Tag: Best Seller

Just Some Stupid Love Story by Katelyn Doyle

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

🌶️🌶️/5

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💖2nd chance

💖High School Sweethearts

💖Enemies to Lovers

💖Opposites Attract

💖Grumpy vs Sunshine

💖Long Distance

Just Some Stupid Love Story was a quick read that I really enjoyed. It’s perfect for the beach or if you need something funny and sexy to read.

Grumpy vs. Sunshine is one of my favorite tropes, and usually, it’s the guy who is grumpy and unavailable. I absolutely love when it’s flipped around!

Meet Molly – she’s emotionally unavailable, with a host of problems she’s working through, including anxiety, depression, and some really deep dad issues. (Her dad sucks.) In a delightful twist, she writes rom-com screenplays and is very successful at it.

Meet Seth – an eternal optimist in search of true love. He’s loyal, funny, and just a tiny bit over the top. All he wants is a family of his own. He’s a divorce lawyer who tries his best to help his clients and their families get through a horrible moment in their lives without causing chaos.

The book spans from when Molly and Seth meet up again at their 15th high school reunion in November 2018 through their 20th in 2023. This is quite a time span for one novel, but I feel it was well done and not rushed. I enjoyed the email and text exchanges we got to read. It’s challenging when the characters are apart for a significant portion of the book, as they are here. But between their correspondence, chance encounters, and planned meetings, it was handled very well.

If you’re a fan of Katherine Center, Abby Jimenez, or Ali Hazelwood, I think you’ll love Katelyn Doyle too. The writing is quick, funny, and flows so well. I also really like dual POV in my romance books, so I was happy we got to bounce between both Molly and Seth. There’s also a great cast of side characters that we get to know and love.

The author Katelyn Doyle writes historical romances under the name Scarlett Peckham, but this is her Rom-Com debut. I can’t wait to see what comes next!

A huge thank you to the author, the publisher Flatiron Press and NetGalley for sending me this amazing book for my review. It’s on sale now and you can pick up your copy by clicking here.

Darling Girls By Sally Hepworth

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

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Ready for a wild ride? Because Sally Hepworth is about to take you on one with Darling Girls. This is one twisty thriller, my bookworm friends. Jessica, Norah, and Alicia were all told how lucky they were to end up at Wild Meadows with the lovely Miss Fairchild. Turns out that lady was bananas with a capital B. At first, it’s just Jessica, but she’s joined shortly after by Norah and Alicia, and the three form an unbreakable bond. It grows stronger when Amy arrives, as does Miss Fairchild’s crazy factor. The girls manage to engineer a breakout, but there are consequences to crossing a crazy lady. Like suddenly, poof, no Amy.

Years later, Jessica owns her own house-cleaning business where she steals pills from her clients, Alicia is a social worker trying to help foster kids like herself, and Norah is still always in trouble. The girls are called when a body is discovered buried in the basement of Wild Meadows, forcing them to rehash memories they thought were long buried.

The book is told from multiple POVs, from Jessica, Norah, Alicia, and an unnamed narrator, and bounces between the past and the present.

It’s really hard to write spoiler-free reviews of thrillers because I don’t want to inadvertently give anything away. But I’ll say this: that last chapter came out of LEFT FIELD for me. Not because I didn’t suspect who the unnamed narrator was (I did), but because I totally bought the original story. Not that it made me feel any better about it, but holy cow, Miss Fairchild is a psycho.

On sale now, you can grab your copy here. It’s available in KU and also as BOTM.

As always, I encourage you to read this book and form your own opinions, just as I have. Thank you to the author Sally Hepworth, the publisher St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the ARC copy of this book.

The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

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GUP is back and he’s abroad! Patrick, Maisie, and Grant are bouncing around Europe as their dad prepares to remarry.

Set five years after the events of The Guncle, Patrick is trying to teach the kids about love as they struggle to accept their dad’s new soon-to-be wife.

The Guncle Abroad is chock-full of everything that I loved about the first book and more. The Guncle Rules are back, along with Guncle Love Languages.

Once again, I laughed, I teared up, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

The Guncle Abroad captures the essence of what it means to be a family, with all its imperfections and beauty.

Thank you so much to the author, Netgalley and the publisher Putnam Books for giving me this opportunity to read an ARC copy, especially because I loved The Guncle so much.

The Guncle is out now and you can grab your copy here.

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

🫑/5

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💖Closed Door Romance

💖Forced Proximity

💖Grumpy vs Sunshine

💖Strangers to Lovers

💖 Workplace Romance

🏠 Hollywood Setting

🚫No spice (hence the bell pepper 😂)

Just finished The Rom-Commers and wow, what a ride. Seriously, the ups and down in this book. I can’t even. Even though I usually read romance books with a lot of spice, I adore Katherine Center’s books. The characters she creates jump off the page and come to life. This was no exception.

Emma is so strong and selfless. I instantly wanted to give her a hug. And I also kind of want to shake her. The poor girl has put her whole life on hold to take care of her dad, blaming herself for his accident and the loss of her mom. I really hate that she was manipulated into working with Charlie. Logan sucks. He’s sneaky and tells half-truths and keeps secrets. Thank goodness he somewhat redeemed himself. But he was a pretty awful friend for a while.

It took me a little bit longer to warm up to Charlie. He’s kind of a jerk for the first half of the book. I have to admit I was pretty nervous about his cough, though. As someone who is familiar with sarcoma and its recurrence, as soon as he started coughing I had to stop myself from skipping ahead to make sure he was okay. It’s sweet how he takes care of his guinea pig. By the end of the book, I had heart eyes for him. 😍

I love this ode to romance and rom-coms and the joy they bring. Hands down one of my favorite books I’ve read this year. I would have liked it to be dual POV, but if you check out the audio, you get a little sneak peek into Charlie in one of my favorite scenes (the diving board!!!).

As always, I encourage you to read for yourself and see how you like it. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

A huge thank you to the author, the publisher St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for sending me this amazing book for my review. It’s on sale now and you can pick up your copy by clicking here

The Lies You Wrote By Brianna Labuskes

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

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If you’re a frequent reader over here at Feed The Bookworm, you know I’m a huge sucker for a good police procedural thriller. I think it’s because I read a lot of detective stories when I first discovered my love of books. This book came out of nowhere for me. If you’re a fan of Women’s Murder Club and Stephanie Plum, I can guarantee that you’ll love “The Lies You Wrote” by Brianna Labuskes. This was a one-day read for me and marked my first book of the new year. Throughout the day, I switched between the audio and Kindle versions, depending on my activities. I love that both the Kindle book and the audiobook are in KU.

The book centers around Raisa Susanto, a forensic linguist for the FBI. Side tangent – I didn’t know a forensic linguist was even a thing before this. Prior to reading “The Lies You Wrote”, my dream book job was event planner for a billionaire’s consulting firm (can you tell I’ve been reading a lot of romance books this winter?), but now I want to be a forensic linguist and play with words all day.

Raisa is tough, smart, and wily, raised on the streets and in foster care after losing her parents. She’s a loner in the FBI, with no partner and one of only two linguists, so she gets farmed out to other departments. She’s quick with her words and pulls no punches

She’s paired with Callum Kilkenny, a broody, gruff, and seasoned FBI forensic psychologist to investigate a copycat killing of a crime committed 25 years ago. So far, so good, very straightforward. Now throw in a true crime podcaster snooping around trying to get a scoop (Jenna) and a police informant cyber wiz who has inserted herself into the case (Delaney), and things start to get interesting.

Raisa is coming off the loss in a tough case, where her conclusions led down the wrong end, and things went badly. Callum is renowned for his capture of the ABC killer 10 years ago, however it also came with the loss of his wife, who was targeted by the serial killer before Callum brought him down. Now the must figure out if they’re dealing with a copy cat killer, or if the real killer evaded capture decades ago.

This book was such a twisty, turn-filled, and captivating mystery. I always pride myself on being able to figure out “the twist,” but this book had so many it was like whiplash. Where in some stories this could be considered overwhelming, it all makes perfect sense in the context of this book. I was able to kind of figure out the mini twist, the buildup to the big twist was great, even though I kind of saw it coming.

Labuskes is a master wordsmith (I am trying to figure out a way to use psycho-killer stabby man in every day conversation somehow), her prose is witty, engaging, and fast-paced. The book made me laugh, kept me reading, kept me guessing, and most importantly I cannot wait to read the next book. I’m so happy that it’s going to be a series. The romantic thriller lover in me is hoping for a little romance between Raisa and Callum. In the mean time, Labuskes has a robust backlist to enjoy, many of which are in KU. I’ll be happily reading all of them while I wait for The Truth You Told, due out September 10, 2024. On sale now, you can grab your copy of The Lies You Wrote here. This awesome book is available on KU for both reading and listening!

Thank you so much to the author, Brianna Labuskes, Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC copy of this book. The Lies You Wrote is out now, and available on Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Unlimited Audio. You can grab your copy here.

People to Follow By: Olivia Worley

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️/5

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People to Follow is Olivia Worley’s debut novel, is yet another retelling/reimagining of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. These seem to be particularly popular lately, and I don’t hate it since it’s one of my favorite Christie works. It shares a similar tone with Lucy Foley’s The Guest List but is distinctly tailored for a younger audience. This became apparent to me about halfway through. It’s technically considered a YA Thriller, but I would consider it more of a mystery than a thriller.

The characters in People to Follow are an intriguing mix; none are particularly likable, each harboring both annoying traits and deep-seated secrets. These secrets are the threads that bind them together and lead them to an isolated island for a three-week retreat. What starts as a period of relaxation quickly turns sinister when a storm leaves them stranded, and the murder of one among them sparks a tense whodunit.

10 young influencers are invited to a private Caribbean Island for 3 weeks of relaxing and unplugging, all to be filmed of course for a new reality show titled IRL. Each of the characters is facing some sort of personal crisis, mostly revolving around their dive in popularity. A “storm” strands the production crew, and the emergency takes the PA off island. She leaves a cell phone for emergencies, and each influencer has a watch. Turns out the cell phone goes missing, and the watches only get messages from “The Sponsor”, and they can’t send any outgoing messages. When one of their number ends up dead, the remaining 9 come to the logical conclusion that one of them is a murderer.

The story is told from alternating points of view between 4 of the main characters. Max, an aspiring documentary YouTuber who has had trouble catching a new story since his smashing expose. He’s here trying to catch a story on The Bounce House, a famous TikTok trio who have also been invited to the island. Kira, a fitness influencer who was a former reality star of a popular dance show. She finds her old nemesis from the dance show, a member of The Bounce House is also on the island. Logan is a former member of The Bounce House who has recently been kicked out/left. Who knows, but the internet is awash with rumors and conjecture. She isn’t happy to see her former friends. Then there is Elody. She’s the most annoying of the bunch, but she has the most distinct voice of all the characters. She has no apparent ties to the other influencers but seems to be there as the life of the party. When in doubt, she finds a way to make it fun/interesting. I found myself enjoying her chapters the most as the book unfolded.

I managed to guess the murderer’s identity mid-way, but the specific character revelation was a surprise. Particularly interesting was the plot involving Max’s secret, which led to a predictable yet intriguing revelation of the perpetrator’s identity and their accomplice. Despite some predictability, the book’s ending was engaging, with a well-executed plot twist.

This book is literally begging to be made into a movie.  It was an absolutely solid debut from Worley. While the ‘closed-room mystery’ theme might seem overdone, Worley’s take is great.

Thank you to Olivia Worley, St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the ARC copy of the book.

People to Follow is on sale now, you can grab your copy here.

The Spy Coast By: Tess Gerritsen

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

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I want to start off by saying that Tess Gerritsen is one of my all-time favorite authors. I discovered her late in my reading lifetime and I’ve been working my way through her catalog ever since. The Rizzoli and Isles series is still one of my all-time favorite series (so much better than the TV show IMO) and her standalones are also phenomenal. Gerritsen obtained her MD before switching to a writing career which lends authenticity and credibility to her writing.

We all know that I am a sucker for a great police procedural thriller and The Spy Coast certainly does not disappoint.

This is yet another book with dual timelines (they seem to keep popping up in my TBR) as we meet Maggie Bird, who has gone by a number of different aliases throughout her life, but who now resides in Purity, Maine, as a chicken farmer. Her life as a CIA operative is long behind her, or so she thought.

Our story opens 10 days prior, with Diana, one of Maggie’s old CIA colleagues escaping with her life after an attack, but failing to find out who is trying to take her down. Then we meet Maggie, hunting down a fox that has gotten into her henhouse.

This turns out to be the least of her problems when a woman who visited her earlier in the day ends up dead in her driveway. It appears that one of her old and still-classified cases has been compromised, and her name, along with others, has been leaked. The Spy Coast takes us around the globe and flashes back to 16 years ago to events in Malta right before Maggie left the CIA firmly in her past. But as we all know, the past does not always stay in the past, and Maggie’s past seems to be out to get her.

I enjoyed this book very much and I’m really hoping that based on the ending of this book there will be another, and that this will turn into a series. The side characters are phenomenal. They consist of a group of other, retired CIA agents who all reside in Purity, Maine. And the poor police chief Jo, who seems competent and smart, just to be outwitted by The Martini Club. The twist in this book is something I certainly did not see coming. The end leaves more questions unanswered than answered, which usually bugs me, but in this case, I don’t mind.

P.S. – In taking a look at the author’s website it looks like The Martini Club will indeed be a new series! I’m very excited and cannot wait for more adventures.

A huge thank you to the author Tess Gerritsen, NetGalley, and Thomas and Mercer for the ARC copy of this book.

One sale now, you can grab your copy here. This awesome book is available on KU for both reading and listening!

Keep reading for some more thoughts that I need to say out loud but SPOILERS!

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🛑 ✋ POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD ✋ 🛑

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I love that we meet Maggie while she’s after a fox in the henhouse. And she explains to Callie that even though she kills the fox, another predator will move in to take its place. Much like Bella, who has now assumed her father’s place.

So now let’s talk about this planet crash. There were supposed to be 8 people on board. But we know two didn’t board the plane. Maggie and Bella. Our girl Maggie seems poised to enter into a romantic relationship with Declan, who I’m sure has lots of his own secrets. BUT is Danny really dead?

Here’s my theory- Maggie did indeed fall victim to the honey trap, and Dr. Danny was indeed a double agent, or working for the Russians. But who knows. Only time and Tess will tell..

The Exchange By: John Grisham

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️/5

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Abby and Mitch are back, and the stakes are higher than ever. The Exchange picks up 15 years after the ending of The Firm. Mitch and Abby, out of hiding, are enjoying life in NYC: Mitch works for a high-end international law firm, and Abby edits cookbooks.

Once again, the McDeere family finds themselves in the thick of a nefarious plot, but this time, the bad guys zero in on Abby. As Mitch frequently reminds her, “They picked you.” The book takes readers back to Memphis for a spell, bouncing us around the world from London to Italy, Morocco, and beyond, with a cameo of a familiar but not so friendly face from Mitch’s previous life.

While some might argue that the pace of The Firm was on the slower side, the opposite could be said for The Exchange. I found The Exchange to be extremely fast-paced. If I had one criticism, it would be that the ending kind of snuck up on me and felt rushed. Overall, this was a solid legal thriller, and the international aspect added a good spin. It’s a quick read that you won’t want to put down.

Grisham is one of my all-time favorite, auto-buy authors. This book most certainly lived up to its predecessors.

One sale now, you can grab your copy here.

The Club By Ellery Lloyd

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️/𝟓

A gripping book where ambition, secrets, and glamour collide in an elite celebrity members’ club. In a similar vein to Lucy Foley’s The Guest List and Sandie Jones The Guilt Trip. This book is set in a remote location where all the characters are trapped together.

The owner of Island Home, Ned is throwing the massive party for the elite of the elite. The book cycles through the different perspectives of the island staff as they prepare to pull off the opening of the latest club.

Interspersed with the dueling perspectives from each of the characters, there are articles from Vanity Fair detailing the events of the party and the events leading up to it.

The Club by is a tantalizing and suspenseful read that transports you into the world of elite celebrity clubs, where glamour and secrets intertwine. Lloyd’s vivid descriptions and well-drawn characters make it easy to become immersed in the story as we follow the protagonist on her dangerous quest to expose the truth. The plot is filled with twists and turns, keeping readers on their toes. You’re constantly questioning who is lying, who can be trusted, and what really happened.

If the book has a “flaw”, the pacing can be a bit slow but the author’s ability to create tension and build anticipation more than compensates for any lulls. This is a solid 4-star read that provides a glimpse into the exclusive world of fame, while reminding us that appearances can be deceiving and not everything is as it seems.

Reminiscent of a classic murder mystery or whodunnit, I enjoyed this book. Thank you to NetGalley, Harper and the Authors for the ARC copy of this book.

The Maid: By Nita Prose

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

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So I honestly feel like I owe this book an apology. I picked it up and put it down so many times. I just couldn’t get into it. Everyone said “Oh if you like popular book xyz then you’ll love this one!” Well, I didn’t love it, it was a DNF for me. So I though this one would be too. So in a last ditch effort, I put it on hold at my library. It was a 20+ week hold. These people all must know something I didn’t. Boy, were they right. I was wrong.


This book is delightful! Turns out, it was one of those books I did better listening to then reading. It was a bit of a romance, a big mystery, with a few dramatic twists and turns. I fell in love with Molly the Maid, and her beloved cast of found family. Molly has had to figure out the world without her beloved Gran. You see, Molly sees things differently than most people. While this makes her susceptible to unkindness, it also doesn’t allow her to see the kindness of people right under her nose.

I love Molly’s snark and wit, and I would love to have a book of the quotes she spews from her Gran. I feel like I know Gran, even though she wasn’t present for the events that transpired between the pages.

On sale now, you can grab your copy here

A big hank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC copy of this book.