Book Review: Make Believe Match by Melanie Harlow

Make-Believe Match by Melanie Harlow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Marraige of Convience? Checkeroo.

Marrying your enemy to save your family's snow lodge? Also a checkeroo.

But falling in love with him after he respects you and wants to help you save your family's snow lodge while at the same time being very good with his mouth and other things? My brother in Christ I am on my hands and knees for you.

I had some high expectations when I went into this book, and I'm glad those expectations were met. Deviln Buckley had me on my little ol' knees as he did everything he could to ensure Lexi kept her family's snow lodge and fell in love with her. He is very respectful and will cook and clean for you without even asking, and also ask for your opinion. That right there is a man and I loved it. I wish this book was longer because that's how much I loved it.

Lexi didn't want to marry anyone. She tried to take over and redo the snow lodge, but her grandmother said nope, you can't do that, you have to have a husband and he can help you restore the place. After meeting Deviln one night at a bar and having a charming night with him both in and out of the car, she found out that he was working for Black Diamond to try and get the lodge so they can force their grandmother to shut down and they can bulldoze over it. Even though Deviln tried, he realized that he couldn't do it, so he quit and left. Then, he came up with a LOVELY idea: marry Lexi.

At first, Lexi said no, But the more they talked about it, the more it made sense for them to go to Vegas and get married, which they did. Then they came back to Cherry Tree Harbor, and the two started spending time together, even planning on what they could do for the snow lodge. They even exchange stories about each other while trying to figure out why Lexi's cousin was acting weird. Deviln introduced her to his family and it was so cute and loved how Lexi just become a part of the Buckley family, and Deviln's daddy gave her his mama's pearl earrings, which she gave back when she and Deviln decided to get mini-divorce. But then at the end, they got back together and they remarried...again, which I loved at the end.

I also loved how we saw Devlin with his kids at Camp Lemonade, which brought a small smile to my face and my heart, because Sara reminded me of some of my kids from work. I loved this book so much, and Melanie Harlow is becoming one of my favorite contemporary authors.

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Book Review: The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen

The Kingdom of Sweets by Erika Johansen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Kingdom of Sweets is a beautiful retelling of the Nutcracker-one I never thought I needed until now. It was a very fast-paced read, and I enjoyed every bit once I finally dug into it and read till the last word. Making Clara have a twin and then do that switcheroo, that twist made me go, "Hold on, hold on, hold on..." Mrs. Johansen, you have a new lover of your writing on your hands. Because I wasn't even expecting it, wasn't even aware of it, but when it happened....I was hooked, I was in, and I wanted to know more.

Clara and Natasha are sisters who were cursed by a man named Drosselmeyer. Every year it seemed like Clara was the favorite, and Natasha was being pushed into the dark, never to find any love or anything in her life ever again. Natasha hated that, and that one Christmas Eve party, when everyone was having a good time and Natasha was trying to look for her beau, Drosselmeyer comes in and gives them gifts: Clara a nutcracker and Natasha and clown that was supposed to kill her, get rid of her. But it didn't work out like Drosselmeyer wanted, even though he announced that Clara and Natasha's beau, Conrad, were to be married, because sadly Clara in this version of the book is pregnant with another man's baby.

Natasha was upset, even when Clara tried to tell her before Drosselmeyer announced it. But then everything changed when the sisters went to the Kingdom of Sweets. Clara was with her nutcracker while Natasha was on the road following them, meeting the gingerbread men and the other nutcrackers and seeing the sweets fall apart because of Clara eating them as much as she could. They reach the Sugar Plum Fairy's castle where Natasha makes a deal with the Sugar Plum Fairy, who really isn't the Sugar Plum Fairy at all--she's actually someone called The Queen of Spades, and what she wants is Drosselmeyer, and what Natasha wants is Clara dead.

Well she got her wish, and that's when the twist happened--and this is what made me read more.

Natasha "killed" Clara...and woke up in Clara's body.

That was when I wanted to not sleep and know more, because OMG yes? I need more? Please?

And you see Natasha, as Clara, married to Conrad and how she's dealing with her life and her marriage, how she's secretly doing things that is kind of Clara like, like buying up chocolates, going to the slums, and throwing the candy to the poor so they can eat and have money to do so. But the Sugar Plum Fairy wants the price to be paid...and she does pay it, with Drosselmeyer's death. But then, that's when things start to become weird, when Clara shows up again, and now the Sugar Plum Fairy wants Natasha now.

Natasha was worried about the turn of events, so she does everything to tie up loose ends, even meeting with Ozov I believe his name is, to get a nutcracker and give it to her sister, so when they finally see each other again, Natasha does the reverse and they went back to their bodies and Natasha stayed in the Kingdom of Sweets, and Clara went back to the real world.

I have to say, not catching on about the Russian Revolution was pretty smart to me, and how Natasha prepared for it, even when she ran away from the Sugar Plum Fairy. Going to America to escape it all and read what happened to Clara in the newspaper was pretty smart too, until the end, when both Clara and Natasha met back in the Kingdom of Sweets again. It was sad and fun and I wish it didn't end like that, but the twist was so much fun and I enjoyed myself reading it.

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Book Review: My December Darling by Lauren Asher

My December Darling by Lauren Asher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was such a really cute novella! It was filled with romance and a little bit of spice, and it had the Lauren Asher charm that I have come to love so much. AND there was a mention of CalLana?? The bakery? My boy's doing well? I'M SO HAPPY. Catalina and Luke working in the hospital made it extra cute as well because they worked there and slowly fell in love, which I liked because at first, she hated him SO SO BAD. After all, he was her ex-boyfriend's best friend. But seeing how Aiden and her sister tricked her into coming over to Aiden and Luke's house to eat and build LEGOS together was really, really cute and fun, and I wanted more of that. It seemed so wholesome and so cute that I almost cried.

I also liked the slightly darker parts of the story, like when they had a loss at work. They both had different ways to deal with it, and it seemed like it was going to be something the both of them worked at, including the disgusting coffee in the NICU that Luke replaced with a better coffee machine.

The one thing I didn't like as much as I thought was Catalina trying her best to stay away from Luke, though it was funny when she called him Lucas. Even though she tried to correct him, she decided not to and just kept calling him that. Even when they shared things about their lives and he even showed up for Christmas carols around the neighborhood Catalina's mom does every year, it was so cute and sweet, even though they were together for a whole month.

I enjoyed the ending. I loved it so much, that they decided to do a long-distance relationship, and it worked somehow, and she was now looking for a job when she came back to Lake Wisteria, which was nice. I even loved the fact that Luke actually kept an eye on jobs for her while she was gone for a month. So I'm glad they are together, even though it took them a month to do so.

I liked this one, it was very cute and cozy and adorable.

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Book Review: Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid

Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.75 hate-filled stars. I didn't know that this would be a feminist retelling, but it made me rage...so, so hard. I hated all the men in this book and wished they would disappear each time they showed up, including Macbeth. I started to like him in the end, but then it just went down the drain around the second-third act of this book. I was cheering for Lady Macbeth the whole book and hoped everything was going well for her until Macbeth started to change for the worst, and then I got worried and angry to the point that I was so mad at this book. So, so mad at it.

At the beginning of the book, it was really good--Lady Roscille comes to Glammis to meet with her new husband, gets married, and she starts asking for gifts because she didn't want to lie in bed with him. After hearing stories about how people treat their women, she was trying very hard not to be with him in bed. Then she meets the three women who are ancient and old and does Macbeth's laundry, and when he asks of a prophecy, they all reply: "Hail Macbeth, Thane of Glammis, Hail Macbeth, Thane of Cawder!" which I'm like, "Okay, cool bro." but oh how it gets weird the moment he went to Cawder to conquer it and come back with Roscille's prize....

One day, Roscille is tasked to write a fake letter to King Duncane or some enemy while Macbeth is away, and she and Banquho's son Fleance decide to go and deliver it, when I think something bad happens, and she cooks up a plan to trick Macbeth into believing that she and Fleance got attacked by nameless thieves and had to injure Fleance and herself, just to make it believable. Well Macbeth believes it, even when he comes back with her first requested gift: a golden necklace with a ruby in the middle, and it puts it on tightly around her neck and even does a ritual to see if Fleance's neck starts to bleed.

Then after that, when King Duncane comes to Glammis, Macbeth tells Roscille to kill King Duncane and his sons, but thanks to her power of compulsion, she has two guards kill the king, but his son, Lisander...well, she tried to kill him. But then after almost laying with him in bed, he discovers the dagger and starts to ask her questions, in which she tried to answer and then goes back to her room. And then once this part happens, everything went to hell immediately and I started to rage read this book real fast.

When Macbeth leaves for war and he leaves Roscille in charge of Glammis, Banquho doesn't like that. He tries to rule it the way Macbeth wants it, but Roscille does what she wanted, which results in Lisander being thrown in the dungeons and her getting a beating on her legs. When Macbeth comes back a second time in a row with Roscille's second prize, he does take advantage of her and the two are in bed, finally, even though once she and Lisander break out of the dungeons they do make love, that's when close to the end, Macbeth started doing things to her that made me so mad.

One, he threw Roscille to the witches and left her there to rot and die and turn into one of them, but the witches and his ex wife decides to change that and let her live, but she came back in the end and fulfilled that prophecy, he covers her eyes so none of the men gets compelled to do anything if she looks at him, and other things.

This is a really good book, the writing was great, but good lord I hated the men in this book.

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Book Review: Plum Pudding Murder by Joanne Fluke

Plum Pudding Murder by Joanne Fluke
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Plum Pudding Murder and the murder mystery at a Christmas Tree Farm made me hungry for the recipes in this book. What I was not expecting was Moishe being an attack cat and just attacking Hannah's Christmas Tree, Hannah dating two men, and the two men actually liking each other. Shocking, I know, but that's not all happening in this book.

The book is about Hannah working at the Cookie Jar and trying out new recipes, as usual. Then, her mother comes in and asks if she could spy on her friend Carrie, Norman's mother. Carrie has been acting very weird lately, and she wants to know why. So she helps out, even though she didn't want to at first. But then during a late date or something like that Norman asks Hannah to spy on her mother, even though she didn't want to in the beginning. So Hannah agrees, and with Mike's help, she finds out why Norman's mother was very weird and odd--she was dating a man named Earl and Earl wants to marry her. Awe, that was sooo cute!!!

The mystery part of the book was about a man named Larry Jaeger and how he was murdered in his house at the Crazy Elf Tree Farm. While Hannah is solving the case (okay and helping her BF Mike), she learns that Mr. Jaeger isn't a really good businessman. He put out a sign that said that he was going to sell the tree at half cost or something like that, and he tells Hannah that he saw it on a TV Commercial once and he kept it for all of his businesses. During the murder and all that is happening, she and her mother go to a business class, and the teacher, Mrs. Whiting, teaches the class and gives them homework about bad businesses. Who would've thought that one of the bad business homework she gave out was about Larry Jaeger himself?

The twist was that Mrs. Whiting was Larry Jaeger's ex-wife, and she was the one who killed her father and then when she finally came to Lake Eden, that's when she came to the Christmas Tree farm one day, walked in, killed him, and shot the big screen tv three times. Which was weird but okay queen, pop off. When Hannah connected all the clues after she went to her sister's performance, that's when Mrs. Whiting revealed herself and tried to kill Hannah, but that's to Mike's quick thinking, Mrs. Whiting was merked and Hannah lived to cook her Christmas Eve dinner--which, by reading the recipes sounds really, really good.

Well, it was.

Until her sister invites her ex Bradford Ramsey over.

Oof.

I really liked this one, I enjoyed it, the romance and the mystery was really well written, and I now need to watch the movie because this one was really good and I enjoyed myself.

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Book Review: Cold Queen by K Webster

Cold Queen by K. Webster
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cold Queen...I'm left torn with this book.

It has the captor/captive trope between King Bloodsun and Queen Whitestone, which made me uncomfortable, but at the same time, I kinda understood why she let herself be captive to a man who turns around and made her much better after pulling the wool from her eyes thanks to King Bloodsun and him being the Truth Seeker, reminding me of Nevada Baylor from the Hidden Inventory series. But the way Queen Elzira was treated throughout her reign, letting people she knows poison her throughout her entire reign without her knowing, was sad to me. I was waiting for her to say something to someone, but she didn't and just let the poisoning happen to her, slowly dying and not even knowing. Even when she put her sister Yanna first, she didn't even know that Yanna was jealous and poisoning her, just like her mother did to Elzira's mother, which was such crap, but then I got over it.

King Bloodsun just...to me, was too pushy, and when he realized what was going on, he decided to calm himself down and started finding the truth about why Elzira was dying. And once he figured that out, that's when he started weeding them out, even keeping Yanna away from Elzira, even though he said he wanted to marry her. But once he started weeding everyone that was poisoning her and slowly killing her, that's when he turned around and started taking care of her, like feeding her, setting the fires, and realizing that there was no such thing as a spore in the fires, he heats up her bath water after realizing that it was cold (something her sister ordered, secretly) and he also noticed how Cavon, a warrior and a right-hand of Elzira, seemed to look at her as if he was still in love with her.

How King Bloodsun and Queen Elzira got together was...alright, I guess. Nothing to run home and tell Mama about. The spice was good, I'll admit, but the way King Bloodsun talked to both Yanna and Elzira made me uncomfortable, and I wanted to DNF this book immediately. But I kept on going, and I'm glad that I did because seeing the change Elzira made from being a sickly queen to a married woman who has finally found herself thanks to her new captor/husband was fun to read and understand completely. I liked that she didn't stay at home because she was pregnant, she went ahead with her new husband and saved more women and young children who were being used and also being food to some terrible men, and to use Diamondblades was a pretty good idea to use and to give a character like Elzira.

Since this is a spicy retelling, I think it's alright. Nothing to get excited about it. The whole captor/captive trope just turned me off from the book and I did enjoy the writing very much.

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Book Review: The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore

The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I bought this book on a whim when I saw Darling Desi pick it up, so I decided to buy it, and I'm so glad that I did. This has the grumpy x sunshine trope but reversed: a character that loves dogs but hates Christmas, and a man who always helps people but never helps himself to anything who's a golden bloody retriever, aka Air Bud but without a job. That was something I wasn't expecting when I opened this book, but it made me keep on reading--and it turns out it's something I did need because Bennett Ellis? My boy? Has the most filthy little mouth I never thought I'd needed,

The book is basically like a Hallmark movie, with a side of a mystery in town. At first, I didn't like Kira North. She was a Grinch that looked like she hated everything and wanted to start her homesteading dreams that she always sees on social media. Ever since her sister, Chloe, leaves her to go to Switzerland with her fiancee, she decides to spontaneously, not even going to look at it and see if that's what she wants and buy a Christmas Tree Farm. At first, I thought she wasn't going to make it, with no heat and no gas or any business plan. But one day while trying to get service, she runs into Mr. Bennett Ellis, the brother of the Pumpkin Spice Cafe's owner, I believe, Jeanie Ellis. Bennett has three dogs he was walking, and when they met, it seemed like sparks were flying, but because she's trying to keep her Grinchy heart intact, she didn't want to deal with him or be with him. So they decide to become a fling, and during a snowstorm, well...let's just say that things got heated between them.

I was scared for a moment when they had their third act break up, because it felt like they had baggage--mostly Bennett did, with him moving to San Francisco to follow a girl that he thought he loved, but instead, she was using him because of how nice and helpful he was. I found that very crappy in my opinion, because I felt sorry for poor Bennett. The woman he went to California for, Nicole, really hates dogs and only uses him when she's lonely or wants to see him during the holidays. Well, Bennett got tired of it, and he finally ended it with Nicole, and went back to Dream Harbor, where he surprised Kira with a greenhouse and the dogs, and also the LETTERS. OMG, the letters. They were SO GOOD that it almost made me cry.

The inspiration for the letters? The letters Edwin, the old owner of The Christmas Tree Farm, left for his dear wife. Those letters were smutty AF, and Kira did one time get worried that things like letters are going to left in the dust because of our generation and the fact that we use phones and DMs a lot. But when Kira wrote him a letter after their third-act breakup...it was beautiful. Made me cry. But the ending when they found a box filled with really expensive jewelry, they decided to use it for the business they were creating, which is a really good thing, because I was worried they weren't going to use it or find it after reading all those letters.

I really did enjoy this book and it might be one of my favorite Christmas novels ever.

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