ginasbookreport

Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin Publisher: Atria Books Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Genre: Literature / LGBTQIA+ / Romance Read This If You Love: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine / Lessons in Chemistry / The Guncle “I don’t know who I am. I don’t know what I want to be. I wish I were someone different.” Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin is a masterful piece of dark humor, wit, and emotion. Enid is finding her way in the world and it isn’t always easy when you see the world in a different way than those around you. Managing difficult family relationships, mental health journeys, and navigating accidental complicated romantic situations is full of pitfalls and Enid’s processing of it all will have you chuckling to yourself. Well, until something nefarious seems to be going on? Is someone after Enid or is she paranoid? Is it just her mind playing tricks on her because she is so obsessed with listening to true crime podcasts? Oh…and if you want ...

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross Publisher:  Wednesday Books Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Fantasy / Romance Read This If You Love:  Fourth Wing / Iron Flame "No God--No Creature--NoWar--Can Come Between Them" Divine Rivals  by Rebecca Ross tells the story of two young journalists determined to tell the truth about the war among the gods that is tearing apart their world. Roman Kitt comes from an influential family. Iris Winnow has a brother fighting in the war and she is determined to hold together what little her family has left. These two are rivals in the newsroom, but soon find common ground…some in very unexpected and magical ways. Can they survive the war and find love? Will the dark forces at work tear them apart? This is a young adult novel that has taken over a lot of best of lists and I know many an adult woman who has read and enjoyed this book. It is a touching story of young love, life during a war, and the power of family and truth. Divine Riva...

The Holiday Swap by Maggie Knox Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Contemporary Romance Read This If You Love: Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey “I’ll take your place. We’ll switch, like we used to do when we were kids, remember?” The Holiday Swap  by Maggie Knox is a cozy holiday romance, complete with a twin switch and dual love stories. When Charlie suffers a mishap while filming her baking show, she needs to quickly find a way to keep performing her job to salvage her career. Lucky for her, she has an identical twin in Cass, and Cass runs the family bakery. Charlie goes back home to present herself as Cass and finds how much she needed to return to her roots and having a hot fireman around doesn’t hurt, either. (Side note: Between the description and the cover art, was Jake a Prince Harry look-alike?) Meanwhile in LA, Cass is acting as if she is Charlie and finding her voice and love, too.  ...

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros Publisher: Red Tower Books Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Fantasy / Romantasy Read This If You Love: Fourth Wing / Game of Thrones “I lace my fingers on top of my head and look away, waging war with the grief, the pain, the never-ending guilt, and as usual, I lose.”   Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros and The Empyrean series is the book craze of 2023, for sure. This series is EVERYWHERE. While I typically don’t get drawn into a crowd when it comes to books, I’m fully in for this series. Divided into two parts, Part One of Iron Flame  could have been a complete novel. I loved that section. Part Two faltered a bit for me until the last 100 pages or so. Why? I just don’t enjoy the drippy romance scenes. I’m here for the world-building, the complex relationships, the ‘who will win’ scenes. I found Iron Flame  to have a bit more romance in it (or spicy scenes, as some call them) than Fourth Wing , so I give the edge to Fourth Wing  a...

Book by Book / While We Were Dating by Jasmine Guillory Publisher:  Jove Book published by Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Contemporary Romance / Chick Lit Read This If You Love:  The Unhoneymooners  / other Jasmine Guillory books  In By the Book, Izzy is making her way in the world of publishing. Her one time dream job has hit the reality that publishing isn’t always a glamorous thrill-a-minute industry. Day after day she slogs through her list of to dos, which includes reminding Beau Towers that he has an actual deadline for his memoir. Izzy finds herself on the standoffish author’s doorstep and all her frustrations come pouring out after his rude behavior. The perfect start for a romance, right! But is Beau really a jaded jerk or is he just as lost in life as Izzy. By the Book  delivers a sweet love story built on finding yourself and someone to support you along the way.  Side note...