my favorite half-night stand by christina lauren

This is my second book from Christina Lauren, the first book being The Unhoneymooners and I know her (or their) books are pretty popular and so far The Unhoneymooners still reign on top but I did enjoy MFHNS (My favorite half-night stand).

This book is about Millie and Reid who are best friends. They hooked up one night but considered it just a one time thing. In their circle of best friends, they all agreed to try a dating site to find dates to an event. After failure of finding a match, Millie creates a new profile under the name Catherine but what she didn’t expect was to be matched with Reid then stuff goes down after that.

I love books that share double POV between the main character and the love interests because I can get inside both their heads.

Also usually in book whenever the main character has an inner conflict, they start to sound repetitive but in this book, Millie didn’t sound as repetitive as some books.

You know how in most contemporary books, it’s always the dude or the love interest fault for what drives them apart but in this book, it’s Millie, our main character, fault instead and she’s the one who has to beg forgiveness and try to earn the love interest back which is something new. I also really liked Reid’s voice in this book and enjoyed their group of friends. I didn’t dislike Millie in this book but I was more looking forward to Reid’s chapters than Millie’s.

In conclusion, if you’re looking for a quick light humorous read then this is your book. I hope you guys enjoy this quick review! I rated this 3.5 stars but I’ll round it to four just because I enjoyed the story!

Thanks for reading! 🎃

-Cayla

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Millie Morris has always been one of the guys. A UC Santa Barbara professor, she’s a female-serial-killer expert who’s quick with a deflection joke and terrible at getting personal. And she, just like her four best guy friends and fellow professors, is perma-single.
So when a routine university function turns into a black tie gala, Mille and her circle make a pact that they’ll join an online dating service to find plus-ones for the event. There’s only one hitch: after making the pact, Millie and one of the guys, Reid Campbell, secretly spend the sexiest half-night of their lives together, but mutually decide the friendship would be better off strictly platonic.
But online dating isn’t for the faint of heart. While the guys are inundated with quality matches and potential dates, Millie’s first profile attempt garners nothing but dick pics and creepers. Enter “Catherine”—Millie’s fictional profile persona, in whose make-believe shoes she can be more vulnerable than she’s ever been in person. Soon “Catherine” and Reid strike up a digital pen-pal-ship…but Millie can’t resist temptation in real life, either. Soon, Millie will have to face her worst fear—intimacy—or risk losing her best friend, forever.
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i owe you one by sophie kinsella

I Owe You One is about a girl name Fixie who can’t help but try to fix everything. So one day when she saves a man laptop from a falling ceiling, she gains an “IOU” from him in case she needs anything in return and the story starts from there.

So my biggest issue in this book was the romance. Fixie goes through two relationships in this book, a man from the past and the guy she saves the laptop from. What’s weird is that she doesn’t really start the romance with the new guy until later in the book and I kind of find the romance from the dude from her past kind of pointless because the guy didn’t really like her and it clear that he never had any interest.

Also there’s cheating involved in this book and I’m totally against and someone who doesn’t support it but when it comes to cheating in books, it doesn’t really phase me all that much. So when the new guy does cheat on his new girl with Fixie, it does raise an eyebrow but what really bothers me is that he goes back to his ex because of a misunderstanding and I know not everyone is perfect but that really bothered me.

Also Fixie’s siblings in this book are full of crap but I’m glad they eventually change at the end.

This review is almost a month overdue and I’m writing this review based off my memory. In conclusion, this book didn’t tell a bad story and has it’s flaws but wasn’t a bad book. I enjoyed the story.

I give this book three stars.

Thanks for reading! ❤

-Cayla

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Sophie Kinsella, an irresistible story of love and empowerment about a young woman with a complicated family, a handsome man who might be “the one,” and an IOU that changes everything
Fixie Farr has always lived by her father’s motto: “Family first.” But since her dad passed away, leaving his charming housewares store in the hands of his wife and children, Fixie spends all her time picking up the slack from her siblings instead of striking out on her own. The way Fixie sees it, if she doesn’t take care of her father’s legacy, who will? It’s simply not in her nature to say no to people.
So when a handsome stranger in a coffee shop asks her to watch his laptop for a moment, Fixie not only agrees—she ends up saving it from certain disaster. Turns out the computer’s owner is an investment manager. To thank Fixie for her quick thinking, Sebastian scribbles an IOU on a coffee sleeve and attaches his business card. But Fixie laughs it off—she’d never actually claim an IOU from a stranger. Would she?
Then Fixie’s childhood crush, Ryan, comes back into her life and his lack of a profession pushes all of Fixie’s buttons. She wants nothing for herself—but she’d love Seb to give Ryan a job. And Seb agrees, until the tables are turned once more and a new series of IOUs between Seb and Fixie—from small favors to life-changing moments—ensues. Soon Fixie, Ms. Fixit for everyone else, is torn between her family and the life she really wants. Does she have the courage to take a stand? Will she finally grab the life, and love, she really wants?
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when the sky fell on splendor by emily henry

You know, I’m getting pretty tired of people saying, “If you like this then you’ll like this,” when there’s almost nothing of the two have in common.

That’s kind of the same with this book.

Now this was recommended for fans of Stranger Things and as you all know, I am one of those fans.

In a way, I see why people would say that since this book is centered around a group of friends and have some science fiction to it but that’s as far it’ll come in common with Stranger Things and I’ll admit I was a bit bummed because this book was confusing and almost hard to finish.

This book was about these group of kids who come across this thing that fell from the sky which affected them and they’re basically trying to figure out what is going on and why it happened.

Now, judging from the cover, I was expecting a book about a group of teens from a small town who come across aliens or something like that but unfortunately they’re no aliens but their are supernatural in this story and it is more centered friendship and grief.

This book was also more emotional than I expected towards the end, which I wasn’t ready for at all and it’s kind of sad but yet hopeful? I guess, I don’t know. Also, this book got mad confusing a lot of times and it was hard to sit and read this book because sometimes I would get bored and do something else.

In conclusion, this book did tell a good story and had it’s many flaws and was also hard to finish. If you’re looking for a book with weird kids in small towns with some supernatural and also emphasizes friendship and grief, then this is your book.

I give this book three stars!

Thanks for reading! 💛

-Cayla

Almost everyone in the small town of Splendor, Ohio, was affected when the local steel mill exploded. If you weren’t a casualty of the accident yourself, chances are a loved one was. That’s the case for seventeen-year-old Franny, who, five years after the explosion, still has to stand by and do nothing as her brother lies in a coma.
In the wake of the tragedy, Franny found solace in a group of friends whose experiences mirrored her own. The group calls themselves The Ordinary, and they spend their free time investigating local ghost stories and legends, filming their exploits for their small following of YouTube fans. It’s silly, it’s fun, and it keeps them from dwelling on the sadness that surrounds them.
Until one evening, when the strange and dangerous thing they film isn’t fiction–it’s a bright light, something massive hurdling toward them from the sky. And when it crashes and the teens go to investigate…everything changes.
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the cactus by sarah haywood

Have you ever read a book if it weren’t for the main character, you would’ve stopped reading this a long time ago?

Because this is exactly how I feel about this book.

This book was about this woman named Susan who’s trying to obtain her late mother’s house from her brother, who their mother gave in her will and then stuff happens from there.

Susan honestly saved this book.

If it were any other character, I would’ve DNF this book a long time ago because it was super slow and nothing much happens but Susan is such a likable character that I couldn’t stop reading, I just wanted to root for you until the end and I’m glad I finished. When I tell you it is slow, it is SLOW. Our lovely main character Susan is pregnant throughout this whole book and it’s interesting to see how she plans her motherhood and how she interacts with kids.

The romance was so slow but this was a different kind of slow because half the time he wasn’t there and I wish we had more scenes between him and Susan but I’m glad their romance wrapped up perfectly but this book isn’t a love story. It’s more about Susan than Susan and the love interest (I forgot his name sorry!) Susan’s other relationships with her neighbor was probably my favorite because they’re the complete opposites but their friendship is just the cutest.

This book will take a lot of patience since the plot is very slow but if you’re someone who enjoy books that’s more character driven than plot then I recommend this book to you.

I overall rate this book four out of five stars!

Thanks for reading! 💛

-Cayla

In this charming and poignant debut, one woman’s unconventional journey to finding love means learning to embrace the unexpected.
For Susan Green, messy emotions don’t fit into the equation of her perfectly ordered life. She has a flat that is ideal for one, a job that suits her passion for logic, and an “interpersonal arrangement” that provides cultural and other, more intimate, benefits. But suddenly confronted with the loss of her mother and the news that she is about to become a mother herself, Susan’s greatest fear is realized. She is losing control.
Enter Rob, the dubious but well-meaning friend of her indolent brother. As Susan’s due date draws near and her dismantled world falls further into a tailspin, Susan finds an unlikely ally in Rob. She might have a chance at finding real love and learning to love herself, if only she can figure out how to let go.
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june wrap up and july tbr goals, stranger things, and an unrealistic tbr

I’m so happy July here because you know what’s in July? My birthday!

In case you guys didn’t know, my birthday is on July 14 and I’ll be finally turning 21! I’m finally going to be an adult adult!

Gross….

Anyway, reading for June wasn’t what I planned. I didn’t tackle all I wanted to read because I got distracted by other things during that month but here are the books I’ve finished and their reviews.

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal (Full Review)

Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds (Full Review)

If I’m Being Honest by Emily Wibberly and Austin Siegemund-Broka (Full Review)

I’m kind of disappointed I didn’t read all I wanted from my June tbr (post here) since I went through that phase where I just couldn’t get into reading so it took me the longest to read The Kiss Quotient (Full Review), which I started in June but didn’t finish up until recently.

So as of right now, I’m reading When the Sky Fall on Splendor by Emily Henry and I saw this book at Barnes and Noble and I read the synopsis and it said for fans of Stranger Things and I adoooooooooore that show! I honestly can not wait to binge watch it as soon as it comes out so that already sold me and I’m also a fan of modern sci-fi and aliens coming into small towns trope so I was already drawn to it. Even though the ratings aren’t that great on GoodReads, I’m going to still keep reading and so far it’s interesting and a bit confusing but I’m still enjoying it.

I actually have an ambitious TBR for this month even though I’m going to be pretty busy for this month between classes and work but I still want to keep my book blog up and running so my TBR was inspired by The Reading Rush, which I unfortunately can’t partake since I’m a book blogger and not a booktuber but because it’s the renamed version of BookTubeathon.

It lasts for a week but I can barely finish a book in a week but basically they’re reading challenges and since I keep having a hard time picking my next read, I used these challenges to to inspire my TBR for the month.

Here are the challenges:

Read a book with purple on the cover
Read a book in the same spot the entire time
Read a book you meant to read last year
Read an author’s first book
Read a book with a non-human character
Read a book that has 5 or more words in the title
Read an watch a book to movie adaptation

Like I said, very ambitious TBR but it actually inspired me what to read for this month which also inspired me to start reading and getting out of this slump.

So what I chose for the book with the purple cover is Skyward by Brandon Sanderson. I’m actually pretty excited to read this book because I know Brandon Sanderson has a lot of good hyped and I read a bit of Mistborn but never finished it but I do remember enjoying it a lot! So I’m pretty excited for this one.

The book I chose to read in the same spot is The Cactus by Sarah Haywood. I started this book at Barnes and Noble and that’s where I’m going to finish it as well. I go there like once or twice a week so while I’m there I’ll be reading this book ever time!

A book I meant to read last year was Wildcard by Marie Lu. Now I heard mixed reviews with this book and not really lived up to the hype from the first book but I was really looking forward to reading the second back right after it came out but college makes it hard to find time to read especially when you’re so busy!

The next challenge is to read an author’s first book. This book I chose The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab.

A book with a non-human character, City of Ghost by Victoria Schwab. Anything with ghost, is a MUST READ for me.

A book that has 5 or more words on the cover. For this one I picked When the Sky Fell on Splendor by Emily Henry which I’m reading as of now!

Read a book that has been turned into a movie. For this one I picked Simon vs the Homosapien Agenda by Becky Albertalli. Yes, I am super late reading this and yes, I am super late to watching the movie but better late than never right?

Will I finish any of these books in July? Heck nope! But am I still going to try? Heck yeah! I probably might read other books from my TBR like I always do.

My goal for this month is to start posting more memes since I’m not posting as much book reviews as much and to stay consistent as best as I can.

Thanks for reading my long post! 💛

the kiss quotient by helen hoang

This book took me almost forever to finish.

There was nothing wrong with the book at all. I read the Bride Test by Helen Hoang before this and The Kiss Quotient was just as cute and adorable just like her second book. It’s just I’ve been having the biggest reading slump and it’s been hard to really get into reading lately but I really wanted to finish this book even if it meant reading a page a day but I’m so glad I finally finished because the book was just everything.

I’m going to keep this review short, sweet, and to the point just like this book.

To summarize this book, this book was about this woman, Stella, who’s an autistic and wants to know how to please a man before she gets into another relationship so she hires an escort, Michael, to teach her the basics and then we go from there.

I appreciate books with POV from both the love interests in books because I like to see both sides of the story and and I admire Stella so much. Especially towards the end when she didn’t want to be pitied from Michael or anyone for her disability and then I love the fact that Michael still cares for her genuinely anyway.

The part I love the most in this book when you know there’s a conflict between the two love interests that drive them apart and *minor spoiler* Michael of course doesn’t think he’s good enough for her and I love how his mom tells him if he thinks that then leave her alone and don’t bother her and that scene just hit me and just the whole reality check for Michael was honestly one of my favorite parts because most of the book he’s always complaining about his life and I’m so glad that eventually changes.

Overall this book was absolutely adorable and I loved Stella so so much. I would recommend this to anyone if you need a quick and cute contemporary read. Even her author’s note at the end was touching!

I rate this book four and a half stars!

Thanks for reading! 💛

A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there’s not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.
Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases — a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.
It doesn’t help that Stella has Asperger’s and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice — with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can’t afford to turn down Stella’s offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan — from foreplay to more-than-missionary position…
Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but to crave all the other things he’s making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic…
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june tbr

Hellooooooooooo everyone! This is my tbr post for June and really I don’t have many books I want to read in the month of June but my goal as always is to read five books a month and I started working at IHOP too so I’m not going to have as much reading time as usual but I will still try my best to squeeze in some reading time. I also want to start doing tags and memes on my blog but I have no idea what. If you guys have any suggestions I would love to know but here two books I’m interested in reading this month.

Again, but Better by Christine Riccio
If I’m Being Honest by Emily Wibberly and Sigemund-Broka
Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian
The Evil Queen by Gena Showalter

I’m pretty sure I won’t be 100% committed to my tbr because my taste in book changes all the time but I will try my best to stick with my TBR.

ALSO HAPPY PRIDE MONTH EVERYONE!

Thank you for reading!

opposite of always by justin a. reynolds

“The things is, you don’t forfeit your whole world to prove your feelings to someone. You bring your worlds together. You get more world, not less.”
Opposite of Always

Where do I even start with this book?

The reason I picked up this book was first the cover, because I loved the art. Second, because the synopsis sounded so unfortunate (and I try to stray from tragedies) that I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

This book made me so sad and happy at the same time because you want to root for Jack so bad but you and even nor Jack can do anything about it because what’s meant to be is what meant to be.

To summarize Opposite of Always, this book is basically about this super cool and funny kid name Jack who meets a girl at a party named Kate and they hit it off. Unfortunately she dies from sickness and Jack gets a chance to time travel back in time to relive the first couple months knowing Kate all over again and having the chance to save her.

Jack is a precious soul that must be protected. Jack has good intentions for everyone but it sucks when he tries to help someone but that action hurts someone else and it just breaks my heart seeing Jack trying to juggle his friendships, family, and his relationship with Kate.

Plus his humor is everything. I wish I was as snarky and funny as Jack because the stuff he says should be hung on a T-shirt and I love his relationship with his friends and parents and it just feels so refreshing to see parents that are THERE in this book.

The ending frustrated me so much because it was the type of ending that was open to your interpretation but I don’t want to decide what happens, I want to know if (minor spoiler) Jack gets his normal life back and stop time traveling but I guess that’s what makes it sadder because Jack possibly won’t turn back until he learns what lessons he needs to learn. SO FRUSTRATING! It didn’t end on a bad note because in a way Jack is happy in the end, but not the kind of happy you know he deserves. It ended more in a pitying note.

I give this a rating of 4.5 stars only because that ending frustrated me but other than that I enjoyed it so much!

Thank you for reading!

Jack Ellison King. King of Almost.
He almost made valedictorian.
He almost made varsity.
He almost got the girl . . .
When Jack and Kate meet at a party, bonding until sunrise over their mutual love of Froot Loops and their favorite flicks, Jack knows he’s falling—hard. Soon she’s meeting his best friends, Jillian and Franny, and Kate wins them over as easily as she did Jack. Jack’s curse of almost is finally over.
But this love story is . . . complicated. It is an almost happily ever after. Because Kate dies. And their story should end there. Yet Kate’s death sends Jack back to the beginning, the moment they first meet, and Kate’s there again. Beautiful, radiant Kate. Healthy, happy, and charming as ever. Jack isn’t sure if he’s losing his mind. Still, if he has a chance to prevent Kate’s death, he’ll take it. Even if that means believing in time travel. However, Jack will learn that his actions are not without consequences. And when one choice turns deadly for someone else close to him, he has to figure out what he’s willing to do—and let go—to save the people he loves.
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june tbr

Again, but Better by Christine Riccio
If I’m Being Honest by Emily Wibberly and Sigemund-Broka
Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian
The Evil Queen by Gena Showalter

I’m pretty sure I won’t be 100% committed to my tbr because my taste in book changes all the time but I will try my best to stick with my TBR.

ALSO HAPPY PRIDE MONTH EVERYONE!

Thank you for reading!

we hunt the flame by hafsah faizal

I went into this book with a little to no knowledge of what this story was about. All I knew was there was a girl pretending to be a guy, a prince, and Arabic influence. So I was already sold because I’m already trash for a good book based on Arabic culture such as The Forbidden Wish and The Wrath of the Dawn and I’m a slut for the “girl pretending to be a guy” trope so I was sold already I didn’t even need to read the whole synopsis. Plus, someone even said if you liked Aladdin then you’ll end this story so I’m here expecting an Aladdin story but gender-reversed and instead of Jasmine being a princess, she’s a poor girl who pretends to be a boy and steals and helps the poor. This what I was actually hoping this what this story was about.

Boy was I wrong.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay wrong.

Instead this book was about a girl who pretends to be a boy who hunts in a magical forest for her starving village and she’s known famously at “The Hunter”. A witch convinces her to help restore magic to their kingdom by shipping her off to this island to find this book but there’s an assassin, also a prince known infamously as “The Prince of Death”, who’s sent to kill “The Hunter” and retrieve the book and then stuff happens from there.

Honestly I’m pretty sad it wasn’t what I thought it was lol but the author did tell a good story but there was so much issues I had with this book.

The pacing was so weird. The first quarter of the book was so slow and boring and it was so hard to get into the story that I keep getting distracted by other things. It starts getting interesting right when Zafira (The Hunter) goes on her journey and this book had both Nasir (The prince) and Zafira POV and I was getting excited when Nasir was set on his mission to kill her but that excitement quickly faded away as I continued reading on the book because this characters literally don’t do anything majority of this book until the end and then there’s that cliffhanger.

The plot twists the author threw in this book were really underwhelming. It wasn’t predictable, it’s just when certain information were reveal, it didn’t make me gasp and clench my pearls, like that cliffhanger in the end.

If there was a campaign for the president of brooding men, I would vote for Nasir because I swear this guy can be so depressing and dark to read and he gets kind of repetitive at times. I’m glad we had Altair in the story because his humor not only got Nasir through tough times but me through this book, he was honestly my favorite character in this book and the only character that really shined in this book.

I honestly think this book was more centered towards the character than the plot since majority of the book the characters didn’t do anything and I find Benyamin (or however you spell his name) and the girl (whatever her name is) so random because they came out of no where and I don’t exactly know how they even came into the story and what were their purpose in this story. I really wished we could’ve seen more character development with the girl because she was honestly this warrior princess with no personality and I wish her and Zafira had some type of friendship or showed some girl power.

I’m also a little disappointed in the romance. It wasn’t insta-love but I was really hoping for some enemies-to-lovers vibes and we barely got any and I really couldn’t tell why they like each other except the fact they’re attracted to each other.

What really bugged me was SHE WASN’T EVEN A DUDE FOR THE MAJORITY OF THE BOOK! I was looking forward to that the most and plus basically everyone already knew she was girl so I’m here in confusion as to what was the point of her disguise???? Like I know the message this book sends on feminism but I was really looking forward to the “girl disguised as guy” trope and love interest questioning his sexuality (I’m going to assume homosexuality is a taboo in the story since it’s based on Arabic culture).

I think my expectations kind of got in the way of the book but honestly the author did tell a good story and I did enjoy reading it. I will be looking forward to the second book. This review was a big expection vs reality.

I rate this book three stars!

Thanks for reading!

People lived because she killed.
People died because he lived.
Zafira is the Hunter, disguising herself as a man when she braves the cursed forest of the Arz to feed her people. Nasir is the Prince of Death, assassinating those foolish enough to defy his autocratic father, the king. If Zafira was exposed as a girl, all of her achievements would be rejected; if Nasir displayed his compassion, his father would punish him in the most brutal of ways.
Both are legends in the kingdom of Arawiya—but neither wants to be.
War is brewing, and the Arz sweeps closer with each passing day, engulfing the land in shadow. When Zafira embarks on a quest to uncover a lost artifact that can restore magic to her suffering world and stop the Arz, Nasir is sent by the king on a similar mission: retrieve the artifact and kill the Hunter. But an ancient evil stirs as their journey unfolds—and the prize they seek may pose a threat greater than either can imagine.
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