Chloe is a high school senior living in Los Angeles. Her mother starred in two popular television shows as well as Hallmark movies. Her mother also engaged in an elaborate scheme of cheating and bribery in order to help Chloe get into college.
The narrative alternates between Then and Now, exploring the dual perspectives of the events that preceded Chloe’s mother’s arrest as well as what she and her family do after being implicated in the scandal.
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Conrad and Alden are both part of the same Odyssey gaming group, but they have never gotten along, but that’s okay because they have separate lives and don’t have to interact outside the group.
And then they end up on a road trip together, with nothing but time to get to know each other. Read more
Top Secret is a contemporary m/m romance novel by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy. I was looking forward to reading this book because I enjoyed reading their previous collaboration, the m/m hockey duology Him and Us. I was even more excited when I found out that this book was a new release; it hadn’t been on my radar, so finding it as a new release was an awesome surprise!
Keaton is a junior at a prestigious college. He comes from a wealthy family, and he has his whole life mapped out for him. Well, his father has his whole life mapped out for him, but Keaton has other ambitions he’d rather follow. Keaton has been dating the same girl for years, and she’s asked him to plan a threesome with another guy for her birthday. So, Keaton logs onto a hookup app.
Luke is a student at the same university. He’s also in the same fraternity as Keaton, but that’s where their similarities end. Luke is a “townie” going to school on scholarship, and he works at a strip club to pay for the expenses that his scholarship doesn’t cover. When he sees the couple’s profile on the app looking for a third person, he’s more than happy to oblige. Read more
The Academy was written by Quinn Anderson. This is a contemporary m/m romance novel. I don’t read a lot of contemporary m/m, but I was intrigued by the premise.
Nick has come to a small suburban Catholic university in search of a fresh start, and he hopes that “The Academy” can offer just that. He plans to focus on his studies so that he can keep the generous scholarship that the school has offered him. His plans do not include attracting attention by being “out” at what he perceives to be a conservative milieu.
Sebastian, however, has other plans. He is drawn to Nick from the moment that he first sees him on campus. Sebastian devises a wager with Theo and Dante, his two best friends: whoever kisses the new kid first will win a cheesy trophy they’ve had since high school. Read more
Him was written by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy, and it’s the first book in their Him/Us duology of contemporary m/m romance novels. I picked up the Audible edition of this book during a sale because I’d heard a lot of chatter in one of my Facebook groups. I actually listened to this a while ago, but I am woefully behind with my reviews.
Jamie Canning and Ryan Wesley were best friends who spent their summers at hockey camp together. But things got a little weird on the last night of their final year after a dare turned into a proposition. By the time their paths cross at the college hockey championships, they have not spoken for four years, and each thinks the other is mad at him. Read more
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I love reading novels set in the 19th century. I was not familiar with Anita Hemmings, the first African American woman to graduate from Vassar College, and I was intrigued by the premise of Karin Tanabe’s The Gilded Years.
Anita Hemmings is considered to be one of the great beauties of the class of 1897 at Vassar. She seems to have it all: she is a talented singer, and a gifted scholar. But Anita is hiding a terrible secret: her skin is light enough to pass as white, but she is actually a black woman. At the end of the 19th century, there are very few colleges that admit black women, and Vassar is not one of them. If anyone found out the truth about Anita, it would ruin her. Read more
I first read The Secret History twelve years ago when one of my very best friends from college sent me the book for my birthday. Since then, it has become one of the books I read over and over again. Recently, Audible had a sale featuring ten editors who picked ten books apiece. The Secret History was one of those books, and I was very excited about the opportunity to experience one of my favorite books in a new medium.
The Secret History is Donna Tartt’s first book. One could argue that it is a mystery, but what makes things interesting is that it is not really a whodunit. We know who killed Bunny- narrator Richard and his friends are responsible- but the mystery lies in why they felt that they had no choice but to kill Bunny. Read more
"You Have Your Hands Full!" 