Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation by Octavia E. Butler, Damian Duffy, John Jennings

Oh man was this a hard book to read. Dana time travels. She doesn't know why or how but she goes from the 1970s with her white husband to the antebellum South where she is considered a slave. Not an easy transition.But she meets Rufus Waylin. First as a young boy and then as he ages. The hope she has for him becoming a better sort of person than his father slowly drains every time she comes back.  And it is not made any easier by the fact that Rufus is her great-great-whatever grandfather.
I can see why "Kindred" is a classic. Octavia Butler is a powerful storyteller, making you care about the characters even when they are despicable.

Four stars
This version came out 
Borrowed as a hard copy from the library
Opinions are my own

Auld Lang Syne by Rebel Carter

 Delilah Solis decides that she's going to stop being a doormat for her family and she's going to run away. Literally. She decides to answer an ad for a bakery intern, flying from Texas to Scotland to get there the next day. 
It turns out that the bakery owner, Agnes, has a hot single nephew. She also believes in fairies. But... nephew. He is surly to begin with but eventually gets worn down and starts to appreciate Del and his aunt.
Oh. I rounded up from two and a half stars. I wanted to know more about Del's siblings and why they came to rely on her so much. I wanted to learn more about Del and why she allowed it. I wanted to see more of a relationship develop between Del and Callum. 

Two and a half stars

Followed by A Viscount for Valentine's
This novella came out December 27th, 2018
Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

Heard about this on Fated Mates

Witching You Were Here by Amanda M. Lee

The Winchesters are back in the thick of things. A mysteriously abandoned yacht is found on the river. Aunt Tillie is on the warpath because her nieces are trying to not only get rid of her recliner, they want to take over her wine cellar so they can replace the furnace. Bay, Thistle, and Clove's fathers are back in town and it's for a reason sure to infuriate Aunt Tillie even more. Also in town? Bay's love interest, Landon as well as a new handyman who seems interest in Clove and a couple of (stoner?) snowboarders. There is a bigger mystery than the deserted yacht and it might involve the mob...
This book was just as good as others in the series. It moved Bay and Landon's relationship along a little bit but not much else.

Three stars
This book came out November 18th, 2013
Follows Every Witch Way But Wicked
Followed by Witching on a Star
Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

Real Fake Love by Pippa Grant

I'm not sure what it was about this book that captured my attention so much but I stayed up way to late reading it. Actually, I think it was just the sheer zaniness of it. I didn't love the heroine, "Henri" Henrietta Bacon, as she was just a little too peripatetic in her thought process and the flips often threw me out of the story. However, her manic-pixie-dream-girl-ness is updated a little bit by showing what that kind of chaos can leave in it's wake (for her, five broken engagements) and how that can wear on a person. For Henri, she decides it's time to learn how not to fall in love. And, she decides that her latest fiance's childhood best friend is the perfect person to learn from.

Professional baseball player Luca Rossi just wants to play the game, hopefully in the same place for more than a year or two. He definitely doesn't want to fall in love but his Nona (who is famous on TikTok) shows up in his kitchen the morning after Henri shows up on his front steps. And she's making her ziti which, everyone in her family knows is a part of putting the Eye on someone and that person will then fall in love. And woe to those who try to avoid it. 

Luca did have some flaws but, on the whole, he did lean a little bit toward too-good-to-be-true.

Overall, a fun story that was just a bit fluffy but still really fun to read.

Four stars

Follows Jock Blocked

Followed by The Grumpy Player Next Door

This book came out September 3rd, 2020

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Reread as Kindle ebook October 2024

The Home Edit Life by Clea Shearer, Joanna Teplin

 I have a feeling that the hard copy or ebooks have more pictures that go along with the book but I didn't feel like I was missing anything by listening to the audio. I do like the Home Edit philosophy of "editing" your house rather than wholesale getting rid of everything (especially books - though, even as a bibliophile and former librarian, I do believe even those should be culled every 5 years or so). This was an okay book but after awhile, hearing about how Clea and Joanna organized for various (mostly celebrity) clients got a little old. The tips were very nice though!
The narrator was fantastic and did a wonderful job injecting tone and enthusiasm where appropriate.

Three stars

This book came out September 15th, 2020

Audiobook from Overdrive

Opinions are my own

Every Witch Way but Wicked by Amanda M. Lee

 Bay is caught up in another murder. She is also having to deal with a new boss since her ninety-year-old boss died and left the paper to his grandson, Bill, who seems rather slick and oily. Even the ghosts at the newspaper can't tell Bay what he's up to. Then the town drunk is found dead during what is supposed to be a murder mystery weekend; there just wasn't supposed to be a real murder. Her FBI agent love interest from the first book is back in town but he may not be around for long since Aunt Tillie decides to take matters into her own hands and it will change how Landon looks at her family.
The mystery in this one didn't make a ton of sense but we got to know all of the characters a little better which is good because with Bay, her two cousins, all of their mothers, a couple of guys who are hanging around, and Aunt Tillie, that's a lot of people to track.

Three stars
This book came out March 26th, 2013
Follows Any Witch Way You Can 
Followed by Witching You Were Here
Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own

This Can't Be Love by Maria Geraci

 When Luke Powers' girlfriend gives him an ultimatum, he chooses to break up. When, just months later, he's invited to her wedding, he realizes it's time for a vacation. He's an engineer who works with companies located on the water, helping them make sure that they are being environmentally safe and travels all over the United States. That means he hasn't been to see his family in Whispering Bay for almost a year. So he heads back to the house his grandfather left him. But there's already somebody in his bed...
Sarah Jamison just wants to earn another $5k so she can open her food truck. She didn't even finish college and her life has been peripatetic so she in no way can measure up to a man who is clearly the apple of his mother's eye. Plus, he's the pattern card of a man who doesn't want to get married. That's not exactly her dream either but that doesn't mean she'll just jump into bed with a guy just because he's hot.
I didn't read any of the other books in this series but didn't feel like I needed to to understand what was going on in this book. The story was a bit thin but the characters were fairly well developed.

Three stars
This book came out
Follows The Best for Last
Followed by Can't Stop the Feeling
Ebook borrowed from Kindle Unlimited
Opinions are my own