jennstrub's reviews
54 reviews

In The Game by Sloane St. James

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh. my. god.

Swift and Saddled by Lyla Sage

emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I’m really loving Lyla Sage’s debut series!! whereas with the first book the mmc was a playboy with a difficult family/past and the fmc struggling with adhd and not talking through her emotions/issues, this second one covers topics that hit even closer to home. Ada feels like she doesn’t belong anywhere. In her first marriage sue mistakes control for care and even though she loved herself, her husband didn’t love her or praise her in the way that she should have. She seems to always want to flee, like her husband did to her: in her eyes if people think they like her as a person they won’t feel that way for long and they’ll soon realize that she isn’t a nice person. Wes deals with major depressive disorder. He struggles in finding a routine that works for him where his depression floods in and consumes him. Working on the ranch and with his dream of building the guest house, he’s found a routine, but worries at what turn the depression will creep back in. Together there story is so powerful and oh. my. god. how one hot night in a dark bar can change everything. and that same tension and hear carried throughout the entire book 4/5⭐️

Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really liked that the author, lyla sage, shed more light on topics surrounding ADHD. I saw a lot of myself in the FMC emmy and even more in brooks. there were parts of this story that I wanted to sob and others where I was blushing, giggling, and kicking my feet. finished this in a day ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Stand and Defend by Sloane St. James

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I’m on my knees for this entire series and the next book cannot come fast enough!!!!!! 

Strong and Wild by Sloane St. James

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

again, ate. this. up. this series so far is so good and I’m eating through it on my kindle to catch up on my reading goal as I’m behind! oh and one more thing….🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ 😉😉 thank me later

Before We Came by Sloane St. James

emotional funny lighthearted sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

ate. this. up. one of the more unique plot lines I’ve read in a while but sloane st james still kept it a true hockey romance 🫶🏼♾️

Love Unwritten by Lauren Asher

emotional funny lighthearted reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Holy slow burn!!! I’m not a hugggeee fan of slow burn and often times it makes me DNF a book if it’s too dragged out. Luckily, due to Asher’s writing and the unique plot, and the levels so was able to relate to Rafa, Ellie, & Nico, I kept reading and I’m definitely not upset about it! The writing was great and the plot was great which is why I rated it the way I did but the slow burn was a slowwwww burn and imo wasn’t as rewarding when I finally got to it, I would’ve wished for there to be a taste of the two together earlier on into the book but I still loved Rafa & Ellie nonetheless.

Love Redesigned by Lauren Asher

adventurous challenging emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I ate this up — two rivals who love to one up each other meet in college and nearly fall in love until tradgedy  strikes and they don’t see each other for ten years. they go on with their separate lives, each having other romantic partners and nearly building families, until they’re brought back together. they each have their own struggles, of which both povs were incredibly well written and in that they find themselves with a “casual” second chance. but let’s be real, nothing is ever casual when the mmc has been in love with her for 10 years…

Wild Love by Elsie Silver

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I don’t even know where to start. I loved this book and there are no words to put here that describe how fond I was of this book. I loved that Elsie focused this book more so on the MMC (Ford) POV instead of the FMC split 60/40. It really just made the story that much more loveable being able to experience the guys pov of falling first and the girl being oblivious to the guys intentions. I really just didn’t want the story to end, the length and detail was perfect, no complaints, Elsie Silver Supremacy 🤞🏼

Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paige Toon

challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

i had just finished paige’s new book “seven summers” when i decided to jump into this one. it had been on my tbr for over a year and when i looooved seven summers I decided to keep on theme with more of paige’s work. the plot of this one really intrigued me. from reading the back alone i kept wondering what the big secret anders was keeping. i wondered this for the majority of the book until the bomb finally dropped and my jaw was on the floor. however, over halfway through i considered putting the book down and not finishing it because no crazy “love” story had happened yet. as i understood it wasn’t a romance persay, i still expected something more that would keep me reading. nonetheless i persevered and was not disappointed, but because of the lull in the middle i’m only giving it 3.5 stars. paige’s writing is amazing nonetheless and i look forward to reading and enjoying more of her work!