Love is a Battlefield (DreamMakers #2) by Vivian Arend and Elle Kennedy

Love is a Battlefield by Vivian Arend
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Pepper Wilson comes home to see her brother who runs the DreamMakers business with his best friend Jack, who Pepper and Parker grew up with. Now an adult, Jack can't resist her, but how to make it happen? I already #3 in the series on my Kindle, Arend's books sizzle and I enjoy getting to know these characters.

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When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson & Omar Mohamed

When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Victoria Jamieson in collaboration with Somali refugee, Omar Mohamed, hits it out of the park with this graphic novel depicting Omar and his brother, Hassan's life in a refugee camp. The reader feels their boredom, anger, frustration, hope, and community as they live each day in a camp with thousands of others. Omar is a true caregiver to his brother yet he is able to attend school, look for his mother, and work to leave the camp for a better life. All students MUST read this book; highly recommended!

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Here's To Us by Elin Hildenbrand

Here's to Us by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wanted to give this book 5 stars but the story and Deacon Thorpe’s personality made me angry. If it was up to me, this flawed man who had everything going for him destroyed all of his happiness and his 3 wives because of his insecurities he could never get over and his own self absorption. I loved Angie and Laurel and Buck and their lives were all about their love for Dean Thorpe. Loved Nantucket but in this time of COVID-19 I wanted more positive characters and ached for their loss, he who was Deacon Thorpe.

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My Calamity Jane (The Lady Janies, #3) by Cynthia Hand

My Calamity Jane by Cynthia Hand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this audiobook so much, narrated by Sophie Amoss; her female and male voices were perfect; I could not stop listening! Cynthia Hand uses humor, and the retelling was funny, thought provoking, and the twists were just perfect. Think the history of the wild west but with the twists of garous (werewolves), history changed, and Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, and Annie Oakley trio who join forces in their shows but also chasing after garou (humans turned by a bite from werewolves). This 3rd Lady Janie was just as good as the other 2 in the series.

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The Cold Nowhere (Jonathan Stride, #6) by Brian Freeman

The Cold Nowhere by Brian Freeman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh do I love this series! Jonathan Stride, Maggie Bei, and Serena (I love Jonathan and Serena together) and this detective thriller also introduced Cat, a street kid who is running from someone who is stalking her and she has no idea why. She shows up at Stride's house because her mother was one of his cases years ago and told Cat she could always trust him. The psychological twists and turns had me turning those pages; I just love this series so much. There are usually cases that overlap, and this is how Serena enters Jonathan's life again; fingers crossed! On to the 7th book; Freeman really know how to write mysteries and delves authentically into Jonathan, Maggie and Serena's lives as police officers as fragile, tough, and relentless in their duties. A must read!

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Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Once again, Elizabeth Acevedo has written a beautiful, timely story in her signature novel in verse style. Camino and Yahaira do not know each other but they share a father and a last name, Rios. When their father dies in a plane crash on his way to visit Camino (as he does every summer) in the Dominican Republic, their lives are shattered. In prose, that is haunting, authentic, and charged, two girls discover through grief that they have each other. Highly recommended!

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Pretty Funny for a Girl by Rebecca Elliott

Pretty Funny for a Girl by Rebecca Elliott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, #BookJunkies, @BecElliott, Peachtree Publishing Company and Myrick Marketing & Media, LLC for the advance reader copy of Pretty Funny for a Girl by Rebecca Elliott, in exchange for an honest review. I loved irrepressible, funny Haylah who yearns to be a stand up comic. In this time of Covid-19, Haylah, nicknamed Pig, made me laugh with her sardonic wit, laugh out loud jokes and humorous monologues. But Haylah does not recognize all the good things about herself. Since she is plus size, she is very insecure about her looks and confidence, but she constantly and valiantly battles her inferiority complex making her one awesome protagonist I rooted for on every single page. Her love for her brother, Noah, and her Mom is so nice to see in a YA book. She has two best friends who have her back, but her inferiority complex has her so wrong about their motivations and sincerity. When Haylah deems her mother’s new friend (love interest?) Rueben a no go because he doesn’t wear socks and has a big beard, she jumps in and pushes him out. Haylah learns so much when she begins to slip her own jokes into awesome, popular Leo’s locker and becomes a friend, muse, and maybe something more? Readers will love this book as they see themselves in so many of the characters in this must read, laugh out loud book! Highly recommended.

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