In honor of my first day at my new job at my favor In honor of my first day at my new job at my favorite local coffee shop (everyone say “YAY!” 🥳)… would you take the characters from your current read for a cup of coffee? ☕️

💎 I feel like it would be so fascinating to take Brynja, Ballast, and Saga from When the Light Returns to go get coffee. I’d have so many questions about their magic!

🐦‍🔥 I would give anything to take the entire group of characters from Ruin and Rising to get coffee. It would be such a dream to talk to the people from my favorite series!

📖 To sit down and have a chat with Diana and Matthew from The Book of Life over coffee would be incredible. They’re both so intelligent and I think I’d just sit there gaping at them the entire time!

♟️Honestly, I’d be thrilled to have coffee with *anyone* from The Inheritance Games universe. They’re BRILLIANT and I want to pick their brains for hours on end. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Have you read any of the books I’m currently reading? 📚

—

#fantasyreads #fantasybooklover #bookcommunity #cozyreads #bookishvibes escapism, book hangover, fantasy world-building, book recs, reread worthy, books and coffee
Tell me about some of the media you’re obsessed wi Tell me about some of the media you’re obsessed with that’s unrelated to books! 🫢

Last summer, along with the rest of *absolutely everyone*, I watched KPop Demon Hunters... and fell head over heels in love with every single thing about it 🙈 

It was a chain reaction of epic proportions 💥 I watched it about a week after it premiered because I kept seeing it online. I liked it, watched it again a week later, LOVED it, suggested it to friends who suggested it to their friends, started deep-diving into all of the behind-the-scenes info, wound up listening to the soundtrack so much that my entire Spotify Wrapped was just songs from that album, still somehow manage to talk about it nonstop to everyone I encounter, and I can’t WAIT for the sequel. Let’s just say it kinda became my personality 😂

Along with KPDH, I spent the last year and some change obsessing over One Tree Hill (first time watching it, got to meet some of the cast last summer, have turned Wilmington into my second home, you know... normal obsessed fan things 😉) and Marielle Kraft’s music (SO FREAKING GOOD. Saw her in concert and got to meet her as well and she’s the sweetest human) 🤎

Do we have any obsessions in common? 🤝🏼

—

#kpopdemonhunters #bookphotography #bookishvibes #bookaesthetic #booknerd cozy read, weekend read, book photography, cozy aesthetic, bookish
Recommend a book that feels like a fairytale 🧚🏼‍♀️ Recommend a book that feels like a fairytale 🧚🏼‍♀️

Recently, I finished THE SUN AND THE STARMAKER by @timesnewrachel ☀️ While it was quite different from the modern, witchy fantasy books I’ve come to associate with her (otherwise known as some of my favorite books of all time), she has created a signature style of storytelling that made reading *this book* feel like coming home 🥰

I felt it instantly when I sensed her intense love for nature and the earth woven through the story, paired with such atmospheric writing that I regularly forgot I was not *in* the ethereal, whimsical world I was reading about 🌌 I felt it again in the way she writes of longing and love so powerful that there’s no doubt the characters will overcome every obstacle they face together 🤎 I felt it once more when I began to cry over supporting characters that (possibly) weren’t meant to elicit such strong emotions in the first place 🥹

THE SUN AND THE STARMAKER was everything I could possibly hope and dream a fairytale would be. It was beautiful and magical, and left me feeling so filled with joy and hope. It’s an absolute masterpiece 🙌🏼

Have you read this or any of Rachel’s other books? 📚

—

#fantasyreads #fantasybooklover #thesunandthestarmaker #rachelgriffin #fairytalebooks escapism, book hangover, fantasy books, book recs, reread worthy, favorite author
Tell me the last vampire book you read 🧛🏻‍♀️ I go Tell me the last vampire book you read 🧛🏻‍♀️

I gotta be real honest with y’all... I don’t read a ton of vampire books 😅 I was a wolf girly starting in middle school, and that really hasn’t changed much. I do love a good vampire book, but they haven’t always been my favorite supernatural creature 🙈

However, maybe due to the V.E. Schwab magic, I absolutely adored Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil 😍 It was precisely as toxic as she promised it would be, and I ATE IT UP. It was dark, seductive, sometimes bloody, and there was never a dull moment. I genuinely didn’t want it to end.

Have you read this one yet? 📖

—

#buryourbonesinthemidnightsoil #veschwab #vampirebooks #fantasyreads #fantasybooklover supernatural fantasy, book hangover, fantasy world-building, book recs, reread worthy, sapphic, late-night chapters @veschwabfeatures
Do you pay close attention to monthly releases? 📖 Do you pay close attention to monthly releases? 📖

For several years, I would write a blog article every month that included somewhere between 20-40 new releases 🫢 While I was working my previous job, I didn’t have the opportunity to blog, let alone pay attention to new releases, and I feel like I missed SO MANY 🙈 

I’m happy to be back to blogging semi-regularly, and equally thrilled to be back in the habit of knowing which books are coming out each month! 🙌🏼 If you swipe through, you can see 24 March releases and their corresponding release dates 🗓️

Which of these titles are you most looking forward to reading? 🤎

—

#bookcommunity #bookphotography #bookaesthetic #cozyreads #readersofinstagram cozy read, new book releases, fantasy books, book recs, TBR, romance books, late-night chapters
Do you have a library card? 🪪 Ya girl is the self Do you have a library card? 🪪

Ya girl is the self-proclaimed biggest fan of the library to ever walk the earth 🌍 Okay, that could be an exaggeration, but most of the time it doesn’t feel like one. I cried with happiness over my first library card as a kid, and I won’t purchase a book until I’ve borrowed it from the library and loved it enough to own it. I have 5 library cards, swear by Libby and Hoopla for all of my audiobooks and ebooks, and at this point, I feel like an Arthur tattoo might be necessary (IYKYK) 😂

But I digress... February is National Library Lovers’ Month, and I think you should get a library card (or 5) and celebrate not only the perk of FREE BOOKS but also the countless ways public libraries are integral to our lives and communities! 🙌🏼

What was the last library book you checked out? 📖

—

#nationallibraryloversmonth #libraryloversmonth #bookcommunity #bookphotography #readersofinstagram support your public library, library lovers, bookish vibes, cozy aesthetic, book nerd
If you could only recommend one book for the rest If you could only recommend one book for the rest of your life, what would it be? 📖

This one has been an easy answer for me since 2020, when I read THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY. It completely changed my life.

Since then, I have recommended it to countless people, and have felt intense amounts of joy as I’ve seen those people recommend it to others, buy copies for friends, suggest it for their book clubs, and come back to me to tell me how it changed their life just like it changed mine 🥰

Which book would you say changed your life for the better? 🤎

—

#themidnightlibrary #magicalrealism #mentalhealthbooks #bookcommunity #bookishvibes Matt Haig, books with mental health rep, magical realism books, book recs, favorite books, escapism, book hangover, reread worthy, comfort book
Would you want to have the same occupation as the Would you want to have the same occupation as the main character(s) in your last read? 💼

I recently finished Thunderhead, and I absolutely would *NOT* want to be a Scythe! 🙅🏻‍♀️ I also definitely wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of the royalty in my other previous read, A Psalm of Storms and Silence 😬

Is there a book character’s “career” that you know you would love to have? 💭

—

#bookcommunity #bookphotography #bookaesthetic #cozyaesthetic #readersofinstagram current read, currently reading, cozy aesthetic, escapism, late-night chapters, what I’m reading
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Books, Reviews · October 25, 2021

Book Review: How Sweet It Is by Dylan Newton

A huge thank-you to Forever for the review copy of How Sweet It Is by Dylan Newton.

If you want something festive to read this fall but aren’t interested in getting totally spooked, then How Sweet It Is was made for you.

When I first read the synopsis for this book, I instantly knew I was going to love it. An event planner known for her happily ever afters has to plan a book launch for a horror author known as the “Knight of Nightmares”? Yes, please!

It was such a sweet surprise when I received a box of goodies from Forever (an imprint of Grand Central Publishing) and they happened to include a copy of How Sweet It Is! I immediately moved around my planned TBR to read it right away.

This book is really lighthearted and could easily be read in one sitting. It was an excellent escape and a truly fantastic kickstart to the autumn season. I know it’ll be one of my annual fall reads!


Looking for more book reviews?
Click here for the reviews archive

My honest review of How Sweet It Is by Dylan Newton.

Synopsis:

What happens when the queen of romance falls for the king of horror–you get “a hilarious rom-com romp,” perfect for fans of Beach Read. (Kirkus, starred review)

Event planner Kate Sweet is famous for creating the perfect happily-ever-after moment for her clients’ dream weddings. So how is it that her best friend has roped her into planning a bestselling horror writer’s book launch extravaganza? But the second Kate meets—or rather, accidentally maims—the drop-dead-hot Drake Matthews, her well-ordered life quickly transforms into an absolute nightmare.

Drake Matthews is tired of the spotlight and tired of his reputation as the Knight of Nightmares. He’s really a nice guy! But he’s not prepared for Kate, a fearless agent of chaos in steel-tipped stilettos, or for that sweet sting of attraction he feels for her. She’s inspiring him to take his writing in a whole new direction—one that no one expects. Because now Kate and Drake are changing up the rules, and this plot twist might just surprise everyone . . . including themselves.

My Rating: ★★★★★

Content Warnings: (moderate) Bullying, (minor) death of a parent

How Sweet It Is is such a heart-warming, cozy book that is absolutely perfect to read during autumn! It’s been over a month since I first picked it up and I’m still thinking about how cute it was. That’s always a good sign if you ask me!

The mismatched romantic pairing was so much fun and really creative too. An event planner known for her “happily ever afters” who has to put together a book launch for a horror author known as the “Knight of Nightmares”? It’s a cuteness catastrophe waiting to happen!

I loved how Kate had to fight through her fears to really create the perfect event for Drake. From locking herself into a mausoleum while he did research for a book – to hanging out in a haunted attic in order to scheme up the right vibes for the spooky event. And then there’s poor Drake who really wants to just write a romance novel but is afraid to go public with the fact that he’s a closet hopeless romantic since he’s known for the scariest of scary books. I was totally hooked as these two navigated the tricky “this is a professional relationship so we can’t be romantic but we’re totally into each other” waters.

The big “upset” in the second half of the book could be seen coming from a mile away, but I didn’t care in the slightest. The way they worked through their frustration with the situation was done well and even though it was predictable, I never lost interest. Plus, it all happened right after the steamiest part of the book, so I was still intrigued because of that spicy sequence! *wink wink*

One of the great things about this book was how interesting the secondary characters were! It made me think to myself, “I hope that there will be a sequel or tie-in with so-and-so…” SURE ENOUGH, the author is planning to do exactly that, which makes me so happy! I don’t have to say goodbye to the fun cast of characters who were written for this story! I truly can’t wait to find out what happens next.


purchase the book
How Sweet It Is – Amazon | Book Depository | Bookshop | Target

Will you be reading How Sweet It Is?


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In: Books, Reviews · Tagged: book recommendations, book review, book suggestions, books for fall, fall books, How Sweet It Is, How Sweet It Is by Dylan Newton, romance books, romcom

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9 Comments
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Vourneen
4 years ago

I love a lighthearted book and this sounds great! Thanks for sharing your review.
P.s. your blog is beautiful!

Reply
Jo Linsdell
4 years ago

How Sweet It Is by Dylan Newton sounds like a great read for this season. I love a good rom-com.

Reply
readandreviewit
4 years ago

Great review! This sounds like such a cute read, both Kate and Drake sound amazing and I always love reading books about authors so I think I’d find this one really interesting! Thanks for sharing, I’ve added this to my tbr x

Reply
Neely Moldovan
4 years ago

Oh this sounds right up my alley! Will for sure add it to my TBR list!

Reply
Merry Sari
4 years ago

That sounds like a great pick, Steph! I haven’t read this book and would love to add this to my TBR. Thanks for sharing your review x

Reply
Michelle Gast
4 years ago

Great review. Now I want to read it. Thanks for sharing. Adding to my book list!
~Michelle
https://michellescrazybusylife.net

Reply
Lovely
4 years ago

This sounds perfect for the season. Lovely review, I’ll add this to my reading list.
xoxo
Lovely
http://www.mynameislovely.com

Reply
Megan Elliott
4 years ago

This sounds like such a cute book! I’m usually not a huge fan of romance but sometimes it’s a nice change of pace. We could all use some lighthearted, easy reads between the heavier ones!

Reply
Amanda
4 years ago

You never steer me wrong in book suggestions– this one sounds super cute! I love that it has some spooky tie-ins, perfect for when I need a break from thrillers this season.

Reply
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In honor of my first day at my new job at my favor In honor of my first day at my new job at my favorite local coffee shop (everyone say “YAY!” 🥳)… would you take the characters from your current read for a cup of coffee? ☕️

💎 I feel like it would be so fascinating to take Brynja, Ballast, and Saga from When the Light Returns to go get coffee. I’d have so many questions about their magic!

🐦‍🔥 I would give anything to take the entire group of characters from Ruin and Rising to get coffee. It would be such a dream to talk to the people from my favorite series!

📖 To sit down and have a chat with Diana and Matthew from The Book of Life over coffee would be incredible. They’re both so intelligent and I think I’d just sit there gaping at them the entire time!

♟️Honestly, I’d be thrilled to have coffee with *anyone* from The Inheritance Games universe. They’re BRILLIANT and I want to pick their brains for hours on end. 
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Have you read any of the books I’m currently reading? 📚

—

#fantasyreads #fantasybooklover #bookcommunity #cozyreads #bookishvibes escapism, book hangover, fantasy world-building, book recs, reread worthy, books and coffee
Tell me about some of the media you’re obsessed wi Tell me about some of the media you’re obsessed with that’s unrelated to books! 🫢

Last summer, along with the rest of *absolutely everyone*, I watched KPop Demon Hunters... and fell head over heels in love with every single thing about it 🙈 

It was a chain reaction of epic proportions 💥 I watched it about a week after it premiered because I kept seeing it online. I liked it, watched it again a week later, LOVED it, suggested it to friends who suggested it to their friends, started deep-diving into all of the behind-the-scenes info, wound up listening to the soundtrack so much that my entire Spotify Wrapped was just songs from that album, still somehow manage to talk about it nonstop to everyone I encounter, and I can’t WAIT for the sequel. Let’s just say it kinda became my personality 😂

Along with KPDH, I spent the last year and some change obsessing over One Tree Hill (first time watching it, got to meet some of the cast last summer, have turned Wilmington into my second home, you know... normal obsessed fan things 😉) and Marielle Kraft’s music (SO FREAKING GOOD. Saw her in concert and got to meet her as well and she’s the sweetest human) 🤎

Do we have any obsessions in common? 🤝🏼

—

#kpopdemonhunters #bookphotography #bookishvibes #bookaesthetic #booknerd cozy read, weekend read, book photography, cozy aesthetic, bookish
Recommend a book that feels like a fairytale 🧚🏼‍♀️ Recommend a book that feels like a fairytale 🧚🏼‍♀️

Recently, I finished THE SUN AND THE STARMAKER by @timesnewrachel ☀️ While it was quite different from the modern, witchy fantasy books I’ve come to associate with her (otherwise known as some of my favorite books of all time), she has created a signature style of storytelling that made reading *this book* feel like coming home 🥰

I felt it instantly when I sensed her intense love for nature and the earth woven through the story, paired with such atmospheric writing that I regularly forgot I was not *in* the ethereal, whimsical world I was reading about 🌌 I felt it again in the way she writes of longing and love so powerful that there’s no doubt the characters will overcome every obstacle they face together 🤎 I felt it once more when I began to cry over supporting characters that (possibly) weren’t meant to elicit such strong emotions in the first place 🥹

THE SUN AND THE STARMAKER was everything I could possibly hope and dream a fairytale would be. It was beautiful and magical, and left me feeling so filled with joy and hope. It’s an absolute masterpiece 🙌🏼

Have you read this or any of Rachel’s other books? 📚

—

#fantasyreads #fantasybooklover #thesunandthestarmaker #rachelgriffin #fairytalebooks escapism, book hangover, fantasy books, book recs, reread worthy, favorite author
Tell me the last vampire book you read 🧛🏻‍♀️ I go Tell me the last vampire book you read 🧛🏻‍♀️

I gotta be real honest with y’all... I don’t read a ton of vampire books 😅 I was a wolf girly starting in middle school, and that really hasn’t changed much. I do love a good vampire book, but they haven’t always been my favorite supernatural creature 🙈

However, maybe due to the V.E. Schwab magic, I absolutely adored Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil 😍 It was precisely as toxic as she promised it would be, and I ATE IT UP. It was dark, seductive, sometimes bloody, and there was never a dull moment. I genuinely didn’t want it to end.

Have you read this one yet? 📖

—

#buryourbonesinthemidnightsoil #veschwab #vampirebooks #fantasyreads #fantasybooklover supernatural fantasy, book hangover, fantasy world-building, book recs, reread worthy, sapphic, late-night chapters @veschwabfeatures
Do you pay close attention to monthly releases? 📖 Do you pay close attention to monthly releases? 📖

For several years, I would write a blog article every month that included somewhere between 20-40 new releases 🫢 While I was working my previous job, I didn’t have the opportunity to blog, let alone pay attention to new releases, and I feel like I missed SO MANY 🙈 

I’m happy to be back to blogging semi-regularly, and equally thrilled to be back in the habit of knowing which books are coming out each month! 🙌🏼 If you swipe through, you can see 24 March releases and their corresponding release dates 🗓️

Which of these titles are you most looking forward to reading? 🤎

—

#bookcommunity #bookphotography #bookaesthetic #cozyreads #readersofinstagram cozy read, new book releases, fantasy books, book recs, TBR, romance books, late-night chapters
Do you have a library card? 🪪 Ya girl is the self Do you have a library card? 🪪

Ya girl is the self-proclaimed biggest fan of the library to ever walk the earth 🌍 Okay, that could be an exaggeration, but most of the time it doesn’t feel like one. I cried with happiness over my first library card as a kid, and I won’t purchase a book until I’ve borrowed it from the library and loved it enough to own it. I have 5 library cards, swear by Libby and Hoopla for all of my audiobooks and ebooks, and at this point, I feel like an Arthur tattoo might be necessary (IYKYK) 😂

But I digress... February is National Library Lovers’ Month, and I think you should get a library card (or 5) and celebrate not only the perk of FREE BOOKS but also the countless ways public libraries are integral to our lives and communities! 🙌🏼

What was the last library book you checked out? 📖

—

#nationallibraryloversmonth #libraryloversmonth #bookcommunity #bookphotography #readersofinstagram support your public library, library lovers, bookish vibes, cozy aesthetic, book nerd
If you could only recommend one book for the rest If you could only recommend one book for the rest of your life, what would it be? 📖

This one has been an easy answer for me since 2020, when I read THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY. It completely changed my life.

Since then, I have recommended it to countless people, and have felt intense amounts of joy as I’ve seen those people recommend it to others, buy copies for friends, suggest it for their book clubs, and come back to me to tell me how it changed their life just like it changed mine 🥰

Which book would you say changed your life for the better? 🤎

—

#themidnightlibrary #magicalrealism #mentalhealthbooks #bookcommunity #bookishvibes Matt Haig, books with mental health rep, magical realism books, book recs, favorite books, escapism, book hangover, reread worthy, comfort book
Would you want to have the same occupation as the Would you want to have the same occupation as the main character(s) in your last read? 💼

I recently finished Thunderhead, and I absolutely would *NOT* want to be a Scythe! 🙅🏻‍♀️ I also definitely wouldn’t want to be in the shoes of the royalty in my other previous read, A Psalm of Storms and Silence 😬

Is there a book character’s “career” that you know you would love to have? 💭

—

#bookcommunity #bookphotography #bookaesthetic #cozyaesthetic #readersofinstagram current read, currently reading, cozy aesthetic, escapism, late-night chapters, what I’m reading
Is there an author who consistently writes books t Is there an author who consistently writes books that bring you to tears? 😭

I have cried while reading every single one of Amber’s books... and that’s only a small part of what keeps me coming back for more 🤎

I’m struggling with even knowing how to put in words what her books mean to me, because even thinking about it is making me tear up 🥹 So instead of trying to craft the perfect thing to say, I’m just going to urge you to read everything she’s written. You can thank me later 🙏🏼

What was the last book that made you cry? 📖

—

#theleavingroom #booklover #bookcommunity #cozyreads #bookishvibes poetry, Amber McBride, The Leaving Room, sapphic books, books that will make you cry, book hangover, book recs, reread worthy, late-night chapters
Who are your favorite book pets? 🐈‍⬛ I absolutely Who are your favorite book pets? 🐈‍⬛

I absolutely love when a book has animals in it—whether that’s someone’s pet, familiar, or when the animal is the main character 😻

I’m always absurdly happy when there’s a cat, and if they have a creative name it’s even better. I think the stand-out for me was a cat named The Darkling in Accidentally Amy. I’ll never forget it! 😂

Do you have a furbaby companion? Tell me all about them! 🐾

—

#cozyreads #readingescape #bookishvibes #bookaesthetic #booknerd book animals, cats of Instagram, book cats, fantasy books, romance books, cozy aesthetic

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