Love At First Write Review

 

BLURB
 
I had a crush on my best friend’s older brother even before he joined the SEALs and became a hometown hero. I didn’t fall in love with him until I started sending him care packages and exchanging letters. The bond we’ve built over the past two years made me believe he was my soulmate.
 
But then the man I thought I was writing just returned from overseas with no recollection of our letters. Plus he’s brought home a fiancee!
 
Enter Ethan Fox, tough guy, loner, war hero. Liar.
 
He says he fell in love with me through our letters, but how am I supposed to trust the man who’s been lying to me for years?
 
 
GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/200840856-love-at-first-write

I lOVED this novella! The only draw back to this story is that it isn't longer. I wish I could have stayed in Kelsie and Ethan's story longer. It was a breath of fresh air and so cute. I appreciated how in touch with his feelings that Ethan was and how he excepted and loved Kelsie just the way she was. I also thought that Kelsie was a fun, sassy character. I enjoyed the side characters that we get to meet in this novella. Kelsie's friends are hilarious. I definitely laughed out loud at their antics and interactions with her. I was living for their banter. All in all this was a solid romance read and I look forward to reading more from the author. 

PURCHASE LINKS
 
US: https://amzn.to/3uQ7b6j
UK: https://amzn.to/3TgZMGL
CA: https://amzn.to/3IhylpT
AU: https://amzn.to/3IklpQ9

Free in Kindle Unlimited
 
 
AUTHOR BIO
 
USA Today Bestselling Author Kat Baxter writes fast-paced, sweet & STEAMY romantic comedies. Readers have dubbed her books “laugh-out-loud funny,” “hot enough to melt your kindle,” and “The Queen of Adorkable.” She lives in Texas with her family and a menagerie of animals. Kat is the pseudonym for a bestselling historical romance author.
 
Connect with Kat online.
 
 
AUTHOR LINKS
 
Website: https://katbaxterauthor.com
Newsletter: https://katbaxterauthor.com/newsletter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kat.baxter.1848
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/455684435169876
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katbaxterauthor
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/katbaxterauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KatBaxter9
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18936779.Kat_Baxter
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/kat-baxter
 

Love At First Write Release

REVIEW TO FOLLOW!

Love at First Write
A SEAL Team Alpha Series Standalone
Author: Kat Baxter
Genre: Steamy Short Romantic Comedy
Tropes: Secret/Mistaken Identity, Military
Pen-Pal, Small Town, Forced Proximity
Release Date: February 26, 2024
 

BLURB
 
I had a crush on my best friend’s older brother even before he joined the SEALs and became a hometown hero. I didn’t fall in love with him until I started sending him care packages and exchanging letters. The bond we’ve built over the past two years made me believe he was my soulmate.
 
But then the man I thought I was writing just returned from overseas with no recollection of our letters. Plus he’s brought home a fiancee!
 
Enter Ethan Fox, tough guy, loner, war hero. Liar.
 
He says he fell in love with me through our letters, but how am I supposed to trust the man who’s been lying to me for years?
 
 
GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/200840856-love-at-first-write
 
 
PURCHASE LINKS
 
US: https://amzn.to/3uQ7b6j
UK: https://amzn.to/3TgZMGL
CA: https://amzn.to/3IhylpT
AU: https://amzn.to/3IklpQ9

Free in Kindle Unlimited
 
 
AUTHOR BIO
 
USA Today Bestselling Author Kat Baxter writes fast-paced, sweet & STEAMY romantic comedies. Readers have dubbed her books “laugh-out-loud funny,” “hot enough to melt your kindle,” and “The Queen of Adorkable.” She lives in Texas with her family and a menagerie of animals. Kat is the pseudonym for a bestselling historical romance author.
 
Connect with Kat online.
 
 
AUTHOR LINKS
 
Website: https://katbaxterauthor.com
Newsletter: https://katbaxterauthor.com/newsletter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kat.baxter.1848
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/455684435169876
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katbaxterauthor
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/katbaxterauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/KatBaxter9
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18936779.Kat_Baxter
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/kat-baxter
 
 

How I Met My Soulmate Vol. 1 by Anashin

 

💖💖💖💖💖

Yuuki is a 20-year-old college sophomore who has wished for one thing since moving to to find her soulmate. Growing a bit desperate after a long drought, she goes along with a friend to a club for the first time. Her friend thrives, but it's chaotic and loud...just not Yuuki's scene. Just when Yuuki begins to despair that she'll ever find a real, adult relationship, she meets Lori, a man with bleached hair and a slightly scary demeanor...but first impressions don't always tell the whole story. Could destiny still have more cards to play?

I was so excited to hear that Anashin was starting a new shojo manga series! The characters are just as loveable as they are in Waiting For Spring but with more maturity as the characters are all in their early twenties. We meet Yuuki who is struggling to deal with her loneliness and wanting someone to be in a relationship with. I found her to be endearing and felt for her as the story progressed. We are also introduced to her best friend who I'm not sure how I feel about as we don't get much time with her in the manga. There are a few potential soulmates who we meet in this volume and let's just say I already know who I'm rooting for. There were moments with tension, humor, and cuteness. If you enjoy reading shojo manga but are wanting something a bit more mature without smut then I would recommend this. 

(I received a free copy of this novel, but all opinions and statements are my own unbiased thoughts)

Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly

 

In one day, four lives weave together in unexpected ways. Virgil Salinas is shy and kindhearted and feels out of place in his loud and boisterous family. Valencia Somerset, who is deaf, is smart, brave, and secretly lonely, and loves everything about nature. Kaori Tanaka is a self-proclaimed psychic, whose little sister Gen is always following her around. And Chet Bullens wishes the weird kids would just act normal so that he can concentrate on basketball. They aren’t friends -- at least not until Chet pulls a prank that traps Virgil and his pet guinea pig at the bottom of a well. This disaster leads Kaori, Gen, and Valencia on an epic quest to find the missing Virgil. Through luck, smarts, bravery, and a little help from the universe, a rescue is performed, a bully is put in his place, and friendship blooms.

I would have liked to have seen more growth in Virgil, one of the main characters, in the book as well as more of a resolution in the end. I wanted there to have been consequences for a certain character that was a complete bully. I enjoyed the other characters in the story and how it represented how children are capable and that girls are strong and intelligent. 

My main issue with the book was that it felt unfinished to me. Don't misunderstand me. It had a beginning, middle, and end but I wanted there to be more to it than there was. Perhaps it felt like a more surface level story and I wanted the author to add more depth to the book than there was. I wanted more of a message represented in the story because it felt like there wasn't one. 

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

 

In a sleepy seaside town in Maine, recently widowed Eveleth “Evvie” Drake rarely leaves her large, painfully empty house nearly a year after her husband’s death in a car crash. Everyone in town, even her best friend, Andy, thinks grief keeps her locked inside, and Evvie doesn’t correct them.

Meanwhile, in New York City, Dean Tenney, former Major League pitcher and Andy’s childhood best friend, is wrestling with what miserable athletes living out their worst nightmares call the “yips”: he can’t throw straight anymore, and, even worse, he can’t figure out why. As the media storm heats up, an invitation from Andy to stay in Maine seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button on Dean’s future.

When he moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie’s house, the two make a deal: Dean won’t ask about Evvie’s late husband, and Evvie won’t ask about Dean’s baseball career. Rules, though, have a funny way of being broken—and what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more. To move forward, Evvie and Dean will have to reckon with their pasts—the friendships they’ve damaged, the secrets they’ve kept—but in life, as in baseball, there’s always a chance—up until the last out.

I appreciated how the author didn't make this book overly angsty or dramatic. It was very straight forward with flawed characters that were believable people who didn't always say or do the right thing. I really loved Evvie because I felt like I understood her and her journey to feel like she was enough. I thought that the author did a good job of portraying abuse in a subtle way and I respected how she had the reader look at verbal and emotional abuse. It was interesting to me how each of the main characters were grieving things in their lives in different ways. There were different feelings to each and I thought that the author's take was an intriguing one. It seems to me that many people feel that they aren't grieving right because they don't cry or aren't sad enough so I appreciated the author's approach. 

Beware the Kitten Holy (Lumberjanes (Collected Editions) #1) by Noelle Stevenson

🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

FRIENDSHIP TO THE MAX!
At Miss Qiunzilla Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet's camp for hard-core lady-types, things are not what they seem. Three-eyed foxes. Secret caves. Anagrams. Luckily, Jo, April, Mal, Molly, and Ripley are five rad, butt-kicking best pals determined to have an awesome summer together... And they're not gonna let a magical quest or an array of supernatural critters get in their way! The mystery keeps getting bigger, and it all begins here.

I wasn't sure if I would end up liking Lumberjanes because I thought that the story line might not interest me or that the art style might not be for me. 
I've never been so happy to be proven wrong! I started off reading the first pages on my own and my son ended up becoming interested when he began reading over my shoulder. We ended up reading it together which was a really fun experience for us. He tends to like books like Dogman or Captain Underpants which I can't seem to like no matter how hard I try. It was interesting to see him so taken with a group of girls who are goofy and end up being pulled into crazy situations with monsters. He is now begging me to read the rest of the series with him. 
If you are looking for something that is fun, light-hearted, and a little bit crazy at times than this is the graphic novel that you have been waiting for. The art style is so vibrant and beautiful! The jokes are funny and can be a bit on the childish side but enjoyable nonetheless. 

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

While the Titanic and Lusitania are both well-documented disasters, the single greatest tragedy in maritime history is the little-known January 30, 1945 sinking in the Baltic Sea by a Soviet submarine of the Wilhelm Gustloff, a German cruise liner that was supposed to ferry wartime personnel and refugees to safety from the advancing Red Army. The ship was overcrowded with more than 10,500 passengers — the intended capacity was approximately 1,800 — and more than 9,000 people, including 5,000 children, lost their lives.
Sepetys (writer of 'Between Shades of Gray') crafts four fictionalized but historically accurate voices to convey the real-life tragedy. Joana, a Lithuanian with nursing experience; Florian, a Prussian soldier fleeing the Nazis with stolen treasure; and Emilia, a Polish girl close to the end of her pregnancy, converge on their escape journeys as Russian troops advance; each will eventually meet Albert, a Nazi peon with delusions of grandeur, assigned to the Gustloff decks. 


I had heard that if I wanted to read more historical fiction that Ruta Sepetys writes books that are easily digestible in that genre. I have wanted to dive more into the historical fiction genre but haven't felt ready to read adult historical fiction quite yet. 

I had seen rave reviews for Salt to the Sea so I thought that I would read it first. I don't know why I felt intimidated by this novel and thought that I wouldn't like it. I loved it! I was amazed at how well the author was able to paint the picture of a war torn country and people that are fleeing in order to reach safety. I felt as if I were there. I was frightened at points and felt as if I understood the characters and their actions. 

I was surprised to find that I loved all of the characters in the book. I usually have issues with novels that have multiple points of view because I end up disliking at least one character. This can decrease my enjoyment and feel like the pacing has slowed. I found myself intrigued and enjoying each point of view in novel. Each character strengthened the book in some way because they were different nationalities and came from different backgrounds. The author was able to broaden the emotional impact and world view within the story by including the characters that she did. This is definitely a character driven story and normally I would want strong characters and plot but found that the characters were enough to drive the story forward.