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Showing posts from April, 2025

Book Review: The Love Haters by Katherine Center

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GOODREADS SUMMARY: Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West.  The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim, but fakes it that she can.  Plus, Cole is Hutch’s brother. And they don’t get along. Next stop, paradise! But paradise is messier than it seems. As Katie gets entangled with Hutch (the most scientifically good-looking man she has ever seen... but also a bit of a love hater), along with his colorful Aunt Rue and his rescue Great Dane, she gets trapped in a lie. Or two.   TEE'S THOUGHTS: The Love Haters is the first book I have read by Katherine Center, despite having at least one sitting on my shelf! I am not sure why I haven't picked one up yet; my TBR shelf is just intimidating, and I spend a lot...

Book Review: The Thrashers by Julie Soto

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 GOODREADS SUMMARY Welcome to the Thrashers, the elite friend group at New Helvetia High. They’re everything everyone wants to be. Jodi Dillon was never meant to be one of them. Julian, Lucy, Paige, and the infamous Zack Thrasher are rich, sophisticated, and love attention. Jodi feels out of place, but Zack’s her childhood best friend, so she’s in. Then Emily Mills, who desperately wanted to be a Thrasher, dies—and the whispers about the Thrashers begin. As Emily’s journal surfaces, detectives close in, and Jodi faces an impossible choice: betray her friends or protect herself. But as eerie messages and strange occurrences escalate, it becomes clear—Emily isn’t done with them yet. TEE'S THOUGHTS BOOM... The Trashers start right off with a suicide. Emily Mills, 17, takes her life in her bathtub on prom night, wearing her formal gown. THIS is the right way to catch readers' attention and pull them into the story. No building up...straight to the problem, and the reader is left NE...

Book Review: Summer on Lilac Island by Lindsay MacMillan

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GOODREAD SUMMARY: Broke and newly unemployed, Gigi Jenkins is heading home to the horse-and-buggy Mackinac Island that she once couldn't wait to leave behind. She's going to be spending the summer with her mother, and she's not sure what that close proximity will do to their already fraught relationship. Almost immediately, they find themselves in a battle of wills, and they agree to play matchmaker for each other. Both women are certain that the other couldn't possibly understand them, so surely these potential connections will fizzle out before they even begin. Misunderstandings, interference, and near-misses are skillfully wielded. Gigi and James circle each other through the curse of small-town encounters--cornhole tournaments, church fundraisers, and lakeside run-ins--and a fresh nemesis-to-lovers plot plays out. Meanwhile, Eloise feels sparks for the resident-for-the-summer Scottish author that she never thought she'd feel again. But the greatest love story of...