Publication Day: January 4th, 2022

Rating:  ★★★

Rachel Hawkins is a great author which drew me to this book. In

Reckless Girls

the characters, their voices, and their interactions all feel very genuine and compelling. The mood is set incredibly well.

Lux and her boyfriend Nico are hired to sail two women to an island in the pacific. What starts off as a trip of a lifetime, fun opportunity quickly spirals out of control after they get to the island. Lux is a very fun character in this story, and you get to see the background of how a lot of characters met. This is a very atmospheric read, which Rachel Hawkins excels at creating. Meroe Island is not all that it seems.

I think this book starts off great and lost me a little toward the end. It is a nice and quick read, easy, and again the characters are very enjoyable. To me it wasn’t an extraordinary book beyond that. I don’t want to give anything away, but I want to say that if I knew even more of the characters and their past or if we just had a bit more in the way of breadcrumbs to piece together everything would be more believable in the end.

Thank you to Rachel Hawkins, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for the copy of this arc.

Saylor Rains

Find me and this review on Goodreads.

Publication Date: January 5th, 2021

Rating:  ★★★★

The beauty of The Wife Upstairs is that the book is very clearly based on Jane Eyre but also in its own little parallel universe, not relying too heavily on staying true to the classic, which was so important in making this a new and interesting read.

In this book, twenty-three year-old Jane, a foster child who aged out of the system, is walking dogs for her rich neighbors and surviving by stealing things people wouldn’t miss. Then Jane meets Eddie Rochester, who is still the rich, handsome widower, even in this version. Quickly, Jane and Eddie fall into a whirlwind romance which inevitably ends in Eddie asking Jane to marry him. The only problem? Jane feels that Eddie is also keeping some secrets. The story leads you wanting to find out the truth and what really happened.

This book is great for those who enjoy the classics and also some modern thrillers, as well as people who enjoy lighter reading rather than the classics. It’s really an interesting combination of genres that would interest so many types of readers, which makes it great. Of course, it’s not actually Jane Eyre, one of my favorites, but it’s definitely an interesting, fun read.

Thank you to Rachel Hawkins, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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 Saylor Rains

Find me and this review on Goodreads.

I just gotta hype up this book real quick

Her Royal Highness

• Boarding school story
• And they were roommates
• Normal girl and a princess
• Cuddling to stay warm
• Enemies to friends to lovers

This book packs in every adorable cliche you can hope for, and they’re gay. Honestly I don’t know what else you could ask for in a book.