Exploring the Pages: A Review of My Recent Read

These past months has been a whirlwind of captivating stories, unique characters, and thought-provoking themes. Among my recent reads, I've had the privilege of diving into two advanced reader copies (ARCs) that promise to be standout releases of the year. Join me as I explore these upcoming gems alongside some other fantastic books that have made their way to my reading list. Whether you're looking for your next favorite novel or curious about what's on the horizon in the literary world, there's something here for everyone. Let’s get started!

The Perfect Mistake by Olivia Hayle

“𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡, 𝙪𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙, 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣 𝙄’𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙚𝙩, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄’𝙢 𝙨𝙤 𝙜𝙡𝙖𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙮 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚. 𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙪𝙞𝙣 𝙢𝙚, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣, 𝙄𝙨𝙖, 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚’𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧.”

The chemistry between Alec and Isabel was amazing right from the start. I loved how these two gelled together immediately. The buildup was totally worth it. The tension was there between the two.

“𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙚?” 𝙄 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧. 𝙃𝙚 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙨. “𝘼𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨, 𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙩. 𝘼𝙡𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨.”

It had everything, sister’s best friend / best friend’s brother, single dad - nanny, age gap, forced proximity!

“𝙈𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙. 𝙈𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙞𝙩’𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙛𝙚, 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙪𝙧𝙩, 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠. 𝙈𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙨… 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙪𝙨. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥 𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙮 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧.”

Loved the kids as well, absolutely loved Sam from the beginning! I am not usually into age gap romances but this one made it worth to read!!

4/5 🌟

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞 (𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐲 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 2) 𝐛𝐲 𝐋𝐢𝐳 𝐓𝐨𝐦𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞

“𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙝𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙚 ‘𝙨𝙝𝙚’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡𝙨’?” 𝙃𝙚 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙖 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙣𝙤𝙙 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙. “𝙔𝙚𝙖𝙝, 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩’𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙢𝙚. 𝙄’𝙢 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙠. 𝘼𝙨 𝙗𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙘 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚. 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖𝙣 𝙐𝙜𝙜𝙨 𝙥𝙝𝙖𝙨𝙚. 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖 𝙨𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙣𝙮 𝙟𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙥𝙝𝙖𝙨𝙚. 𝙄 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙞𝙣𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙄 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙥𝙞𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙤𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙄’𝙢 𝙖𝙩 𝙖 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙩.”

Indy & Ryan. Where do I start?! I love Indy from the first book, where she is actually happy for Stevie and being a good friend. Ryan is a good brother. I knew and I hoped that there was a book for Ryan and Indy as well because I knew they would have good chemistry.

“𝑰’𝒎 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝑰 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈.”

Indy fits perfectly in I am just like the others girls and just like the other girls. It’s a thin line but somehow Indy manages not to be a pick me girl.

“…𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔?”   “𝑵𝒐, 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏’𝒕 𝒇**𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈?”

This was the best interaction and I absolutely love it! The whole interaction is something definitely I would be asking a guy. It’s so wholesome at the same time about how genuinely confused and irritated Ryan gets.

“𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒚 : 𝑫𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒖𝒑𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆—𝑰’𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓.

𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆 : 𝑩𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒚 𝒖𝒑𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑰’𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒅.”

The daily updates were just cherry on the top!

5/5🌟

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅

One Wrong Move by Olivia Hayle

“𝙎𝙤, 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙄 𝙨𝙖𝙬 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩, 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚.”

I absolutely was waiting to receive the ARC of this book and it delivered!!! Nate & Harper were adorable together. I loved that he helped her without any hidden motive in the hindsight.

“𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙢 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨 𝙜𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙩. “𝙎𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙠𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚, 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪?”

𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙤 𝙨𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙡𝙮, 𝙄 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙. “𝘼𝙡𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙡𝙡.”

“𝙄 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙧𝙚 𝙡𝙮𝙞𝙣𝙜,” 𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙨, 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙮 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙨𝙩. 𝙃𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙪𝙭. “𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙚.”

Nate being jealous was adorable in many ways. Absolutely loved the references!

Tropes:

•One bed trope

•Ex’s best friend, best friend’s ex

•Forced proximity

•Pinning male protagonist

•Jealousy

•Bridgerton S2 reference

4.5/5🌟

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅

Love Redesigned by Lauren Asher

“𝑰𝒇 𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒚, 𝑰 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒑𝒊𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒎”

Aaah! This was absolutely what I needed to pull me out of my book slump! Julian and Dahlia were made for each other. As I got to the end the reasons of Julian’s actions became clear and they were adorable!

“𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒎’𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒚”

This book had most of the tropes you would want:

𝑺𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆

𝑺𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒏

𝑬𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔

𝑩𝒐𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕

𝑺𝒆𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒕 𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈

𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒙𝒊𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒚

𝑶𝒏𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆

𝑴𝒆𝒅𝒅𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔

𝑬𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒃𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒇𝒊𝒕𝒔

"𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒖𝒆 𝒊𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏”

I love how much Julian cared for her and it was obvious that Dahlia never really moved on from him.

“𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚.”

4/5🌟

⋅˚₊‧ ୨୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅