peedsreads's reviews
458 reviews

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing tense medium-paced

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

5.0

OH MY GOD. This book took me seven and a half months to read but it's my favorite book of the year.  Curtis Sittenfeld is so smart and her writing ALWAYS kills me, but this is far and away the biggest hit for me.

I found the character of Sally to be one of the most relatable female characters I've ever read while also having a very different personality from me.  She and I have different senses of humor and demeanors but similar interests, perspectives, and opinions of ourselves.  She is the most confident woman in many rooms, but extremely insecure and self-conscious as well. It's a balance that people struggle to isolate in themselves, and certainly can't recognize in other people, but Curtis captured it and dissected it brilliantly in this book.

Romantic Comedy is a fantastical reality in that most of us can't even dream to be an SNL writer or to have a heart-throb pop star fall head over heals for us, but it is self-aware from start to finish and debates the whole time if this relationship is too-good-to-be-true.  While it is a fantasy, it does not read as fan-fiction because of the disbelief along the way.

Sally is convinced she's not good-looking enough for Noah, and he is sure he is not smart or witty enough for Sally.  They have insane chemistry and butterfly-inducing banter, but then they talk about it later in a candid way that melts my heart.  This book is TEEMING with quotes that I will think about for years to come.  Noah was so endearing when he said his favorite conversations were with Sally and that she made him a funnier man.  That he was proud when he could have quips with her even if they weren't laugh out loud funny because he never has them with anyone else.

There is so much care and questioning about relationships and expectations. And the communication is incredible.  Well the communication about communication that crescendos through the novel.  Sally is a horrible communicator for most of the novel and self-sabotages as a result of her self-doubt in the most painful but ENTIRELY RELATABLE ways.  I think her anti-therapy experience is crucial to understanding how she can be a functioning adult at 35 with these social skills.

The TLC in this book will melt your cold hearts.  I am obsessed and will make no apologies for this being my new personality.

pen pals and realistic pen pals! The way they talk about their past too..... AHHHHHHHH!

also the handling of COVID? it was such an important part of the story without being traumatic, too triggering, or belittling of that shared human experience.

Midnight Ruin by Katee Robert

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I really liked this one. Probably my third favorite. But it had the childhood friends/crush to lovers arc with the opposites attract and dangerous man elements that often hit with me.

I have noticed that the later books in this series rely on the "foreplay" or flirtation in earlier books to believe the couple in the book and we don't get to see the relationships develop and then are left with insta-love. It's just not as satisfying. I will say that for this one it felt better because of the complexity and longevity of their past and that they were still kept apart through this plot. It was very much a book about her accepting her feelings for him instead of developing them.

Anyway, fun with better plot than most of them and maybe my favorite steamy scenes. LOTS of blood and violence in this one though.

Heartstopper Volume 1 by Alice Oseman

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

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

5.0

So stinking cute!!! Idk why I waited so long to read it. Took me over an hour but definitely a one sitting book!!

I 🏃🏼‍♀️ to buy used copies of the entire series online so I could binge it!

The giddy butterflies I felt towards the end?!?!!! Ugh protect these boys at all costs.

Defo gonna binge the books then watch season 2!

Cruel Seduction by Katee Robert

fast-paced

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

3.25

I really liked this one. Not my favorite, and not the most riveting plot or actual romance. But solid smut and no logic plot holes so who can complain?

My first polyamory book for sure.

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

adventurous challenging emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.25

took me forever to read this because the beginning was SLOWWWW and then I put it down to read CC3. Well 5 months later lost in slump city I started craving Rowan/Celaena and leaned into the mood reader in me. Part Two (which begins over halfway through the book) is really where it's at!

I love the characters and am so hyped for where this series is going.  However the pacing is painful. These first four books have been teases and I understand why some people may dnf the series.  I however am invested and powering through.

I hate that there were scenes at the end that had me clapping and bouncing and hype af and then the ending was actually quite lackluster and I'm already dreading the first half of the next book.  Don't worry I already started it. But come on!!!!

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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

3.75

This book was really cute! From the beginning I was enthralled!!! Then if we're being honest the middle kind of dragged and fell flat for me, but then the end had me actually caring about soccer and loving the characters again!

I do think such obvious undiagnosed ADHD and Autism was a choice in the characters, but it also made them very real and relatable. And it was sort of addressed satisfactorily eventually.  The only part of that which was unbelievable was that woke-queen-Phoebe addicted to tik tok hadn't found ADHD tick tock yet, and that she still had so much stigma with the disorder internalized.

But yay for a giddy, spicy, sapphic sports romance!

The Right Move by Liz Tomforde

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted relaxing 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

3.75

It took me OVER A YEAR to read it, but I did it!!! I got like 80% there for book club last year and then lost momentum after discussing the book (and ending) in depth.  But now I was motivated to force through so I can get to Play Along (I just have to read Caught Up first).

This really is a book about two PERFECT characters.

Indy is perfectly relatable and I'm obsessed. I remember reading Mile High and falling for Stevie, thinking THIS IS REAL. THIS IS ME. but then Indy came along and BAM!

Ryan is the perfect book boyfriend. I totally understand why he's everyone's favorite, but the suspension of disbelief went just a little too far for me that it pulled me out of the book.  He was amazing, what fantasies are made of, and low key boring.  WHOOPS!

But I love the couple, I love Liz's writing, and I even though it took me more than a year to read it, I loved the pacing and ups and downs. It felt indie in that it felt like a year in the life and not just one set plot arc that cookie cutter wrapped up.  Like a real relationship.

The Au Pair Affair by Tessa Bailey

adventurous emotional funny hopeful 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? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this book! It wasn't as "binge-able" as Fangirl Down, but had a similar giddy feeling!

This is top-shelf Tessa Bailey! I swear her men are deeper in therapy with each book!

The final act is when it really fell apart for me, but as it was an unedited arc, maybe that was all tidied up before publishing.

Would recommend if you're looking for a 0-100 steamy hockey/nanny/age gap/forced proximity/opposites attract/boy obsessed/he falls first romance set in Boston!!!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the free arc in exchange for an honest review.

Leather & Lark by Brynne Weaver

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

bra-vo Brynne. bra-freaking-vo.

If Taylor Swift puts narcotics into all of her songs, Brynne puts them in all her books.  The magic of her dark romantic comedies is truly remarkable.

If you liked Hit Man, DEFINITELY read Leather & Lark.

The way the timelines of the three books overlap in this series is so intriguing and unique. I can't wait to see where the next one goes.  Fionn and Rose are already setting up camp in my heart.

NO THIRD ACT BREAK UP!!!! and it's so hot.

Just like Butcher & Blackbird it's a slowwww burn, but then it's a bloody inferno.

FERAL

Out On a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

4.5

 Hannah Bonam-Young did it again. Y'all told me this was a book that would make you okay with the pregnancy trope... you didn't prepare me for how freaking goooooood it is!!!

This is also the first novel I've read with amputation representation I'm pretty sure, and DEFINITELY the first book I've read with a small hand. Everything was handled so purposefully, and just well done.

Win and Bo are my everything now. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It's super hot! and also laugh out loud funny. I don't think I've ever giggled or gasped this much at a book in the office. I didn't touch it for a couple weeks between the first 2/3 and the last 1/3 and it was strange how immediate the giggling started again and Will would just look over like wtf dude.