firewhiskeyreader

I’ve decided to embrace the tier ranking system so that I don’t have to actually try and separate out my feelings on all of the books that I feel very average about. So what we’re going to have instead today are tiers! I have no idea how this will go, so if y’all would please be so kind as to provide feedback, that would be much appreciated.

My tiers are going to be: We are Never Ever Getting Back Together, Tolerate It, I Almost Do, Bejeweled, and Dear, Reader. If you’re thinking, “hm, these titles sound familiar,” yes, they are all Taylor Swift song titles. As for what they mean, We are Never Ever Getting Back Together are the books that I just did not vibe with at all. They were aggressively not for me. Tolerate It is for the books that were very fine, leaning toward I was really bored. I Almost Do are the books that were fine, leaning toward good. Bejeweled are the books that I really enjoyed, but don’t necessarily have staying power. Dear Reader are all the books that I am telling you, Dear Reader, to pick up ASAP. Do these tiers make sense? Maybe only to me. But here we are. So let’s dive in!

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together

• ARC Review of Cinderella’s Last Stand by Michelle Lindo-Rice
• ARC Review of The Empress by Gigi Griffis

Tolerate It

Comments on the Above: Honestly, The Decoy Girlfriend could be in “I Almost Do” but the further away from it I get, the more forgettable it feels, unlike Vale’s adult debut, which I’m obsessed with despite initially giving it only four stars. Additionally, Tread of Angels doesn’t have a category it belongs in really because it goes firmly in the “It’s not you, it’s me” in that I am just genuinely not smart enough for the book. It’s not that I didn’t understand what was happening exactly, but it is that it felt like it was skating over the top of my head.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that I think all of these books got about a 3 to a 3.5 from me. None of these are bad books, they just weren’t ultimately for me.

• ARC Review of Aphrodite and the Duke by J.J. McAvoy
• ARC Review of An Offer from Mr. Wrong by Niobia Bryant
• ARC Review of The Decoy Girlfriend by Lillie Vale
• ARC Review of Witchful Thinking by Celestine Martin
• ARC Review of Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse (forthcoming)

I Almost Do

Comments on the Above: These are books where I have mostly positive thoughts on, but there is something in each one of them that keeps me from feeling purely positive about them. Generally speaking, since they’re in this category, you can trust that the thing is relatively minor.

• ARC Review of The Holiday Trap by Roan Parrish
• ARC Review of A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone
• ARC Review of Bad Girl Reputation by Elle Kennedy
• ARC Review of A Curse of Queens by Amanda Bouchet
• ARC Review of Bad Vibes Only by Nora McInerny
• ARC Review of Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun

Final note: A Valentine for Christmas by Reese Ryan was also an ARC that I’m waiting to review until after Harper Collins does the right thing by its employees in the Union.

Bejeweled

Comments on the Above: These books range from I think a 3.5 to 5 stars, but they are all books that haven’t left me alone. I still think about them regularly.

• ARC Review of Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
• ARC Review of The Spirit of Second Chances by Synithia Williams
• ARC Review of The Rivals of Casper Road by Roan Parrish
• ARC Review of A Turn of the Tide by Kelley Armstrong

Dear Reader

• ARC Review of Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison
• ARC Review of Mixed Signals by B.K. Borison
• ARC Review of Built to Last by Erin Hahn

I imagine y’all could have pulled these out of the pile if you had a list in front of you given that I truly have not shut up about these books.

I hope that even though I didn’t go through each of these books individually, y’all still found this helpful or enjoyable in some way. Again, please leave me feedback down below! This was definitely the easier way to do this, but I want to make sure it’s still fun for y’all to read.

xx