Happy Book Review Day, y’all! Also, Happy May! I read this morning that May is National Burger Month, so I am currently declaring this the best month ever. Also, summer is just around the corner so that is even better!

So, I saw this over the weekend and bust out laughing. Was this made for me? Especially this month! HA!

I went to town on the reading this month, and I have fallen in love. Seriously. IN LOVE. There is no other way to say it!!!

Here we go . . .

The Wedding Ringer by Kerry Rea

The Wedding Ringer is the first book from Kerry Rea, and I will definitely be reading her next book. SUPER cute.

A year ago, Willa Callister was a successful blogger, had a growing audience, and was engaged to her longtime boyfriend. That was until she walked in and found her fiancé and her best friend in a very, VERY compromising position. With her heart broken, she walked away from all of it. Now, months later, Willa’s depression has taken hold as she swims in debt, a loss of ambition, and a heart that won’t heal.

Maisie Mitchell is a quirky zoologist that runs into Willa at a local coffee shop and offers to pay her to act like Maisie’s friend and even a bridesmaid in her upcoming wedding. While this sounds nuts, Willa understands that this money is just what she needs to start fresh and move on.

This is a sweet story of friendship, of releasing the hurt that we all can hold onto from time to time, and of moving on in the most amazing ways. This was a cute one, y’all. Very easy beach read. Minor sauciness when the handsome best man character is introduced, just FYI.

We have all been the person that is floating (maybe even sinking a bit) through life when some chance meeting or occurrence wakes us up and makes us see things in a brighter, different way. That is exactly what this book is about. Cute, cute.

Running Wild by KA Tucker

Okay, so y’all know that I LOOOOOOOOVE this series by K.A. Tucker. I read Wild at Heart, The Simple Wild, and Forever Wild, all followed Calla’s journey to be with her father in Alaska and the love story between her and Jonah. I just loved all three of these books, and I know that so many of you did as well. Imagine my excitement when I heard there was a 4th book being released! WOOHOO!

Running Wild is from the point of view of Marie, Jonah’s best friend and local veterinarian. Now, in all of the previous three books, it is CLEAR AS DAY that Marie has the hots for Jonah, and I was always a bit put off by her. Jonah + Calla = 4EVA!

So, this story tells Marie’s story moving forward. Yes, it goes into a little history about her and Jonah’s friendship, but it really dives in her complex family life, her career, and the new dog racer in town that she finds herself drawn to.

The best part about this book is that Jonah and Calla are mentioned throughout so you get to see how they are doing. Y’all know I love a good follow up situation! Marie’s story? It was sweet, it was cute, I was glad that I read it. Was it equal in my love of the first three? No. Do you need to have read the first three to read this? No. But, I would . . . because THEY ARE JUST THAT GOOD!

The Club by Ellery Lloyd

I’m going to be honest here. I love Reese Witherspoon and it is possible that I have seen and LOVED every movie that she has ever made. Sweet Home Alabama? I think I could rival anyone in quoting it. “You brought a baby? To a bar?” See?! 😉 Her Book Club? Not a slam dunk for me. Some of the books I have loved and others I have quit halfway through. Something VERY rare for me to do. A couple of you recommended The Club to me last month. I am always up for a fun murder mystery, but when I saw the Reese’s Book Club sticker on the cover, I had a bit of a pause. Even though I am sure we are meant to be lifelong BFFs, we don’t sync up on certain books. While, sadly I should have skipped…I dove in anyway.

The Club is about a very exclusive membership club that has locations around the world. Members are from an elite group with the entertainment industry, and the hefty annual membership fee and crazy road to acceptance into the club comes with safety, security, loads of fun, and anything the member’s heart desires. The newest location, Island Home, sets out on a record-breaking weekend opening, and ends with people missing, people dead, and loads of controversy. This book is told from multiple different viewpoints, and really did keep me interested. Let me say this, it was just around three hundred pages, and I felt about two hundred of them. It was very long winded, and mama just needed to get to the point. The beginning and the end were great, just needed to tighten up the middle to keep me interested. It was definitely a good “whodunit” with you constantly guessing the guilty party among Hollywood’s elite, I have just read better. Sad to say. Y’all know that I hate giving bad review. Ugh! HOWEVER, if you love a good mystery and you love the entertainment industry drama, this is the book for you. Really takes a look at the beauty of that industry and turns it upside down and shows that we never know what is going on inside someone’s house. Cue mysterious music…

The Court of Thorns and Roses

The Court of Mist and Fury

The Court of Wings and Ruin

…all by Sarah J Maas

Bless. It. Y’all.

My world has been rocked. ROCKED!

I am a lover of all books. Especially a series. And, I have zero issue buying into fantasy, sci-fi, all the things. Harry Potter? Read all seven and cried with one chapter left only because I didn’t want it to end. Twilight? Spent every nap time that my children had wearing my Team Edward t-shirt and reading every book in the series as fast as possible. The Hunger Games? I read all four books within a week, and I still don’t understand why she didn’t choose Gale. Am I right? You get the picture.

So, this series – starting with The Court of Thorns and Roses – is true fantasy. Reminds me of a prettier, sweeter, and more affluent version of Game of Thrones. Does that even make sense? But go with me here. This story is set in a world where there is the human side of the wall and there is a Fae side of the wall. The Fae are an immortal, magical kind that have many different kingdoms throughout their world. Hundreds of years ago, there was a huge war between the two sides and as part of the war-ending treaty, a magical wall was built to keep the two groups apart.

Now, generations later, Feyre lives in poverty with her two sisters and crippled father. She hunts each day to find them food, and she is the only reason that they are still alive. One day out in the forest, she kills a wolf and discovers that it was actually a shapeshifter from the Fae world on the other side of the wall. She discovers this as she is taken from her home and has to give her life in the Fae world for the one she has taken. Feyre then enters into a world she had only heard horrible stories about, legends that strike fear in humans so that they never would cross the wall. But, here she is in a new country, living a new life, and realizing that it is not all that she once thought it to be.

Y’all. I AM IN LOVE! Do I want to be a character in this book? YES . . . very much so. I am in deep here, and am already going to be sad when this series is over. I have two more left. Yikes!

The quote at the beginning of this post is PERFECT for this series. It is such a fantastic, deep, complex fairy tale that is just a bit saucier than your average Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty. Definitely some rated R parts, but tastefully done. In my opinion. Of course, take that comment with a grain of salt since I have now admitted to liking dirty fairy tales! Ha!

Also, please note that Hulu announced that they are making this into a series! AAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

PLEASE read this! If you liked Twilight, READ THIS! I already gave the first one to a friend, and am working on getting the rest of you obsessed with this! Ha!

READ IT!

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Whew! Y’all . . . what a month full of reading. If you need me, I will be snuggled up with the last two books of my new favorite series and making a wish that the Hulu series comes out ASAP! Have a great week! XO