In this episode of Where I Left Off, I am talking about some thrillers and romance novels I finished recently.
Reading Recs segment:
For a chance to be featured in a future Reading Recs, fill out the Google Form here.
Dr. Melissa Dymond is our first guest, and if you want to purchase her book and connect with her, check out the links below.
Books mentioned in this episode:
For links to the books discussed in this episode, click the link here to take you to the Google Doc to view the list.
For episode feedback, future reading and author recommendations, you can text the podcast by clicking the "Send us a message button" above.
For more, follow along on Instagram @whereileftoffpod.
In this episode of Where I Left Off, I am talking about some thrillers and romance novels I finished recently.
Reading Recs segment:
For a chance to be featured in a future Reading Recs, fill out the Google Form here.
Dr. Melissa Dymond is our first guest, and if you want to purchase her book and connect with her, check out the links below.
Books mentioned in this episode:
For links to the books discussed in this episode, click the link here to take you to the Google Doc to view the list.
For episode feedback, future reading and author recommendations, you can text the podcast by clicking the "Send us a message button" above.
For more, follow along on Instagram @whereileftoffpod.
Welcome back. I'm Kristen Bahls and you're listening to Where I Left Off A Bookish Podcast and today on the podcast, I'm sharing what I've been reading recently. I've loved being able to have guests like Paige, of course, always love having her on. And then I cannot believe I'm still a little bit starstruck that I got to talk to Allie Samberts, an author. So actually getting to talk to an author about their book was pretty surreal, and I'm gonna spoil it a little bit and say that there will be some other authors coming on. I can't give a lot of details. We'll be recording at different points, so I don't know when exactly all of these episodes will come out, but that is something to look forward to in the future. There will be more authors, there will be more guests, Paige will be back on and I. That's kind of why I just really wanted to bring you an episode of just me by myself talking about books.
Kristen Bahls:Back to what you know I kind of started at when I started not that long ago, I did want to tell you a little bit about a new segment that I have in this episode, so my new segment is called yes, I'm adding in segments, like I said, super fancy. We're getting super fancy here on Where I Left Off, but I'm adding in this segment called Reading Recs and in Reading Recs, basically, I came up with this idea because I realized that I can only read so many books at once. As much as I would love to read a million books, I can only read so many books in a year. I feel like I tend to kind of stick in the same genres. I'm trying to branch out but in an effort to just get you more exposure as the listener to different genres, different authors, both, you know, self published, any published, traditionally published, all of the different options. I wanted to have a way for listeners to talk about books that they love, kind of explain their recommendation a little bit and a couple sentences, so that way you can see if maybe there's a book that I haven't read, that you just really want to read and, yeah, maybe you were able to find it on this podcast and that is really for both readers and for authors. I mean, I can't even imagine trying to market your book and there's so many options out there for your next read that I wanted to hear from both authors and readers.
Kristen Bahls:So if you are a reader, if you are an author, you can always go down to the show notes. I will always have a link to the Google form and what you will do is just record a short voice memo of a maximum of 40 seconds, just giving me a couple sentences about either a book you wrote or a book that you recently read that you really enjoy, and then you'll submit that voice memo to me and I'll do some picking. I'll decide which ones are going to be on the podcast. Will not be me and my team will decide which ones are going to be on the podcast and yeah, that's how they will make it into an episode, so your voice could be featured in a voice memo on the next session and starting today, I'm getting to include one. So here is the first one, and it is yeah, it's coming up now. So here is the first reading rec.
Speaker 2:Hey, my name is Melissa Diamond. I'm going to tell you today about my book holiday star. So first of all, I offer it in two versions. So I have a spicy version which has mild explicit language and sex scenes, and then I have a sweet version which has no bad language and only kissing. So I want all my readers to feel comfortable and so you can choose which version works better for you.
Speaker 2:The book itself is about a doctor. She is a doctor named Gwen and she goes to house it for her mother in LA. Her mom has recently remarried and her new stepdad has an has a nephew who's a super famous hot movie star named Caleb. So she's house sitting and Caleb comes to the house and he decides he wants to hide out there because he's kind of on the run from the paparazzi and his fans and some things that have happened to him recently. So he's hiding out the house.
Speaker 2:She's stuck at the house. There's force, proximity, sparks fly and eventually enemies turn into lovers. But they're kind of in a snow globe in that house and unfortunately reality intrudes and shakes that snow globe up and they have to decide what they're going to do, if they're really going to fight for this relationship given their very different lifestyles. She's a doctor who is doing her training in New York. He's a movie star who lives in LA. And what if they're really willing to go ahead and to fight for the star and for the happily ever after that they are both seeking? So I hope you enjoy it.
Kristen Bahls:Again, in the show notes I will have a link to the forum, or on my social media. You can always check the link in my bio on Instagram. I am at Where I Left Off pod on Instagram. You can always go to the link in my bio and you can click through to the Google form there or look at the show notes either one if you would like to be featured on the podcast. And also something that I pointed out on my social media as well is that I am switching to a biweekly schedule.
Kristen Bahls:I was always really originally planning on doing a biweekly schedule, but I kind of just got addicted to weekly episodes. But I am doing biweekly episodes to save my sanity a little bit. I am pretty much the only one. I do have one team member, but it's me and my team member trying to do everything for the podcast. And, yeah, I have a full time job. This is my hobby. I have a lot of other things just always going on, and so for me to be able to have time to actually read more books, to be able to talk about with you and schedule interviews with authors and create just content that you want to hear, I decided to switch to biweekly episodes. So you'll still have episodes. I'm not taking a break or anything anytime soon. Eventually I'm sure I will, but not right now and you will have episodes. They will just be biweekly, but you can always catch up on kind of the backlog that I've actually kind of collected by now since I've been doing this for a second. So, yep, biweekly episodes and new segments both are just coming at you.
Kristen Bahls:So today on the podcast, I'm talking about what I've been reading recently and really I actually have a mix. I do have a mix this time of thrillers and romance, and it's also a mixed of traditionally published and a few self published novels as well. And okay, so I have several fantasy novels that I'm in the middle of, but I'm just not finished with yet, so they will be featured in future recently read episodes. I used to call this currently reading. Now I'm calling it recently read because I realized I'm not currently reading them if I finished, so the name is a little bit iffy, but you know what I mean. It's just books that I've been reading lately that may not fit in a specific episode with a specific theme, kind of thing. So that's what I'm talking about today.
Kristen Bahls:Like I said, I've been reading some fantasy. I don't know, I never. I don't want to say never, but I feel like you have to say never say never when it comes to what genres I'll read, because, to be honest, and I really think that I was going to be reading even more in the romance genre no, not really, and that seems to be kind of where I've honed in a little bit, unknowingly. I don't know, that's just kind of where it's led and what I've been reading recently. So I guess I can kind of say the same thing about fantasy.
Kristen Bahls:I just had a couple recommendations from friends and they wanted me to read some fantasy books, so I decided to try it out. I'm not reading anything that's like high fantasy, I haven't gotten to that point yet but I am reading, you know, some different genres. So right now okay, right now, at the time of this recording, I am reading one YA romance, two contemporary romances, two thrillers and two fantasy novels. Yeah, I know that's a lot of books at one time, don't judge me too much, but yeah, there's a wide variety. So recently read's coming up, we'll have more variety. This one has some thrillers thrown in, which pretty good thrillers, if I do say myself a little, if I do say so myself. I don't know, I guess I can't talk today, but before I get into the actual books, I did want to talk a little bit, just kind of about life in general. Things have been busy. When are they not busy, right? But I recently competed in a Toastmasters contest and okay. So if you don't a little bit of background, if you don't know what Toastmasters is like, I said this is just a side topic, doesn't really have to do with books. I mean it can.
Kristen Bahls:You could do all of your speeches about books technically, but it's basically like a public speaking. If you've never heard of it. It's like a public speaking club, basically, and so half the club you're trying to improve on your public speaking. You love it, it's your thing. You want to get better. Maybe you want to go and speak at conventions or be a speaker as your job kind of thing, like a facilitator or just a public speaker as your career, or or you just want to compete in contests and you like it, or the other half you are terrified of public speaking. You know you need to get better. Maybe you have a lot of presentations coming up about work kind of thing and you just really want to get better at public speaking. That's kind of the other half that goes there. So it's like half the room really wants to speak and then half the room is a little bit apprehensive to speak. So it's really a mix and it's at least in my club. I mean again, this is just me speaking from experience
Kristen Bahls:in my club it's really a range of gosh everywhere. You have to be 18 to join, but it's like 18 to probably 70s maybe. So you really have a wide variety of backgrounds and people and age ranges and so you kind of have a little bit of everyone and everyone's at like different kind of speaking points and so every week everyone has a job and we all make the meeting like run together. So sometimes you're timing different speeches and basically you can have a formal speech. You can get up, you've planned your speech, you've rehearsed it beforehand, or you have these things called table topics which are like impromptu speeches and the table topics master will come up with different prompts. You know something I'd be like tell me about your best vacation, the best vacation you've ever taken, or something like that, and then you'll talk off the cuff for about a minute. So you have those two things, and then some jobs kind of mixed in in between for all the meetings. I understand that Toastmasters may be some people's worst nightmare, but I wanted to tell you about this contest, so I decided to compete.
Kristen Bahls:I've only been doing Toastmasters maybe like eight or nine months, I think. I started in the summer and I was remote, so it was really just kind of a way for me to get out, talk to a group of people, and I was a teacher so obviously if I was afraid of public speaking I would not talk in front of teens all day. But this has really helped me because, you know, just being remote for work, you talk on a computer and you, like I meet yourself in meetings, but it's just not the same. You don't have, you know, like gestures and body language and I don't know you kind of get a little bit lax because normally, like I talk to a decent amount of people that I know every day, so I'm a little bit more comfortable. So anyway, it was kind of just to get myself out of my comfort zone, have another group to talk to in person, kind of get out of a house, not, you know, not be behind a screen all the time, talk to real people a little bit and I've enjoyed it so far.
Kristen Bahls:I've given one speech. I know I need to give another prepared speech and I've done almost all of the positions and a bunch of table topics. So that's why, whenever a competition was coming up, I said, okay, I'm going to try it. And I didn't want to try the prepared version, I wanted to try the table topics. So the impromptu speaking version, and so that's what I just competed in the other night and I actually won for my club and I get to go to area competition. So how it works is you, you walk up there, you walk up there, you shake their hand and the contest chair tells you what your topic is. And for me, whenever I competed at my club, it was if you could go back in time, what is one thing you would change? That's what it was. And so they give you your topic, they repeat it twice, they shake your hand and say are you ready? And you go and you just kind of do a speech off the top of your head, which I mean I have a podcast.
Kristen Bahls:I'm used to talking and kind of chatting and like I've talked about it a million times before, but I have a Broadcast Journalism degree and if you don't know what that means, basically it's like news, live television, radio and sports, and so, yeah, we I don't know we used to just get like thrown in front of a camera and they're like and go. So this wasn't really anything super new for me, but I wanted to try it. I thought you know why not? I felt like I would just regret it if I didn't try, and I'm glad I did, because now I get to go to area and try it again and we'll see how far I get. But honestly, it's just I don't know.
Kristen Bahls:It's fun, I get to talk to different people, I'll get to meet people that aren't in my club, and it's just fun, and I don't know, everyone's just really encouraging. In my club no one judges you and you would rather like make a public speaking mistake now, like in a room full of people that don't judge you and like you versus, you know, in a meeting or a big presentation or something. So, yeah, I'm really glad I joined. If you're interested, I guarantee you there's probably a Toastmasters Club around in your area, so it might be something you want to look into. If it's your worst nightmare, totally understand. But yeah, that's kind of just what's going on in my life lately. There are a lot of things that are going on, but yeah, that's the. That's the biggest thing that I can easily share without making this a whole other episode of just updates on me. So also.
Kristen Bahls:I have to brag about meeting authors this year, so I'm going to get to meet some authors. I decided to go to some of their book tours. I wanted to meet them in person and it's some of my favorites. I am so excited to be able to meet them. I'm bragging about it because I bought tickets. I reserved their book. I can't wait to talk to them and there's some of my favorites like Katherine Center and Ali Hazelwood and Sarah Adams and Alexa Martin and Julia Long is also in there. So I can't wait to actually meet them in person, get some signed editions of their books and just talk to them for a couple minutes. So I'm really excited about those. I just had to brag. Anyone can look up their book tours whenever they all have new books coming out. You can go to their book tours, so that's just something to think about.
Kristen Bahls:And now I'm getting ARCs. So I'm getting advanced reader copies. Where are they ARCs? You know, I don't know that. I've ever actually heard someone pronounce it. So in my head I say ARCs, but I guess it could be ARCs. But anyway, it stands for advanced reader copies. And yeah, they are available on NetGalley.
Kristen Bahls:Paige was talking about NetGalley in one of the previous episodes it was, I can't even remember which episode. One of the previous episodes Paige oh, in our Ghosted Episode, Paige was talking a little bit about NetGalley. So I have joined NetGalley, so I've gotten some ARCs from there, but also from Instagram, especially with smaller authors you can send them messages and DM them and they may give you an advanced reader copy, which is what I've done. And then also I did have a publisher send me one as well. So NetGalley publishers will send you them. You can always ask for them from the author on Instagram as well. So that's kind of a way to get advanced reader copies. It just means that those books are not out to the public yet, they have not been published, and you get to read them ahead of time to kind of hype them up, talk about them. So, yeah, no, I get to read some ARCs. I feel so fancy whenever you see that little like either the advanced reader copy stamp or the compliments of the publisher stamp. It just makes me feel like, oh yeah, I've made it. So I'm interviewing authors, I'm going to meet authors, I'm getting ARCs like who, who am I? I was thinking that I was just kind of talking to myself and my own little mic about books. So it's nice to be able to get some opportunities like this so I can tell you about books that I otherwise, you know, would not get a chance to. So all the exciting things come up.
Kristen Bahls:But as we're going through the podcast, if there's a specific book or genre that you do or don't want to look at, you can always look at the chapters and I have them organized there so you can skip around. Of course, I would love it if you listen to the whole episode, but you can skip. So let's go ahead and get into the books, because I have a lot of them and apparently I'm in a talk all day kind of mode, so I have some really good ones coming up that I get to tell you about. First up is a thriller. So this is you Shouldn't have Come here by Geneva Rose.
Kristen Bahls:You may remember Geneva Rose from her romance it's a date again that I've talked about multiple times and she does have thrillers. That's what she wrote primarily before she ever went into romance, and this book I gave four stars. So it reads more like a romantic suspense, but it is technically a thriller. So if you are into romantic suspense, then I do think you would like this one. I gave it four stars overall and this is a dual point of view between the female and male main characters. It does switch back and forth and for a thriller I would say that it has a little bit of spice. It's like maybe a two to three. There is some spice in this one. Like I said, it kind of reads a little bit more like a romantic suspense, but basically it's like a cat, it's like a game of cat and mouse, only you don't know who the cat is and who the mouse is, and it's kind of like this little like tennis match If you're trying to decide who's the aggressor, like who's going to die, who's going to die, who's going to die, I don't know.
Kristen Bahls:So my little plot synopsis is that Grace takes his vacation to a small Airbnb in the middle of nowhere, wyoming by herself, and she tells her Airbnb host, named Calvin, that basically she'll just throw a dart at the map and travel wherever it lands. And Calvin, he's a very attentive host, we'll say he's running this small in type of establishment out of his house and he's taken by grace almost immediately. Like they do, they hit it off. They have some chemistry and as the two connect over the course of her trip, not only are there these really strange, almost cursed appearance occurrences cursed occurrences taking place that put grace and harms way, but something just really seems off about the place. The town's people and the host himself, will Grace, make it out of Wyoming and back to her life in New York. Oh no, you'll have to read to find out. Holy plot twist.
Kristen Bahls:So, I guess one, but the other two threw me in the best way possible and I love not being able to guess the plot twist. That's one of my favorite things in a thriller. Just a warning you're not gonna like any of these characters. They're not likable, which is fine. It's a thriller. You don't have to like all of the characters in a thriller. Just saying, if you did, you'd probably be reading romance if you wanted to actually like the characters. And how do I say this? So I gave it four stars because I feel like I didn't actually like enjoy the ride and I'm I was constantly thrown off on, you know, kind of like waiting for the ball to drop. So it's definitely a certain kind of thriller like it.
Kristen Bahls:The suspense is really well done. It creates a lot of suspense. So if you're okay with not liking the characters, if you want a lot of suspense, if you want it to be really intense and plot twist that you're not going to guess, then I would highly recommend this book. I will say that there's a trigger warning, or I would say there's a trigger warning for decomp and light dismemberment. I would definitely say, on the decomp, it is gone into in pretty decent detail for both humans and animals because they're out in Wyoming. So there is kind of an animal element to all of this, animalistic element to all of this. So just kind of know that going in. Yeah, I didn't think it overshadowed the book, it's just it was a little bit more gruesome, gory, descriptive, I guess. Then some of the other books I've read lately, so it was suspenseful but it also had those kind of little points in there. So just know that going in if that's something that you're okay with. Again, I would think if you're reading a thriller, you're okay with some kind of gore, because you never really know what's going to happen in some of these mysteries.
Kristen Bahls:Mysteries or thrillers. They're kind of intense. But I listened to this on audiobook actually and the audiobook was really well done. It did have yeah, I think it did have a totally full cast or almost full. It definitely had a different voice for Calvin and Grace, but I can't remember some of the other characters. I think it might have had a different voice, I just can't fully remember. But yeah, it was really good. I enjoyed it. I gave it four stars Because, like I said, I just compared to some of the other thrillers. I don't know that it was just my absolute favorite, but I really enjoy like I wanted to pick up the audiobook. I didn't enjoy the actual ride of the thriller because it was so suspenseful and I was just waiting for the baldestrop, but I wanted to keep picking up this audiobook and pressing play to see what was going to happen next. So I think that's a mark of a pretty good thriller. It was an interesting one. I would definitely say give it a shot. If you're looking at one of Jeneva Rose's books, I would recommend that one.
Kristen Bahls:There is one that I gave five stars that I will talk about a little bit later, but switching it up over to the romance category. So this is in contemporary romance and it's called Exes and O's by Amy Lea. I've talked about it a little bit in the Valentine's Day episode, but I am breaking this down because I finished it. I finished it last night and it's five stars. Five stars, I'll get into that, but it's open door. It is an open door romance and the spice level I would say is like a 3.5 out of five. Yeah, probably like a 3.5 out of five. There is some spice, it is descriptive, but I would say not as descriptive as some could be. So take that for what you will. I don't know. It was kind of in the middle between Sarah Adams and Ali Hazelwood, maybe leaning a little bit more Ali Hazelwood, but not quite. Can I just say I laughed, I cried, and by cried I mean bawled. A nd the 400 pages ish that this book was like 460 something, I think. It just melted away. This, honestly, might be a sweeping statement, but I don't know that it is. This was one of the best books I've read this year.
Kristen Bahls:Here's the little plot summary and then I'll get into a little bit more. Apply, I love it. Oh, just love this one. So Tara is unlucky and love, to say the least. She is what someone described as an intense, incapable of being chill person with a flair for drama, and she's forced to work with her jerky ex who's a doctor at the same hospital that she's a nurse at, but she keeps holding out for the fairy tale and her romance book and info. Romance book obsession and influencer status only propel her to film a video with her grandma where she gets this idea to keep a video diary of her dating all of her exes. Her surly and closed off firefighter roommate, Trevor reluctantly decides to help her on this quest to reunite with her ex boyfriends. And will she find true love in one of her ex boyfriends or is she looking for love in all the wrong places? You'll have to read to find out.
Kristen Bahls:I honestly like Tara as much as I like Annie Walker from Practice Makes Perfect. I know, I think that they would be best friends. I think they would get along really well together in their own little like fiction book universe and they're both just so uniquely themselves. I think that's what sets them a part from so many other characters in books and female main characters, and you can just relate to them on this deeper level. Even though I am honestly nothing like Tara in real life, I still found myself relating to her and I just loved hearing her thought process throughout the book and just the way that Amy Lee writes, her reasoning and thought process was just amazing and I found myself just so invested in. Several times I was just thinking, yes, that is an amazing description that makes sense. I can see it that way, I can feel it that way. I know exactly what you're talking about and you can really put yourself in this novel and I just think that it needs to be a rom-com tomorrow.
Kristen Bahls:I loved it. I absolutely loved it. Like I was saying before, I was laughing in a doctor's office while reading this. It made you laugh. Like I said, it made me cry. It was pretty fantastic. I just cannot say enough good things other than read it. It just packs that punch. Like I said, I really like the punch with the banter. So I would just highly recommend this. And there is one romance trope that I really don't like. That would normally knock me down a star, but it was actually done well. I just don't want to tell you which one because I feel like that might be a slight spoiler. But yeah, it was really well done. I enjoyed it. I would recommend reading this book. I will be reading more by Amy Lea. I have her newest book, The Catch on hold at my local library. So I cannot wait to read more of her books. She is a fantastic author and I am totally sold on her and all of her characters. So if they ever want to make a sequel to this, I'm here for it.
Kristen Bahls:Going back to Thrillerland, we have One of us is Dead by Jeneva Rose again, if you can't tell. I just really wanted to listen to Jeneva Rose's books and I was able to listen to some audiobooks. So Exes and O's I read in a physical book form, and then One of us is Dead. I also listened on audiobook. Thank you to Hoopla for having it. I multiple library cards, so this was through one of my library cards.
Kristen Bahls:I was able to listen to the audiobook instantaneously and this one I gave five stars. So it's a thriller. I gave it five stars. The spice level is somewhat intense for a thriller. Yeah, it's pretty and it does have a somewhat intense spice level. So just know that going in the audiobook for this is a full cast. This one is a complete full cast and there are a lot of main characters and they all have different narrators, voice actors, and it's really well done. They're not annoying. It's as I would think the characters would sound and their inflection is really nice. So I liked this audiobook, which you know. You know that that's kind of rare for me and I appreciated this one. So if you want to listen to it on audiobook, I mean, I don't know, I'm not saying that I wouldn't have liked the printed book just as much, but I maybe enjoyed it more because I was listening to the audiobook. So just throwing that out there, but one of the better audiobooks I've heard in a while.
Kristen Bahls:This story is basically like real housewives on steroids, but taking place in a hair salon. So here's my plot synopsis. Jenny is a salon owner in the Ritzy area of Buckhead, Atlanta. She has transformed her salon into a must gather destination for the Who's Who of Society, and with the help of her angel investor, Olivia, who will never let her forget it. Olivia is a self appointed Queen Bee of the group, and the story starts as she tries to excommunicate former housewife Shannon, who recently got divorced from her politician husband Bryce and was replaced with a younger wife named Crystal.
Kristen Bahls:These housewives have a lot of secrets of their own and one of them is dead, hence the title. That's not really a spoiler. We just don't know who's dead and it's a dual timeline to Jenny talking in the interrogation room and explaining the events that led up to the night of the murder. And, of course, at the end of the book you're going to find out who's dead and plot twist ensue. It wouldn't be a Jeneva Rose book without plot twist. So the plot twists are many and while some of the characters are unlikable, I mean like they're unlikable because they're just ridiculous, like they're housewives, I mean it's basically like Real Housewives. So it's like if you took the meanest housewives, there are a couple of those that you're not going to like as much. But honestly, I was just hooked on the story and I enjoyed the ride.
Kristen Bahls:I did enjoy this one. I found that some of the housewives were some that you can root for and all of them were flawed in their own ways. All of them had secrets, but it was always really interesting, it was really entertaining. It did kind of feel like an episode of Housewives in the best way possible. I mean. It really just sucked me in from the beginning. I enjoyed it a lot and I was able to guess two of the plot twists, but there were two more over the course of the novel that I did not see coming at all. So I was not able to guess all of the plot twist. And there were constant like events and plot points and things happening in this one that I felt like it never really got dull. But again, that also could be the help of the narrators and the way that they did it. It was just really well done. So I enjoyed this one. I would recommend this.
Kristen Bahls:If you're going to start with the thriller from Jeneva Rose and you like the Real Housewives franchise at all, I would recommend this one. It just depends on what kind of mood you're going for, because I have noticed that some of hers are different. She also wrote The Perfect Marriage, which I have not read yet. I don't know that I'm going to read, I don't know. It just doesn't sound as interesting as these two. These were so good and her romance was so good. I don't know if I'm actually going to read The Perfect Marriage, but that is her other thriller and she has some detective novels too, so it's not like a detective series. So it's definitely not just those. She has other books as well. Bringing it back to romance, the last three are contemporary romance novels and all three of them look to be self published, based on Amazon and Goodreads. So yeah, I'm pretty sure that all of them are self published.
Kristen Bahls:So first up, we have The Write Time by Allie Samberts and again, if you want to listen to Allie's interview, I have to plug it. If you want to listen to Allie's interview, go ahead and listen to the last episode. I got a chance to talk to her about The Write Choice, her latest book, which is the one after this one. But also, I mean, we talk really all things about her upcoming novel that she's working on right now and the entire Leade Park series. So just plugg ing that.
Kristen Bahls:But this one, The Write Time, the second book in the series. I gave it five stars. The spice level is like a 3.5 and it is an open door romance. But I would like to point out that Allie puts all of the page numbers at the very beginning of the book with any spice scenes. So you can always skip if you only read a clean or closed door. So it's choose your own adventure kind of thing, so you can pick if you want to read that or not. So I just wanted to point out that she does do that in all of her novels, so that way you can customize it to what you feel comfortable reading.
Kristen Bahls:So, like I said, second book in the Leade Park series, this is a teacher centered romance between an English teacher named Jenny and a wrestling coach and fellow English teacher named Ben. And Ben and Jenny have flirted ever since they started together as new teachers 10 years ago. And this is the ultimate slow burn romance and this is the Friends to Lovers trope for sure. It's a dual timeline to back when Mac's sister had her accident and then some things also happened with Ben and Jenny, or things also happened, almost happened, with Ben and Jenny, like they almost got together back in the day, and then you also cut to the timeline of present day. So you really get a lot of background about Mac's sister, their interactions, and I don't want to elaborate anymore because I don't want to spoil it too much If you haven't read The Write Place. I would recommend going in order, if you can, because this one gives you a lot of good background that you weren't able to get in the first one because that wasn't the point of the story, but it all ties into the story here. So I really enjoyed this.
Kristen Bahls:You know you might think okay, a romance between two teachers, sure, but I found that the teaching parts were relatable and I just really appreciated like a story between just two teachers falling in love. Their classrooms get moved next to each other. It's super cute. They have a lot of cute banter like says definitely a slow burn. And there aren't like there just aren't really any totally crazy plotlines or anything and it's just a really cozy story. But I will say that there's a lot of emotions, there's a lot of grief, so it's not as if it's just fluffy. It's not fluffy, it's just kind of cozy, but in like an emotionally mature way, if that makes sense. And I really enjoyed this. I just liked it so much so I gave it five stars. And then the next one that I gave five stars is her newest novel that just came out recently and it is the third in the Leade Park series. So this is called The Write Choice by Allie Samberts. Like I said, I gave it five stars.
Kristen Bahls:Spice level on this is a four. It felt like it's a little bit spicier than the second book and it is also open door romance. But don't forget she always puts a page number, so you can skip. And both of those are on Kindle Unlimited if you have a subscription, but of course you can buy them as well in a physical book or you can buy the e-book.
Kristen Bahls:So Katie and Brandon are married with kids. Katie got pregnant with her first son, Mason, in college, and Katie and Brandon get married after Brandon is finally able to convince Katie. She's afraid that he's just trying to marry her because she got pregnant, but that is not the case. He loves her and he takes like an entire year to prove it to her and it's really sweet. But now they have two kids and Brandon works all hours at his architect office. And Katie's feeling overwhelmed with all the tasks that she's not getting help with as a mom and she's basically kind of feeling somewhat like a single mom because he's always at work. And she's also battling some intense feelings around her alcoholism that she dealt with in the past. And after one minor slip up and a late night submission to Brandon, he decides to move his wife and kids to Chicago from New York to try to save his marriage. He does a lot of this without telling Katie, which is not her favorite, and so Brandon has to prove that he can take care of his family while heading up this new architecture firm as his parents hand him a huge project at Leade Park High School. So you are going to get a lot of the Leade Park crew in this novel and even though it isn't like completely teacher centered, because both Brandon and Katie are not teachers, there's still the project at the school and you're going to see a lot of Mac, Daniel, Jenny and Ben. So, you still get a lot of like teacher stuff in there, with those school aspects and then, of course, getting the kids in school as well.
Kristen Bahls:I really enjoyed this one and I just found that I was like always reading to find out what was next, like I didn't want to put it down. I wanted to go to the next chapter, and this is not my normal trope, I will be honest, because I'm not married and I don't have kids, so I don't tend to gravitate towards marriage and crisis. But if you do like that trope, this is just really well done. Probably I have again. I haven't read a lot of marriage and crisis, but I would say that this is the best marriage and crisis trope novel that I've found. I liked it better than a lot of others that I've read with that trope. So, yeah, I would say it's definitely one of the best. It's just really well done, it's realistic, it's a slow burn romance with a married couple and yeah, it works. I really enjoyed it, for sure, and I mean I found like aspects of it relatable and yeah, I don't know, pick it up, read it. I would definitely say that it is a good read and Allie will give you some background in the novel about the character. So if you haven't read the others, you can do that. But it's just not the same, like you don't get the richness of it if you don't read them in publication order. So take your pick. But yeah, I really enjoyed it and I would recommend this, especially if you're looking for a book about a mom and marriage and crisis. This would be your kind of novel.
Kristen Bahls:And last on the list for today we have The Love Audit by Annah Conwell. I talked about this a little bit on the Valentine's Day episode. I gave this one three stars. It is a contemporary romance and it is completely clean. And I'm pretty sure it is also self published, based on what I saw on Goodreads and Amazon, and this is the first of the Sweet Peach series and it's available on Kindle Unlimited.
Kristen Bahls:So Charlotte Parker is an auditor at work and she has to work with her arch nemesis, slash software developer Callum Sterling, and the two must learn to work together as they start a project that seems to be filled with snafus. This has the enemies to lovers trope and forced proximity in here. It was cute. It was cute. Like I said, it has enemies to lovers, which is a trope I tend to like. It was different. Being in an office like this is a workplace romance, and I thought it was different having an auditor and a developer. It wasn't one of those like cookie cutter careers that you always, you know, have a lot of like romances in.
Kristen Bahls:This was something a little bit different, and it takes place in Georgia. I don't know why half of these novels take place in Georgia, but apparently that is just the best place to set them in. So anyway, like I said, it was cute. It was cute. There was a slight, like very slight mystery element kind of interwoven in, but it was pretty obvious to pick out the saboteur and, compared to other romances, like it was just okay. So if this plot line, though, does sound good to you, then it definitely could be up your alley.
Kristen Bahls:It does have really good ratings on good reads. But for me, I think I just listened to so many books and I've been reading and listening and consuming so many romance novels lately that this was cute, it was good. I did listen to the whole thing on audiobook, which for me that is not a guarantee, so it was good enough for me to want to finish it. It's just I don't know that I would classify this in my favorites and it was okay. But again, what's okay for me may be like right in your favorite trope range and it was cute. The banter between them was cute.
Kristen Bahls:But it may be worth a try, wasn't totally for me. Didn't hate it by any means, just didn't love it, just thought it was like kind of solidly in the middle. So that is why it got three stars and those. Those were all the books I've been recently reading. Like I said, I am halfway to like 70% of the way done with probably about three or four of the books. So you will get more diversity in genre in the next currently recently read episode. I will get that title right. Yes, I will. That's it today. On Where I Left Off a Bookish Podcast. Tune in next time.