Birthday Girl Book Review

I finally picked up Birthday Girl after hearing a lot of hype surrounding it and I just happened to be in the mood for a romance at the time. I was definitely surprised and blown away with this book. This novel is totally a forbidden romance, I mean it doesn’t get more forbidden than your (ex) boyfriend’s father, who is nineteen years older than you.

In this book, Pike and Lawson meet in one of the most random ways at a movie theater one night, and there is an instant pull between them. They just connect, they’re super relaxed around each other as well and find it easy to talk to one another… And then of course, they have to find out who the other one is. And well, it’s kind of awkward for a bit.

I really loved Jordan as a character in this novel. Sure, she’s only nineteen and in some ways, she acts like it. But she also reads as an old soul and slightly more mature for her age. She loves herself some 80s music and movies (which was how she and Pike met). Not once in this book did she ever take any of Pike’s shit – she was not afraid to stand her ground and fire back at him. Which only fueled the sexual tension between the two of them. Like, honestly, the scenes of them bickering. HOLY SHIT. I have not read sexual tension this damn good in forever.

I also adored Pike. I mean sure, he’s a bit of a dick at times; but he is a loveable dick. He was definitely an alpha male type of character that I could root for. There’s a scene I think halfway through the book after they have an argument where he makes it up to her in THE MOST ADORABLE WAY EVER. Like, where is my real life Pike Lawson? I’m waiting. Pike has definitely been through some shit, he has a shitty baby mother who has all but brainwashed his kid, so he’s just trying to do right by him.

Which is why he fights these growing feels for Jordan so much and why at one point, he tries to choose his son over her. Douglas actively shows both Pike’s and Jordan’s struggles with their feelings, and the two of them as they each try to fight them. Neither of them want to hurt Cole (even though if I’m being honest, I couldn’t give a fuck about his feelings because he was a piece of work who didn’t deserve Jordan) and it’s so obvious throughout the entire novel. Everything about their progression felt so real and authentic to me.

Overall, these two were just such amazing characters to read about and I adored every minute I got to spend with them. So much so, I literally wanted to re-read the book as soon as I finished it.

One Chicago Recap

So looks like I’m still doing this little Chicago rambles/wrap up things every week. I will say that this has been a pretty decent week for the Chicago shows and while it sucks how many breaks are going on between the episodes – I get it, even if it is frustrating. I’m still trying to figure out how I got roped into being such trash for these shows. As always, obviously there’s spoilers for the episodes and the shows. 

Upcoming 2021 TV Shows

Since I’ve already talked about all the movies I’m excited for that are coming out in 2021, I wanted to talk a minute and chat about the new television shows I’m excited for. This list is going to be significantly shorter since tv shows seem to be fewer and far between. Besides, I’m not even sure there’s really that many new shows premiering in 2021. Maybe, I’ll do a separate post about all my anticipated returning tv shows.

2021 Video Game Releases

Since we’re on this trend of me talking about everything coming out in 2021 that I’m excited for; I wanted to add the upcoming video games to this. The end of 2020 reignited my love for gaming, so I’m slowly getting back into. However, there’s only like four games that I know of that I’m super stoked for. But as of right now, I don’t think any of them have definite release dates, we just know that they’re maybe coming out this year. Hopefully as the year goes on, more may be announced? And hopefully as 2021 gets under why, I can get my hands on a damn Playstation 5.

2021 Most Anticipated Movies

So since I’ve made the decision to expand my blog to my other interests,  I wanted to take a moment and share some of my most anticipated upcoming 2021 movies. Most of these were supposed to have come out in 2020 but because of covid, they were all pushed back. This is me being hopeful that they’ll be able to come out, at least in some capacity, in 2021. These are all of the release dates as of the time that I’m writing this post – however, they are subject to change. Even if I’m hopeful they don’t.

A Heart so Fierce and Broken Book Review

A Heart so Fierce and Broken was such a wonderful sequel and I’m happy that I got to start the year off with it. Usually a lot of sequels in a trilogy will fall victim to the “second book slump” but I didn’t feel that with this novel. Sure, it did drag a little bit at some points; but it was never enough to pull me out of the story or annoy me or anything. I will admit that I went into this installment not really knowing much about it, so I was both shocked and intrigued to find out that we were going to be spending a lot more time with Grey in this one.

This novel pretty much picks up exactly where A Curse so Dark and Lonely leaves off, with Grey still being “missing” and Harper, and her brother trying to adjust to life in Emberfall. This book also includes a lot more scenes with and even a point of view from Lia Mara – daughter of Karis Luran. I LOVE her by the way. I mean, I wasn’t expecting to really care about her one way or the other. Because it was so obvious she was just there to put an end to the love triangle between Rhen/Harper/Grey – which kind of makes my Grey/Harper shipper heart sad. However, I quickly fell in love with her. She is very strong willed and I just love how much she tried her best to fight for peace between Syhl Shallow and Emberfall – despite all the obstacles in her way.

I also really enjoyed the scenes between Grey and Lia Mara. There was some tension in the beginning, but it was so nice seeing them grow, develop and become more comfortable with one another. I think they complement each other very well and I think they’re going to do amazing things together – I can’t wait to see their dynamic develop even more in A Vow so Bold and Deadly.

There is a character in this novel that really takes a completely different turn than in the first novel. I’m definitely intrigued to see how well that plays out because I do believe that this character is a well loved one. Even if I didn’t care about them even in the first one. They annoyed me and I just wasn’t a fan. And then in this book, this character was just a completely fucking asshole that I always knew they would be from the start.

The ending of this book. HOLY SHIT. It really sets up the fuckery that is bound to happen in Book Three and to be honest? I can’t wait to maybe watching everything hit the fan in the conclusion to this trilogy.

Overall, while this did feel like a bridge book to get from A Curse so Dark and Lonely to A Vow so Bold and Deadly at times, it definitely did not fall victim to second book slump. I had fun reading this book, learning more about the characters and seeing the world and story expand. I’ll give it a solid 4.5 stars

What makes something canon? – Let’s Talk Bookish

Hey everyone! Can you really believe that we’re already roughly a week into 2021? Because I can’t. Hopefully your year so far has been better than mine; because mine has totally sucked. Bet alas, getting into a wreck four days into the year will do that to a person. I’m totally fine by the way and my vehicle was still drivable (though definitely a shit ton cost on repairs). 

Anyway, Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books & Dani @ Literary Lion, where we discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts. This week’s topic is all about what is and isn’t canon in terms of a book. 

2021 Goals

If there’s something I’ve always enjoyed, it’s the start of a new year, a new month, or even the start of a new day. There’s just something about a fresh start that I just love. Since we’re beginning 2021, I want to take a minute and share about the reading, blog, life and writing goals that I have for myself this coming year.

Most Anticipated 2021 Winter Releases

We have finally made it through to 2021; but even if it’s a new year, we’re probably going to be dealing with the same crap for the next couple of months even still. Luckily, there’s maybe a vaccine coming, so we have one thing to be looking forward to. Anyway, a new year does mean new book releases to look forward to. So today, I’m going to be chatting about all of the releases that I am looking forward to in January and February. There are so many amazing books coming out next year; but I really had to narrow it down to my top anticipated ones. If you want a more intensive list of books, you can check out bookbirds here like I did.

Worst Books of 2020

I typically dislike making an entire post dedicated to the worst books of the year; because I just hate dwelling on negativity too much. However, it’s still the normal end of the year posts so I’m including it. Though if we’re being honest, there’s really only one book to make this list this year. It may pain me a little bit that this book is on this list, but I am not surprised that it ended up there.