Y’all, this is a great batch of books I’m reviewing for you today and I hope that if you haven’t already decided to pick them up that you will strongly consider doing so immediately. Old Flames and New Fortunes by Sarah Hogle is one I received an e-ARC from and then, as per usual, listened to the audiobook (via Spotify this time) after its release. What is Love? by Jen Comfort is another where I was lucky enough to receive the e-ARC and then proceeded to check it out from KU where it also has the audiobook borrow option and listened to it that way. Finally, Disturbing the Dead by Kelley Armstrong was actually an audiobook review copy via Netgalley, thank you! So I did actually listen to it that way. Anyway, let’s dive into talking about the books, shall we?
Old Flames and New Fortunes
by Sarah Hogle
I really enjoyed this book and with the nineteen days between me reading it and now, I think I’ve actually just grown even more fond of it. Essentially, this book involves Romina, who is a plant witch, and Alex, a construction worker. The two of them were extremely serious in high school and things ended and they haven’t talked to one another since until Romina gets thrust into the surprise role of pretending to be her boss/friend’s girlfriend right as she is introduced to her friend’s dad and his fiancee, Alex’s mom. Turns out there’s about to be a wedding!
The forced proximity, the shenanigans associated with this wedding, the way that Romina commits herself to TERRIBLY pretending to date her friend while Alex clocks every single thing that’s wrong with this picture… Iconic, honestly.
There’s also though a rather serious backstory where Romina, during the intervening decade or so, was in a relationship with a single father and that relationship dynamic wasn’t particularly healthy. However, Romina was basically the child’s mother. So when they broke up, she thought she would still be able to be in the kid’s life, except ex-boyfriend is pretty much a trash can, so nope. Anyway, Romina is sort of grieving that loss throughout this book and it flares at certain times.
Overall, I loved the loose magic system in this book, the sisterhood vibes, the found family situation, and the romance in this book. I’m really hoping Sarah Hogle gets a chance to write about Romina’s sisters in her next couple of books because I think we should get a chance to hang out in Ohio for a little bit longer.
What is Love? by Jen Comfort
Representation for ADHD is so necessary because it really can look so different for different people. Maxine spends a lot of this book talking about how studying for her is not what most academics want it to look like and there’s a whole scene in this book about mind mapping. (Great scene.) Anyway, the whole time I was reading this book like, wow, I’m so lucky that my school experiences didn’t look like this. I’m not sure if it’s my perfectionist anxious girlie tendencies or what, but I really did spend so much of this book thinking about how the ADHD characteristics most obvious in me are wildly different than Maxine’s. Anyway, I love reading books with representation for neurospicy brains and if you share that interest, What is Love? is a great option for you to pick up.
Essentially this book is about Maxine and Teddy who are rivals on a show that is NOT Jeopardy (even though it basically is) (but it’s actually called Answers) and yet, are going to team up to help one another because they want to beat this guy who actually has the most wins ever on the show. Both of them want to win, but for different reasons (money related) and I found myself wanting them both to win and for both of them to be happy. The good news is that they fall in love along the way because of course they do. This book has some really quality spicy scenes that I really appreciated. I would definitely recommend it!
Disturbing the Dead
by Kelley Armstrong
I remember reading the first book in this series and being like… Is there going to be a romance? And I am so delighted to tell you that I essentially still feel EXACTLY the same in this installment, except with more hope. I really loved this installment in this series and I feel like it provided me with a lot of content that I was really hoping to have. I also find it difficult to talk in any specifics about this book because of the fact that it is the fourth book in the series, so rather than telling you about the brilliant character development in this book, I’m instead going to focus on the mystery.
The mystery in this one is basically that someone wraps a fresh corpse in mummy wrappings and also there’s a lot of danger and intrigue. Okay, so it turns out the mystery is actually not why I’m reading this series. I really just love the characters. That said, I thought the mystery was really well done!
I listened to this book (thank you, Netgalley) and I really enjoyed the narrator. I think the production quality of the audiobook is really well done and I’m extremely grateful I got to read the book in this format (mostly because reading with my eyeballs is so hit or miss). Anyway, if you haven’t picked up this series, I highly recommend you remedy that, ASAP!
Closing Thoughts
If you haven’t read these books, I definitely recommend! Please let me know your thoughts on any/all that you’ve read.
xx
firewhiskeyreader 