Tag: book reccomendations

Good Girls Get Dragons

Good Girls Get Dragons

by ajcwrites ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Violet Sorrengail, a petite but whip smart daughter of one of the commanding generals of the Kingdom of Navarre, is in for the ride (see what I did there?) of her life when she is forced to enroll in the Rider’s Quadrant of Navarre’s war college.

Frail and having been initially trained to join the Scribe quadrant, Violet will have to hope that a dragon doesn’t leave her in a pile of ash, and actually chooses her to be its rider.

This is the fantasy I’ve been looking for forever. It has been literal years since a fantasy like this kept me on the edge of my seat, and dying for more with each scene. Fourth Wing is sensual, and addictive, and left me in that place where you have a silent scream in your throat while the characters do their thing.

Violet is forced to ride alongside some of the descendants of Navarre’s traitors, men and women who led a rebellion many years ago. More than a few of them have a score they’d like to settle with General Sorrengail.

I should mention that there is a sensual, satisfying slow burn to look forward to with the one guy she shouldn’t want. Her life is on the line, and her heart is too when she comes face to face with one of the strongest men that wear the Rebellion Relic, Zayden Ryerson.

To make matters worse for her but even sweeter for us, Zayden happens to be her Wing Leader this year.

While Violet can depend on her smarts to help her escape certain death, she might not truly survive and thrive without Zayden’s help, especially since he might want to get even with General Sorrengail, too.

Ah! I don’t want to spoil too much. Just know that I am internally screaming along with you. This is a long read and will keep you busy for a while so treat yourself to it here or visit your local library.

The sequel, Iron Flame, comes out this November.

Don’t forget to subscribe and come back when I post my next book rec.

See you next time!

The Universe Provides a Fake Boyfriend: How to Fall in Love When It’s Most Inconvenient

The Universe Provides a Fake Boyfriend: How to Fall in Love When It’s Most Inconvenient

by ajcwrites ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello, readers! I’m back with another book review. Thank you to those of you who have started receiving updates for my posts, it means a lot! Please follow for more fun!

Anyways, let’s get to today’s book recommendation: Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert.

Hibbert has knocked it out of the park on this one, yet again. I’ve made it my mission to finish the entire Brown Sisters series and tell you all about them on this blog.

This is the story of Dani Brown, an aggressively driven PhD student coming up on the event that will make or break her career. Dani is whip-smart, drop-dead sexy, and entirely opposed to romantic commitment. Men and women have flown in and out of her orbit like satellites, and nothing ever sticks. And that’s how Dani (a shameless heartbreaker) likes it.

Dani asks the universe to provide her with her next fuck buddy, and to her delight, it takes the form of an enormous, sensitive, and delectable ex rugby player– Zafir Ansari.

However, what’s the catch to delighting in this delicious gift from the universe?

She’s falling for him.

Yes, Dani Brown’s commitment to staying uncommitted is tested when Zafir asks her to be his fake girlfriend after a pic of Zafir holding Dani after saving her from a broken elevator goes completely viral. #DrRugBae begins to circulation online and people can’t get enough of them. He asks for her help in the hopes that the attention they’re getting will help TackleIt, his rugby nonprofit for young men.

This book is so cute. Zafir is actually one of my all-time favorite male leads in a romance novel. He’s a lover of romance books (same), fiercely protective, and you can’t help but cheer him on as he forges a new path for himself after the tragic death of his father and brother. With Dani’s love and fantastic breasts (her words, not mine) he just might be able to move on.

I highly recommend this one, I’ll be reading and reviewing the last book in the series, Act Your Age, Eve Brown, as soon as I can.

You can get a copy of Take a Hint, Dani Brown here or you can make your daily trip down to your local library. (What do you mean, you don’t go daily? What’s the matter with you? Get down there now!)

Until next time! Thanks for reading.

Red Hot: How to Get a Life 101

Red Hot: How to Get a Life 101

by ajcwrites ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello, hello! I have so many great books to tell you about, and today’s book is Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert.

Let me start by saying that this book has made me a forever fangirl of Hibbert’s. It’s sweet and sexy and it kept me busy for about three days. I can’t think of a better way to procrastinate writing my own romance book, frankly.

So, let’s get into it.

Serious and ultimately misunderstood, Chloe Brown doesn’t have a life. Or, at least, she doesn’t have the life she wants. She usually prefers to stay in her apartment due to the chronic pain she experiences from living with fibromyalgia. Chloe supports herself by being a freelance web designer and she also has the safety net of her well-off family if shit really hits the fan.

Chloe is a creature of habit. When she deviates from her daily routine by attempting to rescue a cat that she thinks is stuck in a tree, she’s ultimately saved by her building super, Red. Her super cute, paints with his shirt off and window open at night building super.

Chloe and Red’s relationship is already tinged with tension because of Chloe’s wealth and general standoffish personality. However, despite his best efforts, Red is drawn to who Chloe might be under her prickly exterior, and so he allows Chloe to employ him in her plan to complete her list of ‘get a life’ activities. In exchange, she promises him a website that he can display his art on.

The push and pull between them as they accidentally deviate from their plans and end up toying with the possibility of forever will leave you squirming in your seat. Hibbert does a fantastic job of building up tortuous sexual tension.

It’s hot, cute, and I was sad to see it go when I finished the book. Oh, and one last thing!

Red is such a believable, irresistible, and fresh character. Hibbert pushes against society’s expectations of men as it relates to trauma and obliterates the macho man narrative.

This is the first in the Brown Sisters series, and I will be reading and reviewing the other two books soon.

You can get a copy of Get a Life, Chloe Brown here or you can visit your local library, an institution we must protect until the end of time.

Thanks for reading, until next time!

Sweet Gains, Bro

Sweet Gains, Bro

by ajcwrites ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Holy shit! I’ve been away from the wonderful world of WordPress for over a year. So many cool things have happened, a new job, getting more help for my depression, and a total revamp in the way that I approach writing and reading.

I will admit, there was a period where nothing felt good enough to post or brainstorm. I spent a lot of time on books on the craft of writing (which are great, don’t get me wrong) and didn’t spend as much time reading fiction. Well, in the last eight months or so, I have read/listened to so much fiction. Which brings me to today’s post.

Love at First Set is a sexy queer rom-com that often carries an honest, realistic take on the way that class affects us while we try to live our lives. In other words, the capitalist hellscape that we live in just can’t seem to leave us alone, and that is 100% true for our protagonist, Lizzie.

Lizzie is a well-rounded character that has financial and emotional trauma from a less-than-ideal childhood. When she’s asked to attend the wedding of her wealthy best friend’s sister, the last thing she wants to do is share the same rare air that most of the wedding guests have been living in their entire lives. To make things worse, her best friend’s (James) parents are her employers, which is a nightmare.

Lizzie’s ambition is to someday own her own gym so that she doesn’t have to empty out her savings to pay for her mother’s existence. Lizzie reluctantly attends the wedding and ends up being an accidental hypeman for Jame’s sister (the bride) to leave her fiance at the alter. Which she does.

To make matters worse, Jame’s sister, Cara, is smoking hot and everything Lizzie wants in a girlfriend.

Readers can look forward to seeing Lizzie bounce between trying to be the perfect friend, daughter, and secret girlfriend.

I can’t say enough good things about it! Read it, just read it. You can buy a copy here, or you can do one of my all-time favorite things/ addictions and visit the bookplace, or you know, your local library (libraries are integral to having an educated society. Go to the library, damn it!).

I Wanna Be Like Noni

I Wanna Be Like Noni

by ajcwrites ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello, readers! Its been a bit since I’ve posted on here because I am a mess. I’m a depressed, historically unorganized, and squirelly mess. You know who else is a mess?

Noni Blake.

This book kept me company over the last couple of weeks and I think that its perfect timing that I’ve finished it the week of Valentine’s Day.

Here’s what I loved about this book:

  • Its a hilarious and clumsy story of how love can sneak up on you
  • Its an easy read, and its not predictable at any point
  • Claire Christian convinces you to live vicariously through Noni. Do you have an urge you’ve been resisting? One that would be more in line with who you are? Then you will identify with Noni and the rapid snowballing of every decision she makes throughout the course of the novel.

With everything going on, its easy to forget to allow ourselves pleasure. Noni Blake allows herself several months of unrestricted pleasure after she fails to cope with the end of a nine year relationship. She decides to take a long break overseas, and that trip turns into an Eat, Pray, Love, style pleasure quest, but with a lot more jokes.

Ultimately, I loved that Claire Christian helps us keep one thing in mind: we often live our lives the opposite of how we should, with pleasure squeezed in where we can get it, and our priorities at the center. We should be living our lives in reverse.

Pleasure should be at the center of your life, and the rest should follow.

You can pick up a copy of Its Been a Pleasure, Noni Blake here. Or you can visit your local library.

Being On the Outside While Being on the Inside

Being On the Outside While Being on the Inside

by ajcwrites ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello, readers! I wish I had a better name to call you all…

Anyways, I recently finished this whirlwind of a novel and I want to tell you about it!

The Startup Wife centers around a brilliant web designer, Asha. Asha goes into business with her new age husband Cyrus and Cyrus’ lifelong friend, Jules.

The three of them go from having hopeful discussions about what it would be like to offer our tech laden society an alternative to religion to potentially disrupting everything we think we know about community and faith.

In their mission to do so, they end up making a huge impact– but is that a good thing? The reader questions if the outcome of their dive into Silicon Valley is good for Asha, the brains of the operation, and Cyrus, the inspiration for and hopeful answer to the question: What is faith?

The Startup Wife does an excellent job of playing out the needling dread that comes with being gaslighted and shining a light on what its like to be a woman of color in tech, amongst a sea of white faces.

I encourage you to take a look at this shockingly relatable novel (Tahmima Anam does a wonderful job of employing realistic, casual humor throughout the book, which brings a lightness to some of its darker parts).

You can grab a digital copy here or you can chat up your local librarian.

See you next read!

Scary Faeries

Scary Faeries

by ajcwrites ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello readers! I recently finished Darling There Are Wolves In The Woods, and I’m still missing it!

I’ve read a lot of stories about the Fae, many of them were more fantastical and in some cases lighter, but DTAWITD skips that route. This novel, the first in the Wicked Woods Chronicles, is both a satisfying and terrifying romance.

The reader is pulled throughout a terrifying world of faeries, witches, wolves, and just about anything else that could scare the shit out of you while keeping you completely absorbed.

The story does not hold back on showing us the dark side of the faerie world as the protagonist, Teya, makes her way through the scary woods with a handsome faerie, Laphaniel, by her side.

I will definitely be reading the next book in the series, Hush The Woods Are Darker Still because I’m not ready to step out of the world that L.V. Russell has created.

You can grab a digital copy of Darling There Are Wolves In The Woods here.

Wild Bitches in Suburbia

Wild Bitches in Suburbia

by ajcwrites ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Hello, readers! I’m going to be posting a lot of reviews about some indie reads I found, but first I have to tell you about Nightbitch, the novel that’s kept me company over the last few days.

First of all, I have to give you a massive trigger warning due to a couple of violent scenes in the book, but don’t worry, that can sometimes be the best part.

Put simply, Nightbitch is the story of an unnamed narrator that the reader only knows as Nightbitch.

Nightbitch is a new mother that’s lost herself to suburbia, toddler reading times, and the inward battle she faces from dealing with the selective incompetence of her husband. Once an artist, she struggles to connect with her creative spirit again.

With the help of the revelation that Nightbitch very well could be a dog walking around in human skin, Yoder carves an insane story out of the silent fury of housewives around the world.

However, Nightbitch’s journey into rediscovering her creative spark turns into an infuriating look into motherhood that you can’t pull your eyes away from.

All at once, you’ll notice:

  • You’re scared for Nightbitch
  • You’re rooting for Nightbitch

And lastly, some of you are Nightbitch.

You can pick up a digital copy of Nightbitch here.

Creative Magic

Creative Magic

by ajcwrites ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Woah! Halloween is here already. I recently returned to freelance writing full time, and I’ve been trying to grab tips, hints, and tricks (I know that there aren’t many of these, I should probably just actually write) about the craft.

I encourage most creatives to pick this one up. It came out several years ago, and I think its a push for new creatives to put their work out into the world, and its an in-your-face reminder about what you were put here to do for experienced creatives.

Gilbert does an excellent job of getting you excited to create, whether its writing, painting, drawing, etc. She always brings home the message that the world needs your magic, and there’s a place for what you have to offer.

NaNoWriMo is upon us next month, and I found this to be the perfect primer before I dive into a month filled with stomachaches and self imposed deadlines.

I highly recommend getting the ebook of this title because even when you’re doing your most mundane and objectively not creative task, like waiting for your doctor’s appointment, Big Magic is a welcome break from the real world, and a cozy home for those of us that want to hide away in worlds we’ve built in our heads.

You can buy the ebook here.

First Up!

First Up!

by ajcwrites ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Thanks for coming to my blog! ajcreads is a book review blog and author page for me, ajc! I’ve read so many books so far this year, but I want to get my recommendations out into the world as soon as possible. Let’s dive into my first must read- Siri, who am I?

This one kept me busy for about two days. First of all, Tschida does a great job of including the stereotypical millennial short attention span into the pacing of the novel. This novel doesn’t have any dead points, its very fast paced which complements the chaotic plot.

Without spoiling too much, the main character, Mia, wakes up in the hospital with severe amnesia and she has no clue who she is. The only path to recovering her life is in the contacts in her phone. Mia puts the story of what she thinks is an ideal life together and goes on several adventures to make sense of how she ended up in the hospital.

This book is hilarious in a way, and a quick and laid back read. You can find it here.