A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara #bookreview

Hello Book Friends, I hope you are all doing well?

WOW!!! Well, I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I grabbed this audiobook!!

After 32hrs of listening to this, I was an exhausted, pool of emotions.

My Review

This story is HARD GOING, it has ALLL the trigger warnings, so please be careful if you decide to read this, it could be very triggering for some.

The story is about 4 friends from college who decide to all move to NYC One is an architect, one is a painter, one is an actor, and one is a lawyer.

This is their story, each of the characters has their own demons to fight, but none as much as Jude.

Jude has his own story to tell, and it is told in heartbreakingly graphic detail, he is not only brilliant, but he is also a broken child-like gay man, who doesn’t really know who he is, and has to rely on Willem to be his emotional crutch and partner.

This is not a fast paced book don’t go in expecting the smash-and-grab experience, you won’t get that here, but what you will get is connection, a connection with every character, but mostly with Willem and Jude and their story.

This is a highly emotional book, and I can tell you that I SOBBED reading this, I cannot warn you enough about the emotion in this book.

There was great representation in here, there are multiple POC, LGBTQ relationships, Disabled representation in an MC, and a really great friendship base between them all.

It also shows mental health issues and how they are perceived.

This book is LONG, 700+ pages, so don’t go into it lightly thinking that it is going to be all hearts and flowers, IT. MOST. DEFINITELY. IS. NOT.

But if you want to read a beautiful story, about friendships, love, loss and horror this is the book for you.

If you were a fly on the wall and lived in a house for years and years, and got to watch every single persons life unfold in front of your eyes, this is what would have been written about it.

TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR EVERYTHING, I’M NOT JOKING AROUND!!!!!

🎧🎧

Narrated by Oliver Wyman who was just amazing, it took me a while to get used to his voice, but he made every character come alive, and I was invested in them all.

Enjoy
Vicci 📚💛✨

Synopsis

When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they’re broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their center of gravity.

Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever.

Purchase Links

Berts Books

Amazon Affiliate Link

Waterstones

What I’m Looking For by Karen Grey @KarenWhitereads @TheRealJoeArden #AudiobookReview

Hello book friends, I hope you are all well?

I was asked by the lovely Karen White (Pen name Karen Grey) to review this wonderful audiobook, and I’m so glad I said YES, as it was so good!!

Also, just look at that stunning cover!!!

My Review

This book was so much fun, taking us back to the 80’s we meet the very awkward Kate Bishop, she is a financial analyst working in an all male office. She tries her best to fit in and be one-of-the-boys, but she mostly fails miserably.

She is brilliant at her job, but she has problems with speaking in front of people, and has trouble with social cues.

While trying to impress her work colleagues, she agrees to go to a social gathering at the local bar, this is where she meets Will, an actor/bartender, who notices how uncomfortable she is, and offers her a drink that won’t end up with her on the bar floor as she really doesn’t do well with alcohol.

Although these two people shouldn’t fit together they do brilliantly, Kate being her usual awkward self doesn’t immediately see the connection, while the Shakespeare spouting young Will does feel a spark.

With lots of 80’s references throughout the book, and the narration by the always brilliant Joe Arden, and the fabulous narration by the author herself, Karen Grey/White has made an instant new fan in me.

It was cute, very funny, and sometimes cringeworthy with some of the characters antics!

The audiobook was done brilliantly, and I loved the added extras such as the answering machine voicemails that were left, it made me very nostalgic.

All in all it was a great read, and I can’t wait to see what the author comes up with next, I wonder if we will have a story for “hot Steve”?

**Thank you so much to Karen White/Grey for reaching out and asking me to review this book, I had so much fun listening to it**

Synopsis

Recipe for a Boston Classic Cocktail: one part finance geek, one part starving actor, two shots of stubborn and a healthy squeeze of passion. Shake well and serve in a vintage glass.

When Kate Bishop walks into Boston’s famous Bull and Finch pub, all she’s looking for is one guy from her investment firm that she can trust to have her back—a tall order. With a salesman at her side, maybe stage fright won’t paralyze her completely when she presents her meticulously prepared research to clients. And maybe she can save her job.

Romance is the last thing on her to-do list, but a meet-cute with a Shakespeare-quoting bartender has her speculating on the value of diversifying her life portfolio.

Will Talbot is not a fan of the slick financiers who cram into his bar after each day’s closing bell. With their calls for Harvey Wallbangers and their Hermès ties, they’re all the same.

Except for a certain beautiful, buttoned-up brunette with fire in her eyes and a storm in her heart. They’re totally wrong for each other. He should be focusing on his upcoming audition, not coaching Kate on how to act like she’s a bona fide member of the Gordon Gekko club.

Problem is, they can’t seem to stay away from each other.

The course of true love never did run smooth, but in this 1980’s sweet-and-sexy rom-com, returns on love can’t be measured on the S&P 500

Purchase Links

Amazon Affiliate Link

Audible UK

The Silent Treatment by Abbie Greaves @AbbieGreaves1 @NetGalley_UK @CornerstoneRH #TheSilentTreatment #BookReview

Hello book friends,
I hope you are all doing well in lockdown and staying safe?

I’m so happy to bring you my review for this lovely book.

My Review

This was such a heartwarming, and also heartbreaking read.

It follows the story of a married couple, Frank and Maggie, seemingly going about their normal day, the book jumps right in to Maggie preparing the evening meal for her and Frank, it then takes a bit more of a sinister turn, when Maggie just sits down at the kitchen table and starts emptying multiple packets of sleeping pills to take. Frank is unaware of what his wife is doing, and he is upstairs playing solitaire on his computer.

You see, even though Maggie and Frank have been happily married for 40 years, for the last 6 months, they haven’t spoken to each other, at all!

When the smoke alarm goes off and doesn’t stop, Frank goes to investigate, and finds Maggie slumped in her chair, with the packets of pills beside her.
After being rushed to hospital she is placed into a medically induced coma, and Frank is told that she might not pull through and that he should encourage her to wake up by talking to her.

But what do you say to someone that you haven’t spoken to for 6 months?

And so Frank begins to tell Maggie the story of them, how they met, and all that has happened in between, but can he eventually tell her why they stopped taking?

We see Maggie and Frank through both of their eyes, and the story they tell is so beautiful, and heartbreaking, and so cleverly written, I was genuinely invested in their marriage.

Please grab this one when you can, you will not be disappointed!

**Many thanks to Netgalley, Cornerstone, and the Author for the digital copy of this book**

Synopsis

Resonant with the emotional power of the bestselling novels of David Nicholls and Jojo Moyes, a rich and poignant debut about lies, loss, and a transcendent love at the heart of a troubled marriage.

A lifetime together.
Six months of silence.
One last chance.

By all appearances, Frank and Maggie share a happy, loving marriage. But for the past six months, they have not spoken. Not a sentence, not a single word. Maggie isn’t sure what, exactly, provoked Frank’s silence, though she has a few ideas.

Day after day, they have eaten meals together and slept in the same bed in an increasingly uncomfortable silence that has become, for Maggie, deafening.

Then Frank finds Maggie collapsed in the kitchen, unconscious, an empty package of sleeping pills on the table. Rushed to the hospital, she is placed in a medically induced coma while the doctors assess the damage.

If she regains consciousness, Maggie may never be the same. Though he is overwhelmed at the thought of losing his wife, will Frank be able to find his voice once again—and explain his withdrawal—or is it too late?

UK Purchase Links

As you are all aware, Indie book sellers are having a pretty rough time at the moment, so I’m going to try to help them out as much as I can by posting the links to their online shops.

Please let me introduce you to Bert’s Books

Waterstones

Amazon Affiliate link

 

 

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell #Audiobook #BookReview #MyDarkVanessa

Hello book friends, how are we all doing so far with the lockdown?
I hope that you are all safe and reading some great books.

One that you won’t go far wrong with, is this one.

My Review

OK, before we start, I need to make something VERY clear, although I occasionally pop in a trigger warning or two if I think a book warrants it.

This one has TRIGGER WARNING written in capital blinking red flashing lights – If you do not like reading about the following, then I would steer clear of this one if it is a trigger for you.

Child abuse
Rape
Manipulation
Grooming
Gas lighting
Emotional abuse

That being said, I still gave this book 5 big stars.

It is a story told from the POV of Vanessa, it flips between now and then, then being when she was a 15 year old school girl.

If you are not aware of the context of the book, here we go!!

Vanessa is 32 years old, and still really struggling with life, she hasn’t settled down with anyone, and finds it incredibly difficult to hold down any kind of relationship with a man. She is in a spiral of drink, drugs and one night stands, that is because she always finds herself drifting back and daydreaming about her ex lover Jacob Strane.

This love affair would be all very well and Ok, BUT this love affair happened when she was 15 years old, and Strane? Well Strane was her Forty Two year old teacher, that she is still in contact with today. Yes you read that right!

Even though we know, and can clearly see the red flags waving helplessly in our faces as we watch 15 yr old Vanessa fall deeply in love with her teacher, he is a master at manipulation, gas-lighting and grooming her, so much so, that she believes that this “relationship” is absolutely real, and when he tells her that he loves her, she doesn’t think anything different, why would she?

His hand slips out from under my skirt and he slides like liquid out of his chair and onto the floor. Kneeling before me, he lays his head on my lap and says, “I’m going to ruin you”.

Strane is an English teacher, who likes to flaunt his cleverness at Vanessa to make her feel inadequate, but also like to make her feel ‘special’ by giving her presents, like a book for example, I mean, what student wouldn’t be happy with a copy of Lolita 😮
But to Vanessa, that book reads like a love story, their love story!!

And this is why Vanessa can not see what is happening to her, even though you as a reader are SCREAMING at her to run, to just tell someone, ANYONE!!

But now Vanessa has reached 32, and Strane is contacting her about a possible sexual abuse case that he is being accused of, but obviously she wasn’t abused, she was different, wasn’t she? And if she is a victim, what does that make her now?

I can’t lose the thing I’ve held onto for so long, you know?” My face twists up from the pain of pushing it out.

“I just really need it to be a love story, you know? I really, really need it to be that.”
“I know,” she says.
“Because if it isn’t a love story, then what is it”?

I look to her glassy eyes, her face of wide open empathy. “It’s my life,” I say. “This has been my whole life.”

Despite the subject content, which is sometimes very graphic (you have been warned) I couldn’t stop listening to this audiobook, the narration was brilliant, and the story was very complex and beautifully written.

I absolutely disagree with the people saying that they are conflicted, was it love or was it abuse?, and did she instigate it or was she manipulated? The answer to both of these questions is SHE WAS 15 YEARS OLD!!!

This book will certainly make you uncomfortable, and that is good, because it also shows us that the world through a teenagers eyes are sometimes not as cut and dry as we think, sometimes they don’t even know what they are getting themselves into, sometimes they think that it *is* love.

I would highly recommend this book, especially in audio form.

 

🎧🎧

Brilliantly narrated by Grace Gummer, she told a fantastic tale and I will certainly be looking out for other books she has narrated.

Enjoy
Vicci 📚💛✨

Synopsis

Exploring the psychological dynamics of the relationship between a precocious yet naïve teenage girl and her magnetic and manipulative teacher, a brilliant, all-consuming read that marks the explosive debut of an extraordinary new writer.

2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher.

2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? Is it possible that the man she loved as a teenager—and who professed to worship only her—may be far different from what she has always believed?

Alternating between Vanessa’s present and her past, My Dark Vanessa juxtaposes memory and trauma with the breathless excitement of a teenage girl discovering the power her own body can wield. Thought-provoking and impossible to put down, this is a masterful portrayal of troubled adolescence and its repercussions that raises vital questions about agency, consent, complicity, and victimhood. Written with the haunting intimacy of The Girls and the creeping intensity of Room, My Dark Vanessa is an era-defining novel that brilliantly captures and reflects the shifting cultural mores transforming our relationships and society itself.

Purchase Links:

*Affiliate link

Amazon UK*

Waterstones

Be Not far from Me by Mindy McGinnis @MindyMcGinnis #BookReview #BeNotFarFromMe

Hello book friends,

How are you in a panic situation, are you calm and collected, or do you lose your head?

This is the situation our main character finds herself in, and I am in awe!!!

My Review

Whelp, if this book doesn’t put you off of EVER going camping again, then I don’t know what will!

This is another superb book by Mindy McGinnis, totally different as usual, I love the way that she is not afraid to mix up her themes, and this one certainly will certainly mix you up!!

Ashley is a teenage girl, but she’s not a ‘girly girl’ oh no, she loves everything outdoorsy, and checking out things like animal bones to find out how they dies, is like a walk in the park to her…literally.

But a camping trip with her friends turns all of that on its head!

After drinking too much and falling asleep, Ashley wakes up still pretty drunk and dying for a pee.

After finding a place to relieve herself, far enough from everyone to see and still half naked, she hears a noise and goes to investigate, and sees her boyfriend doing the nasty with one of the girls, worse still it’s his Ex who she hates!

Ashley gets spotted so she runs away from the situation as she’s obviously upset, but unfortunately not watching where she is going, tumbles down a ravine and gets knocked out. It’s only when she wakes in the morning she realises that she is alone in the forest, she doesn’t know where she is, she has no supplies at all, she’s nearly naked, and should her foot really be that colour??

Although the book is 90% Ashley’s POV, I didn’t find myself getting bored at all, in fact I was on the edge of my seat rooting for her, some of the things that she has to do to save her own life made me gasp out loud, flinch and also gag a little.
I absolutely know that if I was in the same situation as Ashley, I would probably manage a day at most, maybe only a couple of hours before giving up, but who can you have to save you if not yourself?

🎧🎧

Narrated by Brittany Pressley who is a fantastic narrator and is soon becoming one of my auto-buy authors, grab this one if you can guys.

Enjoy
Vicci 📚💛✨

Synopsis

The world is not tame.

Ashley knows this truth deep in her bones, more at home with trees overhead than a roof. So when she goes hiking in the Smokies with her friends for a night of partying, the falling dark and creaking trees are second nature to her. But people are not tame either. And when Ashley catches her boyfriend with another girl, drunken rage sends her running into the night, stopped only by a nasty fall into a ravine. Morning brings the realization that she’s alone – and far off trail. Lost in undisturbed forest and with nothing but the clothes on her back, Ashley must figure out how to survive despite the red streak of infection creeping up her leg.

 

The Dilemma by B A Paris @BAParisAuthor @HQstories #TheDilemma #BAParis #BookReview #BlogTour

Hello Book Friends,

I’m so please to be able to be on the Blog tour for this incredible read, I had so many emotions reading this, and I may have even shed a tear or two.

My Thoughts

Well knock me down with a feather, only 3 books in 2019 made me have feelings, I said 2 in my previous post but I remembered another one lol.

This book made me have such a range of emotions, and it is going to be really difficult to write about it because you absolutely have to go into this book blind, my suggestion would be don’t read ANY reviews (except this one of course) as you don’t want to catch an accidental spoiler.

The story is centered around a 40th birthday party that is for Livia, she has been literally planning this party for 20 years, she didn’t get to have the big extravagant wedding that she wanted, so this is something that is very close to heart, and she hasn’t spared any expense.

Her friends and family all know about her big party obsession and have just left her to revel in the organising for her big day, after all you are not 40 every day.

Livia’s husband Adam and her two children Marnie and Josh are well aware how important this day is Livia, and have done their best to fit in and help where they can.

With friends, family, colleagues and a few surprise guests arranged to arrive to the party, what could possibly go wrong?

This story is so cleverly written that you almost don’t see the twist coming, I had that puppet face when it did, you know, this one –

B A Paris has written such a clever book, because it is such a difficult choice to make, and without going into any spoilers, I know that is really vague, #SorryNotSorry

Honestly grab this one when you can, you won’t regret it, I’ve already pre-ordered the audiobook so I can listen to it as well!

**Thank you so much to HQ Stories and B.A. Paris for sending me the gorgeous copy of the book.

Enjoy

Vicci📚💛✨

About the Book

Only 99p on Kindle – Amazon UK*

*Affiliate Link

It’s Livia’s 40th birthday, and she’s having the party of a lifetime to make up for the wedding she never had. Everyone she loves will be there except her daughter Marnie, who’s studying abroad. But although Livia loves Marnie, she’s secretly glad she won’t be at the party. She needs to tell Adam something about their daughter, but she’s waiting until the party is over so they can have this last happy time together.

Adam wants everything to be perfect for Livia, so he’s secretly arranged for Marnie to come home and surprise her on her birthday. During the day, he hears some terrible news. He needs to tell Livia, because how can the party go on? But she’s so happy, so excited – and the guests are about to arrive.

The Dilemma – how far would you go to give someone you love a last few hours of happiness?

One day that will change a family forever, The Dilemma is the breathtaking, heartbreaking new novel from the million-copy-selling Sunday Times best seller BA Paris.

Regretting You by Colleen Hoover @colleenhoover #BrillianceAudio #ColleenHoover #RegrettingYou #BookReview #ViccisBestBooksof2019

Hello again book friends,

Well Ms Hoover did it again and made my black heart melt

My Thoughts

Just as I was finishing the year with Zero tears spilled on a book, 2 of them come along at the same time and wipe me out!

This one was just such a good story, with the usual CoHo WTF thrown in, I was shouting at my phone so many times (I listened to the audiobook obvs)

This is a story of a mother (Morgan) and daughter (Clara), and was written so well. Morgan got pregnant and married young, something that Clara absolutely doesn’t want to do, she has goals and aspirations, something that her mother had once, but put on hold to have her.

Clara’s father Chris is the glue that holds the family together, and they all live in a perfect family bubble.

Until one day.

An accident brings the family dynamic to a screeching halt.

With Morgan and Clara at loggerheads, Morgan has secrets that she cannot discuss with Clara, and Clara has her own secrets that she needs to hide.

Secrets, Lies and other things I can’t discuss because of spoilers, make this a book that you should definitely add to your TBR.

🎧🎧

The audiobook was narrated by Tanya Eby and Lauren Ezzo who were just perfect for the characters, they slipped from Mom to Teenager so brilliantly.

This book is well worth a credit.

Enjoy

Vicci📚💛✨

About the Book

Amazon UK*

Amazon US

*Affiliate link

Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike.

Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. Clara doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her predictable mother doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in her body.

With warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it increasingly difficult to coexist. The only person who can bring peace to the household is Chris – Morgan’s husband, Clara’s father, and the family anchor. But that peace is shattered when Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident. The heartbreaking and long-lasting consequences will reach far beyond just Morgan and Clara.

While struggling to rebuild everything that crashed around them, Morgan finds comfort in the last person she expects to, and Clara turns to the one boy she’s been forbidden to see. With each passing day, new secrets, resentment, and misunderstandings make mother and daughter fall further apart. So far apart, it might be impossible for them to ever fall back together.

Saving Missy by Beth Morrey @BethMorrey @HarperCollinsUK #MeetMissy #SavingMissy #BethMorrey #BookReview

Hello book friends,

I am so happy to bring you a review for a book that is coming out next year that you should all add to your TBR.

Oh my goodness, I simply ADORED this story (insert multiple heart eyes emojis here)

My Thoughts

🅰 🆂🆃🅾🆁🆈 🆃🅾 🆆🅰🆁🅼 🆈🅾🆄🆁 🅷🅴🅰🆁🆃

This is the story of Millicent Carmichael aka Missy.

Missy is 79 years old and lives alone in her large house in London, she lost her husband a few years back, and her 2 children have flown the nest, one of them to Australia, taking her grandson with them.

Missy is lonely.

She emails her son in Australia all of the time, telling him what a “lovely day” she has had, but she beefs-up the stories to make them sound more interesting.

One day Missy sees a young boy, about the same age as her grandson is now, and watching him playing makes her heart ache, she sits in the park and watches him play, and then gets talking to another woman walking her dogs, Sylvie.

Turns out that Sylvie also knows the young boys mother, the red headed and foul mouthed creature Angela.

One day Angela turns up at her door and asks a favour, well kind of bamboozles her really, and by the time Angela has gone, Missy has acquired a dog called Bob.

Thus creating a wonderful friendship that only one can have with a dog.

With the commitment of owning a dog, Missy begins to venture out of the house, and starts to interact with other people in the community, and as much as she doesn’t like to admit it,she kind of starts to enjoy herself.

This was such a wonderful story, and by the end I had a big tear rolling down my face.

This is the authors debut novel, and if this is what she is starting with, I’m sure she will have a fantastic writing career in front of her.

If you liked stories like Eleanor Olliphant, then you will LOVE this one.

Coming in February 2020, keep your eyes peeled for this one, I think it is going to BLOW UP!!

Enjoy

Vicci 📚💛✨

*Many thanks to the Author, Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for my copy of this book

About the Book

Prickly. Stubborn. Terribly lonely.
But everyone deserves a second chance…

A dazzling debut for 2020 – are you ready to meet Missy Carmichael?

Missy Carmichael’s life has become small.

Grieving for a family she has lost or lost touch with, she’s haunted by the echoes of her footsteps in her empty home; the sound of the radio in the dark; the tick-tick-tick of the watching clock.

Spiky and defensive, Missy knows that her loneliness is all her own fault. She deserves no more than this; not after what she’s done. But a chance encounter in the park with two very different women opens the door to something new.

Another life beckons for Missy, if only she can be brave enough to grasp the opportunity. But seventy-nine is too late for a second chance. Isn’t it?

Heidi’s Guide to Four Letter Words by Tara Sivec & Andi Arndt @TaraSivec @andi_arndt #BookReview #HeidisGuidetoFourLetterWords

Hello book friends,

I have the PERFECT book for you all today, prepare for laughs and mortification a-plenty!

🅳🅸🅲🅺 🆃🅰🆂🆃🅴 🅸🅽 🅼🆈 🅿🅰🅻🅼, 🆂🅻🅴🅰🆉🆈 🆂🅻🅴🅰🆉🆈 🅷🅴

🅱🅴🅽🆃 🆈🅾🆄🆁 🅳🅾🅽🅶

Ok while you are listening to this book, and definitely listen to get the best effect, please do the following:

Do not hold anything breakable in your hands, you will likely drop it, or throw it in the air when you gasp and put your hand to your mouth, imagine accidentally stabbing yourself in the eye? PUT DOWN THE KNIFE

Have plenty of Kleenex to hand, as you will most certainly cry laughing.

If you have to listen to this one in public, try not to shout Nooooooo too loud and scare the other shoppers in the supermarket.

You will cringe, you will laugh hysterically, you will feel mortified on Heidi’s behalf, but you will absolutely love the bones of that goofy girl, I promise!

Heidi is a Kindergarten teacher in Minnesota, who has unfortunately been laid off, she is sweet and innocent, so when she gets a new job at an audio studio, she has a bit of a shock when she listens to one of the narrators recording a naughty erotic book.

Oh the horror, Heidi’s idea of a romance book is something that is nice, polite, and fade to black, she can’t even say a dirty word without blushing.

Her hot new neighbour gets her thinking that in order to ask him out, she needs to be able to pluck up the courage to do so, and as the studio are throwing out some old recording equipment, Heidi seizes the opportunity to ‘broaden her horizons’ and get those dirty books out on air…the thing is, she can’t even say the words.

After a drunken evening alone, she finally has drunk enough dutch courage, and “Heidi’s Discount Erotica” is born, with not so brilliant results.

I laughed so much at this book, the things that go wrong for her are just incredible, whether that is being scratched to pieces while hiding in a bush from her neighbour Brad, or the ‘Talk to Text’ the “Dick Taste in my Palm” sentence above which didn’t sound anything like that when she narrated it, but who checks their texts before they send them??

As per all of Tara Sivec’s books, her secondary characters are always perfect, and this book was absolutely no exception.
Heidi’s parents were almost as funny as she was.

I’m not sure who’s idea it was for Andi Arndt and Tara Sivec to write a book together, but whoever it was, they should definitely do it again, it was just pure genius.

🎧🎧

Narration by Andi Arndt was just incredible, and her Minnesota accent for Heidi was apparently spot on, being from the UK it didn’t translate with me, and a few of the “Uff da!” references didn’t make sense, but from what I can gather, it is spot on as she lived there for years.

Enjoy

Vicci 📚💛✨

 

About The Book

*Amazon UK

Amazon U.S – Included with Audible Escape

Cowritten by USA Today best-selling author Tara Sivec and award-winning narrator Andi Arndt, a hysterically funny, heartfelt romance – created specifically for the audio format!

Nothing good ever comes from drinking a box of wine alone. So when I decided to entertain my drunken self by setting up some hand-me-down podcasting equipment and reading the steamy parts from romance novels, I never thought anyone would actually listen. The fact that I admitted my huge crush on my sexy next door neighbor made the whole thing even more mortifying. But sometimes life surprises you, and that’s how my podcast, Heidi’s Discount Erotica, was born.

Now I, Heidi Larsen, a sweet former kindergarten teacher in Waconia, Minnesota, lead a scandalous double life reading erotic novels to the listening world. And with each episode, I find myself embracing my new alter ego more and more. Now I’m starting to feel more comfortable in my own skin and do things I never would have dreamed of – like kissing my neighbor.

Look out, Waconia, because Heidi’s on the loose! She’s in your ears, in your hearts, and down your pants…wait, that didn’t sound as good as it did in my head. Well, you get the picture, don’tcha know!

*Affiliate Link

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Vicci 📚💛✨

 

If You Were Here by Alice Peterson @AlicePeterson1 @simonschusterUK @Netgalley #BookReview #IfYouWereHere #Netgalley

Well Howdy-do book buddies!

All is back to normal here in the UK, we’ve had a few days of sunshine, and now it’s back to rainy days…Boo!

I’m so pleased to bring you a review for this lovely story, but be prepared for feelings, this one had me reaching for the Kleenex.

Why Did You Pick It Up Vicci?

I saw this on Netgalley, and read the synopsis and it really jumped out at me, so I’m so glad that it was approved for me to read.

My Thoughts

🅿🆁🅴🅿🅰🆁🅴 🆈🅾🆄🆁🆂🅴🅻🅵 🅵🅾🆁 🅵🅴🅴🅻🅸🅽🅶🆂

When I say prepare yourself I am not joking, I was a mess reading this one!

This is a story about a lovely family, we have Granddad Tim, Granny Peggy, Mummy Beth, and Baby Flo.

Flo (Florence) is all grown up now, and she’s had to grow up pretty fast, her mother died when she was relatively young, and she was brought up by her Granny, they have a really close bond, and they love each other fiercely.

Peggy’s husband Tim died when Flo was young so she didn’t really know him that well, she can only remember things like laughing at him when his legs would go all wobbly when he was playing golf.

Beth (Flo’s mother) died in a tragic accident, and so Peggy is really all of the family Flo has, apart from her friends that she has had since school, one of which she lives with.

5 years later and Flo is in love with a wonderful man and is ready to say goodbye and pack her backs to go and live with him in New York, except Peggy hasn’t told Flo everything.

While searching through her things, Peggy discovers that Beth had done the one thing she had asked her not to do, and that was to go and get tested.

You see, Tim had, and died from a genetic condition, and there was a 50/50 chance of Beth inheriting it from him, Peggy didn’t want her to know, she wanted her to just go out and live her life, but Beth obviously found out the result behind her back and never told her.

Peggy has kept this secret from Flo, but because there is also a 50/50 chance of her having it too, Peggy is torn between telling her the truth, or leaving things as they are.

A very touching, poignant story that will pull at your heartstrings and probably play a tune on them too.

It is filled with love, friendships and What If’s.

If a test could decide your future, would you take it?

**Many thanks to Simon and Schuster, Netgalley, and the Author for my copy of this book**

About The Book

Links:
Amazon UK
Amazon US

‘I can toast to my future, but the thundercloud over my head, the threat of a storm, will follow me like a shadow wherever I go. The truth is, I have a potential bomb in my bag, and who knows when or where it will go off’ 

When her daughter Beth dies suddenly, Peggy Andrews is left to pick up the pieces and take care of her granddaughter Flo. But sorting through Beth’s things reveals a secret never told: Beth was sick, with the same genetic condition that claimed her father’s life, and now Peggy must decide whether to keep the secret or risk destroying her granddaughter’s world.

Five years later, Flo is engaged and ready to pack up her life and move to New York with her high-flying fiancé. Peggy never told Flo what she discovered, but with Flo looking towards her future, Peggy realises it’s time to come clean and reveal that her granddaughter’s life might also be at risk.

As Flo struggles to decide her own path, she is faced with the same life-altering questions her mother asked herself years before: If a test could decide your future, would you take it?

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Vicci 📚💛✨