Book Review: "Leather & Lark" by Brynne Weaver

Title: Leather & Lark

Author: Brynne Weaver

Series: "Ruinous Love" #2
Genre: Dark Romance Comedy

Page Length: 416 pages

Publication Date: June 4, 2024

Rating: 5 // 5 stars

Goodreads

Butcher & Blackbird Review

Butcher & Blackbird is one of the most unique and fun romances I've read in my entire life. It was a highlight of the start of this year and I have not stopped thinking about it since. Therefore, I was pretty excited for Leather & Lark, the companion sequel, to come out. 

Leather & Lark follows two characters we met in B&B and their hate-to-love romance through the situation of a fake marriage. First of all, the premise had me beyond intrigued. Enemies-to-lovers and fake marriage scenarios are always fun for me to read about. This book was no exception.

I loved this book but I will say that it did have a different vibe to it than the first one. It wasn't in a bad way but it was rather different. I almost felt like this one was more of a serious romance compared to a romcom-esque romance. The two main characters were super fun to read about, though. They're very intriguing and I really enjoyed getting to see them open up to each other. 

The plot was somewhat dealing with the consequences of the first book and partly dealing with previous events. Since we actually ended on a rather big ending, I'm pretty desperate for the third book to come out soon. 

Overall, I loved Leather & Lark, but not as much as Butcher & Blackbird. Sequels are hard and it's often difficult to measure up or surpass a first book when it's as stellar as B&B is. However, that's not to say it was a bad sequel. It was fun and addicting but in different ways. I loved the characters and I know I'll be revisiting this book often. 

P.S. Please make sure you read the trigger warnings at the beginning of either book if you decide to read these! There's a long, long list and I want to make sure everyone is reading responsibly! 

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Series Review: "The STEM-inist Novellas" by Ali Hazelwood

Series Title: The STEM-inist Novellas

Author: Ali Hazelwood 

Genre: Romcom

Reading Order & Individual Ratings:

1. Under One Roof - 5/5 stars
2. Stuck With You - 4/5 stars
3. Below Zero - 4.5/5 stars

Overall Rating: 4.5 // 5 stars

Goodreads

I, like many people, read The Love Hypothesis because of the hype it received on BookTok. I, like many people, absolutely adored it. The Love Hypothesis, which is Ali Hazelwood's first book, is one of my all-time favorite romcoms. It was so funny and kept me engaged the entire read. But this isn't a review for The Love Hypothesis. No, today we're going to talk about three more Ali Hazelwood works!

The STEM-inist novellas, which include Under One Roof, Stuck With You, and Below Zero, are a trilogy following a trio of friends as they navigate romances in their lives. Each novella follows a different main couple, though the others do make their appearances, in a variety of situations. First publishing solely as audiobooks, the novellas were then released a few months later as ebooks, which is how I read them. 

Under One Roof is my favorite of the three, I think. It's an enemies-to-lovers-esque story about two characters who each own half of a house but neither wants to sell or move out. One is an environmental scientist and the other is a lawyer at an environment-destroying company. It's absolutely hilarious but also incredibly heartwarming following their reluctant relationship growth across the time they live together. By far I think it's also the best written, in terms of character development and story progression. It was just so cute and I couldn't stop smiling the entire time I was reading it. 

The second is Stuck With You which follows two engineers at rival companies who get stuck in an elevator a few weeks after having a whirlwind 24-hour romance that ended in betrayal and anger. The novella is told in a series of flashbacks to their romance and their present setting in an elevator. I enjoyed it, and it was cute, but it definitely didn't feel nearly as developed as the other stories. I think the main thing with this was that it was based around a miscommunication trope and I don't really like those much. It felt like there wasn't much story progression or plot from that except for them having an actual conversation and realizing they were both wrong. Because of that, I just didn't swoon as much as the others even if I still enjoyed it. 

The last novella is Below Zero and follows two NASA scientists with a hint of rivals-to-lovers. One is injured and stuck in a life-or-death situation and the other is coming to save them. This novella also switches between past and present but I felt like it did it in such a better way. The main plot for this also didn't feel like it was based around the miscommunication trope, though there was some of that. Instead, there was other stuff going on that made it a well-balanced story in my mind. It was quite cute and enjoyable seeing the potential relationship that has spanned years finally culminate in this novella.

One of my favorite things about Ali Hazelwood is the inclusion of science and academia in her books. While I studied humanities in university, I still took STEM classes and they always fascinated me. I also just think it's great to see science represented in romance books because I rarely ever see it. My ranking of these would have to go Under One Roof, Below Zero, and then Stuck With You. Each was quite different but they also all felt like Ali Hazelwood stories. I'm beginning to get a vibe for how she writes and I'm quite looking forward to the fact that I can reach for her books when I'm in the mood for these types of stories. I quite enjoyed this trilogy of novellas and think they've been great to hold me over until her next full-length novel, Love On the Brain, comes out later this month. I also am very much looking forward to the paperback bindup of these novellas that is coming out at the beginning of next year! 

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Book Review: "The Love Hypothesis" by Ali Hazelwood

Title: The Love Hypothesis

Author: Ali Hazelwood

Series: "Love Hypothesis" #1

Genre: Romance

Page Length: 352 pages

Publication Date: September 14, 2021

Rating: 5 // 5 stars

Goodreads

This is one of those books that I had high expectations for and was hoping it would live up to them. This book has been hyped up an insane amount on BookTok, Bookstagram, BookTube, etc. Basically, I've seen everyone and their mother loving on this book. 

The only thing that was holding me back from this book was that it was Reylo fanfiction originally, which isn't a ship I enjoy much. However, when I finally started the book I found it really easy to forget that fact and to visualize the characters separate from that ship (thankfully). 

The Love Hypothesis was like a warm hug. I felt so good while reading this book the entire time and was able to let all the stresses of the real world fade away. Basically, I loved every moment and wish I had even more. 

One of the best things about it, though, was that I didn't get any secondhand embarrassment. A lot of times in romcoms, there's embarrassing moments that are put in for the humor. I usually cringe a lot because I feel the secondhand embarrassment but that was not the case in this book (and I'm so glad about that). 

The characters were intriguing and their personalities fulfilled one of my favorite tropes: grumpy and sunshine. Their chemistry on page was addicting. Olive and Adam were such an enjoyable pair and I would honestly read a million more books about them if I could. The side characters were also very enjoyable and I would definitely take a book on each of the side characters too. 

The plot, while unrealistic in some parts in my opinion (hello Title IX), was really fun as well. I also find that I quite enjoy romance books where the entire plot isn't focused solely on the romance. While, of course, romance should be the main plot of the book, I much prefer when there are other issues or smaller plot lines happening congruently. This book dealt with a whole range of things and I was incredibly happy that the main conflicts weren't centered around the romance itself. 

Overall, I loved this book. It was a breath of fresh air and I loved every moment of it. I read it in one sitting and cannot wait to reread it in the future. I also am very excited to see what Ali Hazelwood does in her novellas and next steminist novel coming later in the year because I am here for this content. 

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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End of the Year Book Tag: 2021 Edition

Well hello everyone! I'm excited that it's finally time to do my 2021 edition of the End of the Year Book Tag! I've been doing this every year for the past few years now and it's always a fun time. Let's dive in! 

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1. Are there any books you started this year that you need to finish?

The answer is yes. There's actually a ton of books that I got a few pages into, set down, and forgot about. That isn't to mean those books weren't good but, rather, that my reading slump is still kicking my ass. Most notably, though, is my current read: Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard (which I've been currently reading for a month now). 

I read Red Queen in October and started reading Glass Sword almost immediately afterwards. But the reading slump prevails and I'm still only about 1/4 of the way through. I do have high hopes for December, though, and can only hope that the books I want to read will make my general stress and reading slump disappear. 

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2. Do you have an autumnal book to transition into the end of the year?

Once again, I've sort of done this tag a bit too late for this question to fully make sense. However, I do have a list of holiday books I want to read that will act as a bit of a transition. Most of them are winter/Christmas themed romcoms if I'm being honest. However, romance books are what have mainly driven my reading this year so I can't be too surprised there. 

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3. Is there a new release you’re still waiting for?

Well, this has kind of a complicated answer. The books on my most anticipated list for 2021 have all released as of this post but I haven't received all of them yet. For example, The Gilded Cage by Lynette Noni has been out for a bit but my Fairyloot edition hasn't yet shipped. Additionally, I did get off the waitlist for Fairyloot this month so I'm assuming there will be some new releases coming this month (though I'm not sure what they are). 

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4. What are three books you want to read before the end of the year?

I would like to finish Glass Sword and read King's Cage and War Storm by Victoria Aveyard. This would end the main series apart from the novellas for me (which I do still want to read). I have only finished one series this year, which is disappointing as I finished over fifteen in 2020. Plus, this series has been on my TBR for such a long time that I feel it would be only right to finish it out in 2021. 

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5. Is there a book you think could still shock you and become your favorite book of the year?

I have some romcoms on my TBR for December, but otherwise I wouldn't say so. My TBR for December basically consists of the rest of the Red Queen series, a few rereads, a couple romance books, and some holiday romcoms. I already know how much I like Red Queen, so it wouldn't be a shock if the rest became favorites. However, the holiday romcoms I have on my list could surprise me enough to land a spot on my favorites. 

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6. Have you already started making reading plans for 2022?

I definitely have. I've had a few more periods of active reading the past few months of this year and I'm hoping the momentum will continue into the new year and pick up a bit. I won't pretend and say that 2021 was a great year because it truly sucked in all aspects. Usually I have books to pick up the slack where life is falling short, but the reading slump I've been in for ages has made that difficult. Normally I read over 100 books a year but, so far, I've only read 38. While that's still an impressive number for someone who doesn't read, I do miss when I would be reading all the time. 

So, yes. I have reading plans for 2022, though I'll call them goals or tentative starting points. There's lots of books that came out this year that I wanted to read immediately that I haven't yet. There's many series I thought I'd have finished by now. And I was hoping my TBR would shrink a little instead of growing twice as large this year. Overall, though, I just want to enjoy reading as much and as often as I used to before the pandemic hit. 

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Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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You can follow my bookstagram here for more bookish content!

To get more awesome posts like this post, click the follow button to the right!

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