Riches to Rags by Casey L. Bond

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 448
Standalone
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Fairy-tell retelling, Cinderella
Published: Oct 31st, 2017
Rating: 5 stars

Synopsis:

Most girls dream of being princesses, but one princess just wants to be a normal girl.

Ella Carina, crown princess of Aelawyn, knows brutality and lies—she’s seen the way her father rules. Princess. Possession. To her father, the words had the same meaning. She was only as valuable as the alliance formed with her betrothal. Her freedom comes from an unlikely place: an attack on the castle.

When the conquering King offers to protect her from the betrothal her father arranged for political gain, she consents. Hiding her within a peasant family is the only way to keep her and her secret safe.

In this simpler life, Ella flourishes and catches the eye of the local Blacksmith’s son. For once, she can be herself and make her own choices, but the life of a princess—even one kept secret—was never meant to be easy.

Trevor, crown prince of Galder has been searching for Ella, but not because of their betrothal. She is in grave danger from the very people who hid her away. His plan is to show her the truth and help her to safety.

Nothing goes as planned. When Trevor finds her, it’s to discover she’s fallen in love with a peasant. Now he has two goals: help her regain her throne… and show her that she belongs with him.

Review:

I didn’t read the synopsis for this when I got it. I just saw the cover and say it was a retelling and jumped fully in. I am so glad I did.

Fair warning: Spoilers

On days like this, the castle served more as a prison than as our home. It was a gilded cage.

Ella’s father rules their kingdom harshly. Ella only knows how to stay in her room and to answer when called. So when a neighboring kingdom comes, kills her family, and whisks her away to their land, Ella doesn’t know how to feel.

She is given the choice to go through with her betrothal or can be hidden with a peasant family. She chooses the latter. After three years of hiding, she starts to go to the village and live her life in the most simple way. But the prince she once was betrothed to has now found her and warns her against the king that once hid her for her safety.

But could anyone ever truly be ready for war?

Oh after the few books I have read back to back and not in love, this was a breath of fresh air. I loved the story. I loved the characters and growth. I especially loved the ending. Oh, it just feels me with glee. Another rendering of the Cinderella story that I love. Going to have to read the other retellings this author has written.

One Faithful Prayer by T.K. Chapin

My edition: Kindle unlimited
Pages: 182
Series: Faithful Love #1
Genre: Christian, Second-chance romance
Published: April 10, 2020
Rating: 3 stars

Synopsis:

What if your lie helped someone?

Taylor never meant to keep the secret hidden for so long. She never meant to hurt him, never meant to hurt anyone. She was only doing what she felt was the right thing.

Someone is about to find out Taylor’s secret…

Can you forgive when the sin is this big? Or are some sins unforgivable?

One Faithful Prayer is an inspirational Christian romance about past hurts, healing, and the power of God in a Christian’s life. Inspiring and uplifting, this story encourages faithful Christians who seek to grow in their relationship and understanding of Jesus Christ.

Review:

This one didn’t excite me. I loved certain aspects such as the prayers and the characters talking to God. BUT… everything else…

The story was told but not shown. I can’t even tell you what the characters look like. If I was told I don’t remember. While the story had potential I just didn’t feel anything when the characters interacted with each other.

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

My edition: Paperback owned
Pages: 395
Stand alone
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Published: Jan 13, 2015
Rating:

Synopsis:

Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. “Jess and Jason,” she calls them. Their life—as she sees it—is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy. And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar. Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…

Review:

To be truthful with you, I was quite scared to pick this one up. I can’t even remember how this book came into my possession. It is a hyped-up book and with hyped-up books there comes expectations though one tries to keep an open mind. I remember reading some reviews on this but it has been so long ago. I also remember starting the movie but I didn’t finish it. I think I stopped it due to wanting to read the book first.

Fair warning: Spoilers

Life is not a paragraph, and death is no parenthesis.

At first, I could not tell you exactly what was going on but the writing was good enough for me to continue. There are multiple POVs. The first is Rachel who is an alcoholic and it starts in the year 2013. The next is Megan who is the “Jess” to Rachel and it starts in 2012. The third is Anna who also starts in 2013.

Characters:

Rachel- Yall I do feel bad for her. She deals with not being able to get pregnant by drinking her sorrows away. Her husband instead of being supportive and trying to get her help or even understand her side cheats on her. (If you continue reading I explain what I think of him.)

Megan- She is complicated. I hate that she cheated on her husband with her therapist (with who I have a whole list of problems). The backstory we get on her does make me feel bad for her and also not like her even more at the same time.

Tom- I do not like Tom. I can understand to a point of not feeling like in your marriage that you are enough for your wife. BUT that DOES NOT give you the right to cheat!! Especially when your wife is going through something. So Rachel became an alcoholic due to her not being able to have children. She fell hard into a depression. Instead of trying to work it out, get help or something this dude cheats on her, divorces her, moves in the new wife who is able to have children. I mean how crappy of a guy. Also if you don’t want your ex stalking you or bothering you, why don’t you move and change your cell numbers. Tom is a coward. Plain and simple.

Scott- This guy confused me. I’m not quite sure how I feel about him.

Anna- I was going to give Anna the benefit of the doubt like maybe she didn’t know Tom was married, but then I came to her first point of view and I instantly hated her. Here is a quote from Anna.- “Everyone told me I was insane to agree to move in to Tom’s house. But then everyone thought I was insane to get involved with a married man, let alone a married man whose wife was highly unstable, and I’ve proved them wrong on that one.” No, Anna what you proved was that you are a horrible human being. There is even pride in what she did. She doesn’t care that she helped an already spiraling woman go off the deep end. She has no right to play victim especially when she knew the mindset that Rachel was in.

On all the characters I have no idea (except Tom and Anna) how to fully feel about them. They are all horrible in their own way. There was not one character I rooted for or even would care how they ended up. I just wanted to know what the heck was going on.

By the way, the little bit of the movie I did see seemed to focus too much on the sex and not on gripping us with the mystery. So I highly doubt I’ll waste my time watching the movie.

My Life with the Walter Boys by Ali Novak

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 360
Series: My Life with the Walter Boys #1
Genre: YA, High School
Published: Mar 1, 2014
Rating:

Synopsis:

My Life with the Walter Boys centers on the prim, proper, and always perfect Jackie Howard. When her world is turned upside down by tragedy, Jackie must learn to cut loose and be part of a family again.

Jackie does not like surprises. Chaos is the enemy! The best way to get her successful, busy parents to notice her is to be perfect. The perfect look, the perfect grades-the perfect daughter. And then…

Surprise #1: Jackie’s family dies in a freak car accident.

Surprise #2: Jackie has to move cross-country to live with the Walters-her new guardians.

Surprise #3: The Walters have twelve sons. (Well, eleven, but Parker acts like a boy anyway)

Now Jackie must trade in her Type A personality and New York City apartment for a Colorado ranch and all the wild Walter boys who come with it. Jackie is surrounded by the enemy-loud, dirty, annoying boys who have no concept of personal space. Okay, several of the oldest guys are flat-out gorgeous. But still annoying. She’s not stuck-up or boring-no matter what they say. But proving it is another matter. How can she fit in and move on when she needs to keep her parents’ memory alive by living up to the promise of perfect?

Review:

This was cute but one problem. It’s the only book out. There isn’t a second one. There is one that is said to be in the works. I do wish there was another book but since this was published in 2014 and it is now 2022, I doubt it’s coming out.

The way it started I didn’t know if I would even like it. The Walter boys aren’t all boys. There is one girl whose name is Parker and I think she is like seven.

Jackie (who all I could picture was Jackie Burkheart played by the wonderful Mila Kunis) moves to Colorado to live with her mother’s best friend from college. This was pretty much your typical new kid YA story and yes there of course was the love triangle.

I’m not a fan of love triangles and I thoroughly dislike them, even more, when it happens to involve siblings. This ends on somewhat of a cliffhanger but not one that makes me want to throw my computer. One I can live without.

Just One of the Boys by Leah and Kate Rooper

My Edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 214
Series: The Chicago Falcons
Genre: YA, Sports, Romance
Published: October 2, 2017
Rating: 3 stars

Synopsis:

Alice Bell has one goal: to play for the elite junior hockey team the Chicago Falcons. But when she’s passed over at tryouts for being a girl, she’ll do anything to make her dream a reality…even disguising herself as her twin brother. With her amazing skills on the ice, Alice is sure she’ll fit in easily. That is, until she starts falling for one of her teammates…

Hayden Tremblay, star of the Falcons, can’t keep himself out of the penalty box. Constantly living in the shadow of his older brother, Hayden’s losing his passion for hockey. But when he gets shown up on the ice by the Falcons’ new rookie, Hayden’s determined to teach the kid a thing or two. Little does he guess that “Al’s” surprises on the ice are just the beginning…

Review:

Cute but predictible.

Fair warning: SPOILERS

There were three theories I guessed at the beginning. Surprisingly in my third theory, not the whole thing came true.

The theories:

1. To the MC all guys are like teammates until she meets “him”
2. The long-distance boyfriend she has and sees once a month is cheating on her
3. She is going to be caught by somebody, but she did such a good job it doesn’t matter that she’s a girl.

One and two were spot on and three the first part is right not the last.

Hayden and Al are quite adorable in an Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum get close in She’s the man kind of way. This book was giving me major Motorcross vibes only in a hockey way.

To the low down. Two teens, one boy and one girl look eerily similar. Brother gets injured and sister decides she will take his place. Sister gets close to the captain she isn’t supposed to and brother is getting angry. Brother has secrets and sister is slowly finding them out now that she is “him”.

The book lost a star due to taking the Lord’s name in vain. It lost the other star and a half by being predictable and eye-rolly in many places. Though I do wish the next book in the series was still about Hayden and Alice. I’ll think about reading the next one.

Faking it by Madeleine Labitan

My edition: Kindle Unlimited
Pages: 86
Series: Fake Boyfriend Duet
Genre: YA, High School
Published: Dec 13, 2019
Rating: None DNF @ pg 6

Synopsis:

He’s the best kind of revenge a girl can ask for…

Indie Jackson can’t believe her hot senior boyfriend dumped her. She thought they were doing so well. It wasn’t like she was expecting their relationship to last forever. A whole school year was all she was hoping for, really. But it turned out Brad McNeely had other plans…and they didn’t include her.

When her best friend suggests they come up with a revenge plan, Indie seriously considers it—egging her ex-boyfriend’s beloved car does sound tempting. But not quite as tempting as Grayson Turner’s—her best friend’s brother—advice: get a fake boyfriend to make Brad jealous.

Totally crazy? Yes. Completely juvenile? Oh, definitely. But Indie believes she can pull it off. Now, she just has to convince the guy she has in mind to get with the program.

After all, it was his idea to begin with…

Review:

Completely juvenile? Yes, yes it is.

How to say this without being cruel? The writing style was juvenile sounding. The MC is full of herself and acts kind of self-absorbed. If she changes later in the book, good for her, but I can’t be along for that ride. I just couldn’t get through this.

Not for me. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m almost thirty and this is just too young for me or if it’s the fact it is written too young that does it. Does that make sense?