stay with him and his adorably tenacious daughter, Sophie.
Cassie soon discovers that Aiden is not a stranger at all, but instead someone who is very familiar with her — or at least, her body. She finds herself at a loss for what to do, given that he doesn’t remember her. As their relationship heats to temperatures hotter than any kitchen Aiden has ever worked in, Cassie struggles with telling Aiden the truth, and the more terrifying possibility — losing the best chance at happiness she’s ever had.
My Thoughts: YES, OKAY, FINE! This is another romance book that I finished only to find out that it was originally Reylo fanfiction! Shut up, leave me alone! Reylo fanfic writers are everywhere now in contemporary romance books, they can hardly be avoided by an avid romance reader such as myself!
Anyways...
Yes, I did really like this book. It was extremely cheesy, yes, but sometimes I want that cheese. The Nanny delivered precisely when I was craving some romance cheese.
The characters were sweet, the plot was very predictable but still fun, the MANY sex scenes were... very good. Elisa, I'm warning you now, stay away from this book.
However, this book is not a 5 / 5 for me because it fell victim to the Fanfiction Turned Original Work Flaw: It kept alluding, many times, to characters' pasts without going into much detail. In fanfiction, this is usually a forgivable writing sin. After all, if we're all reading Percy Jackson fanfiction (uh for example), we all already know Percy's past. It doesn't need to be re-explained!
But if you're turning your fanfiction into an original work with “brand new” characters, you kind of need to explain their history if you're going to keep alluding to it. I cannot tell you how many times this book alluded to Cassie's childhood — her absent parents, how she basically raised herself and had to grow up at a terribly young age — without... actually going into any detail beyond mentioning that it happened.
If I try reading this story through the lens of it being Reylo fanfiction, I can kind of get it. Rey's parents weren't around in Star Wars lore, so claiming that Modern AU Rey's parents were just absent parents would be enough in fanfiction. But in an original story with original characters, it isn't enough to just mention that her parents were absent, shitty parents a couple times and assuming that’s enough. This didn't ruin the story for me, but it was a noticeable annoying detail that I couldn't look past.
My Rating: 3.5 / 5
One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig
Reading Medium: Physical
Owned vs. Borrowed: Owned
Synopsis: Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom of Blunder — she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.
But nothing comes for free, especially magic.
When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, her life takes a drastic turn. Thrust into a world of shadow and deception, she joins a dangerous quest to cure Blunder from the dark magic infecting it. And the highwayman? He just so happens to be the King’s nephew, Captain of the most dangerous men in Blunder... And guilty of high treason.
Together they must gather twelve Providence Cards — the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.
My Thoughts: Now THIS is how you write contemporary romantasy!
Excellent world-building, unique characters, intriguing plot, with a romance subplot that is the cherry on top of a good story rather than being the author’s primary focus.
Also, the only sex scene in this book is a “camera pans over to the fireplace” kind of sex scene, so this book has been deemed Elisa-safe.
I genuinely loved the world-building in this book, particularly the magic system it introduced. Magic being accessible to anyone who holds a Providence Card is such a fresh and unique take on a typical fantasy world’s magic system, it was quite fun to read. The author also skillfully balances explaining the world and its magic system in great detail, while keeping the story moving at a good pace and sprinkling in short re-explanations when needed.
I loved how the author wrote each character, specifically the main character Elpseth. Finally, a romantasy story that doesn’t treat their main female character as helpless, or powerless, or just straight-up stupid. Elpseth reacts to things realistically, and the times she reacts to things in a less-than-ideal way, it’s understandable given the situation/context.
I also adored the way the relationship between Elspeth and her “demon”, Nightmare, was written. The fact that he lives in her head and always gives snide, humorous commentary on what she is experiencing genuinely made me laugh at times, and I loved their dynamic of being stuck with each other and hating that, but at the end of the day, they’ve oddly become dear friends. I adored how Nightmare framed each time he warns Elpseth or does something to protect her as just wanting to protect his host body, but you can tell that he actually has grown quite fond of her in just the way he talks to her — not by him saying “I’ve grown fond of you”. Wow, showing not telling, a true rarity in contemporary romantasy / romance!
The only critique I can give this book is that the beginning is a bit slow, so it takes a while to fully get into the book. But once you’re in, it flies.
Finally, some good fucking food.
My Rating: 4.5 / 5
Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig
Reading Medium: Physical
Owned vs. Borrowed: Owned
Synopsis: In this sequel to One Dark Window, Elspeth and Ravyn have gathered most of the twelve Providence Cards, but the last, and most important one remains to be found: The Twin Alders.
If they are going to find it before the Solstice and cure the kingdom of the dark magic infecting it, they will need to journey beyond the dangerous mist-cloaked forest that surrounds their kingdom.
And the only one who can lead them there is the monster that shares Elspeth's head. The Nightmare. And he's not eager to share any longer.
My Thoughts: Thank you, Rachel Gillig, for giving us some actual good romantasy in this dark, dark time of Braindead Booktok Syndrome in contemporary romance/romantasy.
Remember how I said the only critique I could give One Dark Window was that the beginning was a bit slow? Well, this book shows that the author taking her time to introduce and explain the world definitely pays off. In this book, the plot picks up right after the events of the first book, and it hits the ground running. Two Twisted Crowns took everything that was good in One Dark Window, and gave us so much more.
I thoroughly enjoyed losing myself in this story and its world. I really enjoyed how this book continued its alternating-chapter type of narrative where each chapter is written from a different character’s perspective — and I loved the author’s choice of this book’s main voice being Elm, a secondary character from the first book. It was a clever and refreshing way of re-introducing the reader to the world with fresh eyes, while also offering new perspectives on the aftermath of the first book’s events. It also just made sense for the plot, as Elm was leading the charge in this book’s main conflicts.
I don’t know if this is a controversial take, but I enjoyed reading Elm’s perspective more than Ravyn’s (the main male character from the first book). I think that’s just personal bias, as Elm is more My Type – in romantasy/romance, I tend to like the Cocky-Charming-but-with-a-Heart-of-Gold guys like Elm, over the Dark-Mysterious-Brooding-but-Sweet-to-You guys like Ravyn.
Overall, this book was a delightful romantasy treat. I loved the story/plot, the unique world it’s set in, the character arcs, and the overall way the secondary-turned-main characters Elm and Ione were portrayed.
Bravo to Rachel Gillig for writing Ione, a character who is literally cursed to be unable to show her true emotions in the name of remaining ethereally beautiful, in a way that still portrays her as vastly interesting. She somehow reveals her true thoughts and personality underneath the confines of her curse, through cracks in the facade, in a way that I must applaud.
The ending was also perfect. My favourite relationship in this book ended up being not either of the two romantic relationships, but the platonic relationship between Elpseth and Nightmare. This poor girl has lived with this ancient demon in her head since she was a child, and has fought to get rid of him her entire life… But when she finally gets rid of him at the end, why am I crying along with the both of them as they say goodbye?! The way Rachel Gillig wove in Nightmare’s backstory from when he was an actual man in ancient times who turned into a demon, and how he found his way to Elpseth and grew to care for her, was incredible.
Something I didn’t mention in my review for the first book, but bravo again to Rachel Gillig for including all the poems / riddles she wrote for this world. In both books, each chapter begins with an “ancient riddle” or an “ancient poem” relating to what the characters are experiencing, and I loved every single one.
Excellent, excellent, excellent, across the board. If you’re looking for a solid romantasy read, I cannot recommend this duology enough. Rachel Gillig will be joining Emily Henry and Heather Fawcett on my list of authors whose books are an instant buy.
My Rating: 5 / 5
Bride by Ali Hazelwood
Reading Medium: Physical
Owned vs. Borrowed: Borrowed from library
Synopsis: Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast — again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange — again...
Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was…
Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she's ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory… alone with the wolf.
My Thoughts: Well then. The rest of my reading round-up will be taking quite the turn from the high that was Rachel Gillig’s duology.
After Two Twisted Crowns, I fell into a bit of a reading slump. In an effort to escape it, I went to my local library and plucked 4 quick-read romance books off the shelf. This book was the first of the four.
And boy, it was a quick read, but a bit of a stinker.
I have a love-hate relationship with Ali Hazelwood’s books. A self-confirmed Reylo fanfiction writer from AO3, who turned to writing “original” contemporary romances and has found great success in recent years, her writing style unfortunately exemplifies everything I hate in fanfiction writing.
Too many pop culture references. Too many quirky, #relatable, millennial-cringe female characters. A writing style so drenched in cringey millennial humour, it feels like I’m reading a bad tumblr post rather than an actual book.
I read her debut novel, The Love Hypothesis, a few years ago completely blind to who Ali Hazelwood was, or the fact that it was originally her most popular Reylo fanfiction from AO3 — published after making some simple name changes. Even before knowing this, I thought the book was just okay at best.
But as an avid romance reader, I’ve been seeing Ali Hazelwood everywhere in the romance community since then. She has really been churning out book after book. So after seeing a full shelf at my local library of just her books, I decided to give her another chance and chose 2 of her new books at random.
And oh boy.
Bride is an omega(n)verse story — for those unaware, that’s werewolf romance. For once, this story is fully original from Ali Hazelwood and is not based on Reylo at all. However, it still suffers from the worst qualities of her bad fanfiction writing style.
Too many pop culture references? Check. Too many quirky, #relatable, millennial-cringe female characters? Check. A writing style so drenched in millennial humour, it feels like I’m reading a bad tumblr post rather than an actual book? Check.
Every character was either boring or annoyingly #quirky and #random. The oddly extensive world-building fell flat because it fell apart the minute you started asking more questions about it. The plot itself was juuuust interesting enough that I finished the book to see how it would all be resolved, but then the ending was lackluster.
Hilariously enough, the best written parts of the book were the sex scenes, and even those weren’t amazing. You’d think sex scenes that included the werewolf romance trope of knotting would be a little bit interesting! The two main characters didn’t really have strong chemistry, they just felt like two hot dolls that were being mashed together.
Also, your “edgy but relatably quirky” main character, who also is a vampire, is named MISERY? C’mon. I couldn’t take it seriously the entire book.
My Rating: 2 / 5
Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood
Reading Medium: Physical
Owned vs. Borrowed: Borrowed from library
Synopsis: A forbidden, secret affair proves that all’s fair in love and science.
Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough: a few friends she can always count on, the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, one of the most promising start-ups in the field of food science. Her world is stable, pleasant, and hard-fought. Until a hostile takeover and its offensively attractive front man threatens to bring it all crumbling down.
Eli Killgore and his business partners want Kline, period. Eli has his own reasons for pushing this deal through — and he's a man who gets what he wants. With one burning exception: Rue. The woman he can't stop thinking about. The woman who's off-limits to him.
Torn between loyalty and an undeniable attraction, Rue and Eli throw caution out the lab and the boardroom windows. Their affair is secret, no-strings-attached, and has a built-in deadline: the day one of their companies will prevail. But the heart is risky business — one that plays for keeps.
My Thoughts: This book was the second of the four quick-read romances I picked up to cure my reading slump. It was also the second book in my self-imposed challenge of reading more Ali Hazelwood books to see if she improved from her mid debut novel.
This book was boring at best, and at worst, mildly infuriating.
This book was so clearly Ali Hazelwood’s attempt at writing a more “serious” romance, it was almost laughable. Goodbye, cringe millennial jokes, now we have characters who had troubled childhoods! And that’s all you need to make a well-developed character and a good serious romance, right?
Ugh.
I hated the main characters in this book. Rue, the main girl, is an attempt at writing a stoic and serious personality — but she has the personality of cardboard. Eli, the main guy, is an attempt at writing a charming guy who brings the main girl out of her shell — but he’s very weird and creepy. Their entire relationship was embarrassingly insta-lusty/insta-obsession, the fact that they fall in love at all feels non-sensical and out of left field. Their lack of chemistry, romantic or even platonic, was downright embarrassing. I’m supposed to believe that these two are giving each other dramatic love confessions at the end that they genuinely mean — but do they even like each other?! Are they even friends, or do they just like fucking each other’s bodies?!
The plot is also just boring and predictable. I barely have anything to say about the so-called rivalry between their companies, because it was all so non-consequential.
The only saving grace in this book were the sex scenes. Which made up maybe 80% of this book. Some of them were pretty hot, I think these were Ali Hazelwood’s best written sex scenes to date. If taken out of this book and slapped into another, I’d dare say that I may have enjoyed them.
But then I remember who the characters are and the story that they are in, or Ali Hazelwood throws in one of her cringey ass lines, and I remember that sometimes a book having decent sex scenes doesn’t mean it’s a good book. Despite what some people on BookTok would argue.
The fact that this novel has any accolades astonishes me.
My Rating: 1.5 / 5
A Merry Little Meet Cute by Sierra Simone & Julie Murphy
Reading Medium: Physical
Owned vs. Borrowed: Borrowed from library
Synopsis: Bee Hobbes (AKA Bianca Von Honey) has a successful career as a plus-size adult film star. With a huge following and two supportive moms, Bee couldn’t ask for more. But when Bee’s favorite producer casts her to star in a Christmas movie he’s making for the squeaky-clean Hope Channel, Bee’s career is about to take a more family-friendly direction.
Forced to keep her work as Bianca under wraps, Bee quickly learns this is a task a lot easier said than done. Though it all becomes worthwhile when she discovers her co-star is none other than childhood crush Nolan Shaw, an ex-boy band member in desperate need of career rehab. Nolan’s promised his bulldog manager to keep it zipped up on set, and he will if it means he’ll be able to provide a more stable living situation for his sister and mom.
But things heat up quickly in Christmas Notch, Vermont, when Nolan recognizes his new co-star from her ClosedDoors account (oh yeah, he’s a member). Now Bee and Nolan are sneaking off for quickies on set, keeping their new relationship a secret from the Hope Channel’s execs. Things only get trickier when the reporter who torpedoed Nolan’s singing career comes snooping around — and takes an instant interest in mysterious newcomer Bee.
And if Bee and Nolan can’t keep their off-camera romance behind the scenes, then this merry little meet cute might end up on the cutting room floor.
My Thoughts: This book was the third of the four quick-read romances I picked up to cure my reading slump — mainly because it was the holiday season and this book was featured in a holiday romance display. This book also probably had the benefit of being read immediately after one of Ali Hazelwood’s worst books.
This book was a pretty cute read, despite its inherently steamy setting of the main character being a renowned porn star. I liked Bee and her funny narrative, which toed the line between being actually funny and being a bit millennial cringe (not on Ali Hazelwood’s level though, no one is that bad).
The plot was surprisingly entertaining — it was well-paced and read like your typical comedy movie. I actually enjoyed how romance tropes were used in this book as well, as they were pretty tongue-in-cheek. I also liked the variety of character dynamics that were shown between main character Bee and the people in her life — ranging from her porn director-turned-father figure, to her best friend, to her eccentric moms.
Despite all this, this book wasn’t a home-run for me. The many sex scenes were decent at best. The book got kind of boring in the middle, and the setting itself sometimes got a little too Hallmark-movie-cheesy.
Also, I didn’t really like the main guy Nolan. Unfortunately all of his grand romantic gestures and actions and words were undercut by the fact that he recognized Bee from her porn work and that was the basis of his obsession with her — he was a follower and long-time fan of her porn work.
The book tries extremely hard to show Nolan falling in love with Bee for who she is as a person, but unfortunately it doesn’t feel so romantic when the book comedically references that this guy admitted to obsessively jacking off to this girl before they met in person.
Though there are far greater sins in contemporary romance books today — I’m looking at you, every book by Colleen Hoover and Haunting Adeline!
My Rating: 2.5 / 5
A Holly Jolly Ever After by Sierra Simone & Julie Murphy
Reading Medium: Physical
Owned vs. Borrowed: Borrowed from library
Synopsis: Kallum Lieberman is the funny one™. As the arguably lesser of the three former members of the boy band INK, he enjoyed his fifteen minutes of fame and then moved home where he opened a regional pizza chain called Slice, Slice, Baby! He’s living his best dad bod life, hooking up with bridesmaids at all his friends’ weddings. But after an old one-off sex tape is leaked and quickly goes viral, Kallum decides he’s ready to step into the spotlight again, starring in a sexy Santa biopic for the Hope Channel.
Winnie Baker did everything right. She married her childhood sweetheart, avoided the downfalls of adolescent stardom, and transitioned into a stable adult acting career. Hell, she even waited until marriage to have sex. But after her perfect life falls apart, Winnie is ready to redefine herself — and what better way than a steamy Christmas movie?
With decade-old Hollywood history between them, Winnie and Kallum are both feeling hesitant about their new situation as co-stars… especially Winnie who can’t seem to fake on-screen pleasure she’s never experienced in real life. She’s willing to do the pleasure research — for science and artistic authenticity, of course. And there’s no better research partner than her bridesmaid sex tape hall of fame costar, Kallum. But suddenly, Kallum’s teenage crush on Winnie is bubbling to the surface and Winnie might be catching feelings herself.
They say opposites attract, but is this holly jolly ever after really ready for its close-up?
My Thoughts: This book was the fourth and final book of the four quick-read romances I picked up to cure my reading slump — mainly because it was the sequel to the previous holiday romance I picked up.
So, yes. All four quick-read romances I picked up at the library to escape my reading slump were stinkers, yet they somehow successfully got me out of my reading slump regardless. Maybe out of spite.
Anywho, this book was not good.
I was surprised to find that in the first half, I was enjoying this book more than the first one. I liked the main character, Winnie, and found her more interesting due to her story of escaping the downfalls of childhood fame and breaking out of her deep roots in purity culture. The main guy, Kallum, was kind of annoying but overall a harmless love interest.
The sex scenes were pretty hot. I was relieved to find that the book didn’t lean into the disturbing and weirdly sexualized “innocent girl x experienced guy” romance trope, and instead framed it as being empowering for Winnie as she rejected her upbringing in purity culture and wanted to be true to herself and her (lust) feelings for Kallum.
This book sadly lost me in the second half.
The book quickly gets pretty boring, and at some points mildly infuriating as the main characters fall into the rightfully loathed miscommunication trope. Just talk to each other and it would resolve everything, you idiots!
Worst of all, this book commits my most loathed fanfiction sin in the second half — accidental pregnancy. You’re telling me this poor woman who is finally escaping her shitty marriage and the chains of her purity culture upbringing, gets knocked up accidentally by the first guy she hooks up with?! It was infuriating to read, even as Winnie frames it as a blessing in disguise since she always wanted a kid but had trouble conceiving in her shitty marriage. It reminded me of Lane Kim in Gilmore Girls — a female character getting just a taste of true freedom, before being shackled down with raising a kid after an accidental pregnancy. Infuriating.
Even as the book frames it as the baby being another source of liberation for Winnie, as she finally defies her conservative parents to raise the baby how she wants, it still wasn’t enough. The happy ending with her and Kallum getting back together after their inevitable third-act break-up to raise the baby together felt so ugh.
Definitely won’t be reading this book again.
My Rating: 2 / 5
Icebreaker by Hannah Grace
Reading Medium: Physical
Owned vs. Borrowed: (Unfortunately) Owned (before handing the curse off to Nick/Vivian)
Synopsis: Anastasia Allen has worked her entire life for a shot at Team USA. It looks like everything is going according to plan when she gets a full scholarship to the University of California, Maple Hills, and lands a place on their competitive figure skating team.
Nothing will stand in her way, not even the captain of the hockey team, Nate Hawkins.
Nate’s focus as team captain is on keeping his team on the ice. Which is tricky when a facilities mishap means they are forced to share a rink with the figure skating team — including Anastasia, who clearly can’t stand him.
But when Anastasia’s skating partner faces an uncertain future, she may have to look to Nate to take her shot.
Sparks fly, but Anastasia isn’t worried… because she could never like a hockey player, right?
My Thoughts: Well, well, well. You thought I was done reading shitty romances? I was too, until I decided to read this book before dropping it like a live grenade into our book club’s White Elephant book exchange.
Like Christ on the cross, I read these shitty ass romances to save you from their sins.
Icebreaker was one of the worst romances I’ve ever read. And let me just say, I was ready to be Icebreaker’s #1 defender. I genuinely tried liking this book, despite everything that I’d heard about it. However, liking this book proved to be impossible.
This book was way too long and way too much. It felt like I was just reading filler and filler instead of reading an actual story. Somehow there was simultaneously too much drama and ridiculous plot, while being incredibly boring.
I hated every single character in this book. Not one character was redeemable or, at minimum, likeable. I despised the main character Anastasia — I hated how the book tried to make her come off as charmingly grumpy and jaded, but she was just very annoying and unnecessarily mean. When she wasn’t actively pissing me off with her weirdly rude attitude or her braindead decision-making, she was boring me.
I hated how comically evil the main “villain” of the story, Aaron, was. You’re telling me that the book (through its narrative and its side characters) is constantly reminding me that wow, Anastasia goes to therapy, she is so smart and capable and #girlboss. Yet she doesn’t have a spine?! She lets her walking red flag of a skating partner Aaron treat her like shit and literally give her an eating disorder, but I’m supposed to believe this girl is extremely smart and capable?!
It boggles my mind how this book creates this insane paradox of Anastasia being constantly called (because this book tells everything instead of showing) strong-willed, capable, and strong, while she acts as Aaron’s personal doormat throughout the entire book. Until the last chapter when she has her #girlboss moment of standing up to him because he… assaults her?! Kisses her against her will?!
This book is insane. Every other character besides Anastasia and Aaron (including Nathan, the love interest) were either braindead parodies of the author’s idea of college-aged students, or the flattest background character imaginable.
The plot (if you can call it that) of this book was extremely boring, verging on non-existent. Every problem that Anastasia faced was infuriatingly self-imposed. The “enemies to lovers” nature of Anastasia and Nathan’s relationship was a poor excuse at trying to create a semblance of chemistry between them. Their entire relationship was so embarrassingly insta-love/insta-obsession — can anyone tell me what they actually like about each other?! Aside from fucking each other’s bodies?!
Overall, nothing happens in this book despite it being so fucking long. And on top of everything, this author felt like she was in competition with Ali Hazelwood on who could have the worst millennial-cringe style of bad fanfiction writing.
Could it get much worse than this?
My Rating: 1 / 5
The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore
Reading Medium: Physical
Owned vs. Borrowed: Owned (before being promptly returned/exchanged for a better book at the bookstore)
Synopsis: Kira North hates Christmas. Which is unfortunate since she just bought a Christmas tree farm in a town that’s too cute for its own good.
Bennett Ellis is on vacation in Dream Harbor taking a break from his life in California. And most importantly, taking a break from his latest run of disastrous dates.
After a run in with Kira in her fields, Ben has no intention of offering to help the grumpy owner set up her tree farm, despite the fact she’s clearly got no idea what she’s doing.
Kira knows she should stop being so stubborn, but her farm is not all cute and cozy like people always show on social media, it’s borderline dangerous with no heating, and she’d rather no one saw it.
But somehow fate finds Ben at Kira’s farm once more, and as Kira watches him swing an ax at the first tree, she finds herself appreciating his strength and questionning why she refused help in the first place…
My Thoughts: Turns out, it can get much worse! Behold, I somehow found a book worse than Icebreaker!
I received this book in my traditional pile of books I get from my mom every Christmas. She said, and I quote, “This book is super popular at work [Chapters Indigo] right now, everyone’s buying it. I think it’s a TikTok book?”
That should have been my first warning.
I like to think that I have a very high tolerance for bad books. I always finish a book, no matter how bad it is, mainly out of stubborn spite or wanting to know how it ends despite it all.
This book is the 2nd book that, in recent memory, I purposefully did not finish because I just couldn’t take it anymore. (For curious readers: the 1st book I can remember DNFing was Three Holidays and a Wedding, by Uzma Jalaluddin & Marissa Stapley).
There was literally nothing redeemable about this book. At least Icebreaker has a couple hot sex scenes. Even the sex scenes in this book were horribly written.
This book felt like an A.I. was fed every Ali Hazelwood book along with every other shitty BookTok romance, then shit this out.
Every character was simultaneously insufferable and unmemorable, the plot was horribly predictable and boring while being annoyingly unrealistic, the so-called romantic chemistry was non-existent.
Just like Anastasia from Icebreaker, Kira was supposed to be charmingly grumpy but ended up being annoying and unnecessarily mean. The main character Bennett (not Montgomery) had an insufferable hero complex — he’s written like we’re supposed to think he’s so sweet, but the way he constantly let people walk all over him was pathetic and unbelievable. The “love at first sight” nature of their relationship was so unrealistic and forced, I couldn’t take it anymore.
The storyline proved to be so bland and so boring, that I ended up skipping the majority of the middle of the book. I think I got about 40% into the book, before I grumpily flipped ahead to the 95% mark to just read the ending. And guess what happened? The story read as if I didn’t skip anything at all. That’s how repetitive, bland, and boring the story was — I was able to skip ahead and read the ending without feeling like I missed anything significant.
Insanity.
Thank goodness I was able to exchange this book for something better at Chapters, or else you would have seen me use it as kindling at Nick’s next bonfire.
I may have trolled my friends by dropping Icebreaker into our White Elephant gift exchange, but this book? I’m not that bad of a person.
My Rating: 0 / 5
In Conclusion…
Now that I’m done hating (for now) — I’m happy to share that I crushed my reading goal for 2024! Woohoo! I’m honestly really proud of myself, this is the first time I’ve beat my reading goal since before university (I was lucky if I read 5 books for pleasure during the academic year). I can’t wait to see what I read in 2025.
Final Notes
Something you should know about me, dear reader, is that sometimes I thrive on hating. Call me a glutton for punishment. After all, how am I supposed to denounce these shitty BookTok romance books in good faith, by saying “I read people online saying they are bad”? No, let me hit the primary source.
I’ve been greatly inspired by WithCindy and her book roasts on Youtube, highly recommend if you enjoyed this hateful reading round-up and want to hear more hating.
Keep an eye out, for in my following reading round-ups, I may have more hate reviews coming your way. More Ali Hazelwood? More from the Icebreaker universe (yup, there’s more books set in the Icebreaker universe)? Or something entirely new and shitty? Only time will tell.
This has been Kaitlyn's Reading Round-Up, signing off!