Lauren's Boookshelf: the bonds that tie

Showing posts with label the bonds that tie. Show all posts

Friday, November 3, 2023

October 2023 Wrap-Up

October was a wild month. Personal life wise, it was rather rough. In terms of reading, I read a lot of books (though most of them are not new favorites). In total, I read 14 books and two complete series. My favorite was definitely my reread of the Bonds that Tie series, continuing J. Bree's hold on my reading year. But I also really enjoyed Daughter of the Drowned Empire and have already continued on with the series. I'm also going to continue with the sequel to An Heir Comes to Rise soon.

I'm hoping that November will be a good reading month in terms of both quantity and quality. There's some new releases I'm looking forward to and some books on my TBR that I'm quite excited about. But, for now, let's get into my October wrap up!

Title: An Heir Comes to Rise

Author: C.C. Peñaranda
Rating: 3 // 5 stars

Review

Title: Broken Bonds

Author: J. Bree

Rating: 5 // 5 stars

Review

-reread-

Title: Savage Bonds

Author: J. Bree

Rating: 5 // 5 stars

Review

-reread-

Title: Blood Bonds

Author: J. Bree
Rating: 4.5 // 5 stars

Review

-reread-

Title: Forced Bonds

Author: J. Bree
Rating: 4.5 // 5 stars

Review

-reread-

Title: Tragic Bonds

Author: J. Bree

Rating: 4.5 // 5 stars

Review

-reread-

Title: Unbroken Bonds

Author: J. Bree

Rating: 4 // 5 stars

Review

-reread-

Title: Chameleon

Author: Jane Washington

Rating: 3 // 5 stars

Title: Find Me
Author: Ashley N. Rostek

Rating: 3.5 // 5 stars

Review TK

10.

Title: Save Me

Author: Ashley N. Rostek

Rating: 3 // 5 stars

Review TK

11.

Title: Love Me

Author: Ashley N. Rostek

Rating: 3 // 5 stars

Review TK

12.

Title: Free Me

Author: Ashley N. Rostek

Rating: 3 // 5 stars

Review TK

13.

Title: Too Safe

Author: Abby Millsaps

Rating: 3 // 5 stars

Review TK

14.

Title: Daughter of the Drowned Empire

Author: Frankie Diane Mallis

Rating: 4 // 5 stars

Review TK

September 2023 Wrap-Up

September 2023 Book Haul

BookTok Hit or Miss? Part 2

Book Review: "Immortal Longings" by Chloe Gong

Book Review: "Divine Rivals" by Rebecca Ross

Halloween Creatures Book Tag

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Series Review: "The Bonds That Tie" by J. Bree

Series: The Bonds That Tie

Author: J. Bree

Reading Order & Individual Ratings:

Broken Bonds - 4.5 // 5 stars
Savage Bonds - 4 // 5 stars
Blood Bonds - 4.5 // 5 stars
Forced Bonds - 4 // 5 stars
Tragic Bonds - 4 // 5 stars
Unbroken Bonds - 3.5 // 5 stars

Overall Rating: 4 // 5 stars

Goodreads

Between this series and all of the books set in the Mounts Bay world, I'm pretty sure J. Bree is a new favorite author of mine. While this series did not surpass the Hannaford Prep, Queens Crow, or Butcher of the Bay series for me, I still really enjoyed it. It was the series that introduced me to J. Bree.

So I first started this series back in December, just a little after the publication of the last book. I binged the first five books in just a couple weeks. I was obsessed with Oli and her boys. I finally got to the last book in April and finished the series.

My overall thoughts for this series are basically that it was good but that it didn't need to be that long. Each book was quite long and then the series overall was six books. I think for the overall plot and romance arc, it could have been done in four or five books. My favorites were the earlier books but I am also quite satisfied by the ending.

Let's start with the characters. One thing I like about J. Bree's "why choose" romances is that the characters are very distinct from one another. Sometimes with "why choose" books, it can be easy to fall into the trap of all the love interests being very similar and hard to tell apart. But this series, and the Hannaford Prep series, shows that is not the case with J. Bree. I could tell who was who just by how they were speaking and I loved that. The slow burn was deliciously slow. I love J. Bree's books for that. But it was worth the payoff in the end. I liked that the different relationships between Oli and her boys also developed at different speeds. It felt more realistic. The steamy scenes were also well worth the wait.

In terms of plot, I thought it was very intriguing. The world inside our own that J. Bree built in this series was fascinating to learn about and read about. I think the plot was fun and addicting, though again I think that the books could have been condensed and that the plot was stretched too long.

Overall, these books were addicting and I had a lot of fun reading them. I will definitely be returning to them in the future and I hope to one day get the physical copies for my bookshelf when I have the space and money to do so. I'm also just grateful to this series for introducing me to J. Bree. Without it, I wouldn't have found any of her other books that have become some of my favorites of all time.

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Sunday, February 5, 2023

January 2023 Wrap-Up + Haul

January was a wild month and start to the new year. I didn't get much reading done, but so much changed in the span of this month from December. It honestly feels like Christmas was light years ago. In January, we continued our flat hunt, found a new flat, and moved in all in the span of just a couple weeks. I got my next VISA to stay here. I transitioned to full time work at my job. And I graduated with my Master's degree, which my mom came to see and we made a long weekend out of it. All in, January was a busy month and I still don't feel particularly caught up on life.

I read four books in January. I expected to read more but with the stress of moving and the exhaustion of working 10-hour shifts multiple days in a row on my feet just made it so when I was home it was for sleeping and eating but not much else. I enjoyed all of the books I read this month as well, even if there weren't many. Mostly, though, I'm looking forward to February being a month of getting settled in our new place and reading a lot more books.

Title: Forced Bonds

Author: J. Bree
Rating: 4 // 5 stars

Series Review

Title: Tragic Bonds

Author: J. Bree

Rating: 4 // 5 stars

Series Review

Title: Animal Crossing: New Horizons: Deserted Island Diary: Volume 1
Author: Kokonasu Rumba

Title: Illuminae

Authors: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Rating: 5 // 5 stars

Review

-reread-

December 2022 Wrap-Up

December 2022 Book Haul

My Favorite Books of 2022

Book Series I Finished in 2022

I only hauled two books (and one was free!) in January which is why I decided to include them in this post rather than make an entire blog post out of them. I'm pretty excited about both of these so let's go ahead and just dive right in!

The first one I got was Cruel Illusions by Margie Fuston. This was the December book pick for the Fairyloot YA box (unboxing coming soon!) and I think it's such a gorgeous edition. It has an exclusive cover, digitally sprayed edges, artwork, and so much more. I believe it's also a standalone? I'm not sure on that one, though. What I do know is there's apparently vampires and I'm all for it. Hopefully I'll get to this one this year, maybe around Halloween time?

The second book I got was a signed ARC of The Ever Storms by Amanda Foody which I won in a giveaway. I love Amanda Foody's books and her middle grade series is no different. The Ever Storms is the third book in it following The Accidental Apprentice and The Weeping Tide. The best way I can describe the first book is wholesome, cottagecore-vibes, and Pokemon meets How to Train Your Dragon. I'm so excited to have won this copy and already have a series binge-read planned now that it's been released.

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

Lauren

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Sunday, January 1, 2023

December 2022 Wrap-Up

The final wrap-up of 2022 is here! December was an interesting reading month for me. I read more books than in previous months and I loved everything I read but there were also long portions of the month where I didn't read anything (due to holidays and work). It was an overall good month, but still full of the stress of life.

I read five books in December, two of which were rereads of some favorites. I also discovered a new favorite series that I'm currently continuing in the new year. I was tempted to try and binge a bunch at the end but I figured I'd rather start 2023 off on a strong start and relax in the last few days. Anyway, without further ado, here's the five books I read in December!