Books, Books, Books, and a Cat

  5 Stars!!!!  I absolutely adored this book! Witty dialogue, heroes vs villians, a magical school, mystery, and lots of action make for a must read novel! Abby is a teacher at the High School for the Magical Arts in southern Ontario.  She teaches English and has a homeroom of 9th graders.  This year is anything other than normal.  After a series of events happen where students are in danger, Abby discovers that her homeroom has a hero.  Having a hero in her class means that there has to be a villain.  Abby is tasked with discovering who that villain is so she can protect her students and the school.  First of all, I am a teacher so I instantly connected with Abby and her humor.  I also loved that the teacher was the main character.  In so many other books that have magical schools the students are always the main characters, so to have a book from the teacher's point of view was extra special.  I thought it elevated the story and s...

  This was a cozy fantasy romance with huge heart!   Clove has no memory of her last 15 years.  When Jayce, a charming orc, tells her she could be the lost princess, Clove doesn't really believe it but is desperate to find her family.  After losing her job she decides to travel with Jayce to Wingspire City to find some news of her family.  However due to unpaid debts, Jayce is being hunted by a local crime boss.  Jayce and Clove soon find themselves running for their lives as they try to reach the city and gain an audience with the king.  As they travel they meet a host of different characters, learn more about each other, and uncover many secrets that will have a huge impact on their futures.  I really enjoyed this spicy fairytale.  It was a great escape from my everyday stress.  I loved that the main characters were a fae and orc even though there were humans in the book. They met some great side characters and there was lots of a...

 A fun Christmas inspired novel where the main character is cursed! Everything that could go wrong is currently going wrong for Hayleigh.  She has lost her job, all her money, and her bad luck just won't stop.  She decides to go back to where it all started and find the witch who must have cursed her. She travels to Elk Ridge and finds herself in need of help.  Stephen comes to her rescue and agrees to help her set things right so she can lift her curse. Through their journey, Hayleigh begins to learn more about herself and her actions as well as who she truly wants to be.  This was a good blend of folklore, magic, witches, romance, and holiday spirit.  I really liked the relationship between Stephen and Hayleigh.  There was so much growth on Hayleigh's part and that was due to the wonderful nature of Stephen.  He is the ultimate in leading men and I instantly fell for him.  There was also some humor infused in this novel that brought warmth ...

 3.5 Stars- I thought the premise of this romance was interesting.  Imagine a team of people working to give you just the right dream to motivate you to take the next important step in your life.   Olivia has always been super competitive and goal driven.  Her entire life she has tried to be perfect. When she is assigned to do a dream for one of her friends it doesn't go well.  Her old rival, Connor steps in to help as this is an important dream that needs to go right.  Old resentments spring up for Olivia but there is also attraction there.  Connor and Olivia must figure out how to work together to get this dream right before everything falls apart.  The romance between Connor and Olivia wa a slow burn but once it got going I did enjoy their relationship.  I did feel for Olivia, and I thought she made great growth throughout the novel.  I just felt that overall the pacing of this novel needed a little pick me up.  There also w...

  4.5 Stars- Alice Hoffman knows how to write a unique and fascinating novel! Two young women are sent to college in Cambridge in the 1950s, only they are not your typical students. Both Ava and Lauren are witches and as they spend more time at college they learn more about their unique gifts. Ava knew nothing about her heritage until she came to Radcliffe whereas Lauren and her brother were well aware of their heritage. Both girls have had difficult lives but are very different from one another. At first they dislike each other but eventually become friends although they face many different situations and conflicts along the way. The story also flashes back to the very first witch of Cambridge in 1692. Her story was honestly my favorite. The flashback revolved around the Mather family and their persecution of witches as well as the founding of Harvard. The Mather family is important to the 1950s storyline so it was an interesting look at the past, and great insight into what was h...

3.5 Stars- I picked this book because I love a time travel novel.  In this novel the main character can only travel back in time 7 minutes.  She earns a minute from men that she has a spark with but if they die she will lose that minute.   Renee has always been able to rewind time.  She tried telling her family but they didn't believe her.  Her entire life has been defined by this trait.  She takes a job in movies where she makes sure everything stays the same.  She earns money by rewinding time until she gets winning scratch off tickets. Renee has not been lucky in love and has even gone so far to have an affair with a married man that she is still struggling to get over.  When he goes missing Renee is determined to find him but then she loses a minute that she can rewind.  She fears that he is dead and she is determined to find out who did it.  Only things go from bad to worse when she begins to lose more minutes.  She must f...

  This was a highly enjoyable thriller that you won't want to miss.   Becca Larson is a journalist who travels to Flordia to cover a story about a honeymoon gone bad.  She is hoping this piece could possibly win her an award and help her get back to doing more investigative journalism.  However once she gets to Florida things aren't adding up.  After meeting with Eve, the bride, Becca can no longer get her to call her back.  Things start not adding up and Becca has an encounter with a woman that tries to steal her camera equipment.  After returning things go from bad to worse and now an innocent story may have the potential to ruin her life.  There was great suspense in this novel.  There were multiple perspectives which I really enjoyed because it kept me guessing as to who was really responsible for everything.  I was on the edge of my seat for most of the book hoping that things would turn out alright for Becca.  This story ...

 A powerful story about following your own dreams no matter what the cost.  Billie, a 39 single female, on New Year's Eve in Florence, Italy, meets the man of her dreams. Arthur is his name and he is from Scotland.  The only problem is, she had just made up her mind that she is going to have a baby on her own.  They have an instant connection and sparks fly.  However he does not want kids.  Over the next year Billie tries to figure out what she truly wants.  Does she want a relationship with Arthur and no baby or to have the baby and no Arthur?   I thought this novel posed a thought provoking scenerio and really kept the reader guessing as to what was going to happen.  I really liked Billie as a character and liked the romantic elements between her and Arthur.  Both of them had past trauma which seemed to spur their decisions.  There were times in the novel though that I wanted them to be more flexible but people in real life r...

 4.5 Stars- A great second chance romance with a fun Cupid twist! The main characters in this novel are considered divine beings but think along the lines of cupids.  They are archers who go out and shoot arrows of love at humans to help them fall in love and do great things.  However there are also breakers.  Breakers break up the relationships and do to this fact they are seen as less than in this divine society. Anyone who is not an archer experiences discrimination and do not get the same opportunies.  Demi is a breaker but she was born to a family of famous archers.  Her father is the director.  However he is retiring and Demi's protection will soon end and she could be in real trouble.  To make matters worse, her ex and love of her life Gray, accidentally misses his assigned target because he sees her.  He asks Demi to help him fix this mess.  Demi agrees because the missed target has an important destiny that will save lives....