So I’ve been doing my reading challenge, Owned October, and some people who are participating have decided not to buy books in October, but NOT ME! I NEVER PROMISED THAT! So I’ve kept buying books. In my defense, most of them have been ebooks that were free or on sale, but like…it’s not been helpful in shrinking my TBR!!
Stacking the Shelves is a weekly post hosted by Reading Reality and you can see all the details about Stacking the Shelves on their page. Basically Stacking the Shelves is a weekly thing where you share all the books (electronic or physical) that you have acquired that week.
As a disclaimer, the shelves in the header photo are not mine. I took this photo at Mostly Books in Tucson. I adored this small independent bookstores and will be back!
eBooks!!
I recently subscribed to BookBub which is a daily email blast with ebook deals that you might be interested in. It’s been great, but I keep adding more ebooks to my TBR because of it.
The Billionaire’s Wake-up-call Girl by Annika Martin
Not to judge a book by it’s cover, but I don’t love this style of cover. But someone I follow on bookstagram (follow me there lol) said they really liked this one. So I’m going to give it a go even though I don’t love billionaire heroes, but hoping it provides some excellent escapism.
Synopsis: When my manager assigns me the task of finding a new wake up call service for our CEO, I think, how hard can this be?
Answer: practically impossible. It turns out that no wake-up call company in the world will take him on as a client. They’ve all had enough of his surly personality.
So in an effort not to lose my job, I secretly start making the calls myself, every day at 4:30 am sharp. OMG yes you read that right—four freaking thirty in the morning.
Confession: I’m not the nicest wake-up-call girl at that hour. Hello! Who wakes up before the roosters are even crowing? Luckily he doesn’t seem to mind my get-your-ass-out-of-bed attitude.
Day by day we’re becoming closer, and the calls start turning hot, like pay-by-the-minute hot and oh-so-wild. Snuggled under the covers with the moonlight streaming in the windows, we divulge our secrets to each other, but the one thing that he can never find out is that the sexy vixen who wakes him up every morning is just the lowly assistant who wears frumpy dresses. I can only imagine his disappointment.
Now he wants to take me out on a date and he’s scouring Manhattan to find me. He’s an overachieving billionaire bent on a mission. How much longer can I keep up this charade?
Let’s Face the Music and Dance by Merry Farmer
I have no explanation except I saw that this had something to do with the theater and it was free so I just downloaded it?? I can’t be trusted with free ebooks apparently. I also started reading it and it’s okay so far. I’m not entire sure if I will commit to finishing it right now, but it’s been a decent read so far.
Synopsis: In order to restore the family fortune he lost, Lord Vegas has ordered his sons to marry money, and to marry it fast. But the four of them are determined to strike back at their father by marrying the most unsuitable brides they can find…
As the second-youngest son of the Marquess of Vegas, no one has ever expected much from Dean Rathborne-Paxton, including himself. Dean has been content to spend his days flexing his artistic muscles by painting scenery for the Concord Theater. The theater is the perfect place for him to be close to the famous and scandalous actress, Nanette D’Argent. Joe has admired Nanette from afar, but when his brothers hatch their scheme to marry unsuitable women, he takes a leap and proposes.
Nan Silvers has built a life and a fortune on pretending to be someone she isn’t. She has deliberately built her image and then sold it to the highest bidders. Her image can be found endorsing everything from chocolate to soap, and the fortune she’s earned from her commercial ventures is enough to make her the envy of London. But nothing she has ever done is enough for the family she left behind to pursue her acting dreams.
So when the son of the Marquess of Vegas proposes to her out of the blue, Nan jumps at the chance to become Dean’s wife. Surely, she will be respected when she marries into the aristocracy, right?
What Nan and Dean actually get is a whirlwind courtship, a case of mistaken identity, a disastrous trip to the country, an opening night comedy of errors, and more interference from colorful family members than either of them expected. Oh, and love. Unexpectedly, paradoxically, and forever.
Seatmate by Cara Bastone
I’ve read one Cara Bastone book and it was a good time. When I saw this was 99 cents I jumped on this deal! It might still be 99 cents if you want to check it out on the ‘zon.
Synopsis: I have exactly 5 hours and 10 minutes to get from Boston to New York City or the professional opportunity of a lifetime disappears. My only travel option? The second to last seat on a discount bus. Across from the bathroom. Wearing last night’s clothes (don’t ask). All worth it if I can make it in time.
My nerves almost get the best of me, but then there he is, sitting down in the seat next to me. Tall. Friendly smile. Bright indigo streak in his brown hair. The perfect distraction. Turns out he’s on his way to reconnect with an old flame. The one who got away. We can both make it on time – just barely – if the traffic keeps flowing.
Playing road-trip games, avoiding calls from his mother, and effortless conversation keeps us from clockwatching…until the bus breaks down. And my seatmate turns into my copilot as we wrangle a ride in a car three decades old. And hit all the traffic. And oh, Lord, the detours. And somehow I end up careening cross-town on the handlebars of a Citi Bike carrying a box of kittens. (Yeah, don’t ask.)
He’s my hero every step of the way…and I might be falling for him. But what happens when we reach our final destination? Could my seatmate really be my soul mate?
As If On Cue by Marisa Kanter
I’ve run into Marisa at like three book events recently so I need to read her most recent release! I started the audiobook of this one and didn’t love the narrator so I’m hoping the ebook is the way to go. This one was $1.99 and it might still be on sale when this goes up. Unsure.
Synopsis: Lifelong rivals Natalie and Reid have never been on the same team. So when their school’s art budget faces cutbacks, of course Natalie finds herself up against her nemesis once more. She’s fighting to direct the school’s first ever student-written play, but for her small production to get funding, the school’s award-winning band will have to lose it. Reid’s band. And he’s got no intention of letting the show go on.
But when their rivalry turns into an all-out prank war that goes too far, Natalie and Reid have to face the music, resulting in the worst compromise: writing and directing a musical. Together. At least if they deliver a sold-out show, the school board will reconsider next year’s band and theater budget. Everyone could win.
Except Natalie and Reid.
Because after spending their entire lives in competition, they have absolutely no idea how to be co-anything. And they certainly don’t know how to deal with the feelings that are inexplicably, weirdly, definitely developing between them…
physical books!!
Love me a physical book! Even though Owned October was born out of me realizing that I simply do not have enough space for all these book,I am weak.
Meet me in Paradise by Libby Hubscher
I went to Bookman, a local used bookstore, with some bookstagrammers last weekend because they had a sale and I picked up this one. I’ve heard it’s emotional so when I’m feeling ~moody~ I’ll have to give it a go.
Synopsis: Ever since her journalist mother died on assignment, Marin has played it safe, refusing to set foot outside the state of Tennessee. Her wild-child younger sister, Sadie, has trotted the globe as a photographer, living off of art and adrenaline.
When Sadie returns from a tough assignment abroad and looks a little worse for wear, Marin reluctantly agrees to a sisters’ spa weekend on the tropical island of Saba. But her lifelong fear of travel is affirmed when Sadie misses the flight, Marin’s luggage gets mixed up with another passenger’s, and an episode of turbulence sends her hurtling into the lap of Lucas Tsai, the handsome stranger who stole her sister’s seat.
For the first time in a long time, Marin has to step outside of her comfort zone as she explores the island with Lucas and learns what she’s been missing out on. With each breathtaking new experience, Marin gets closer to her real self, the man she’s falling for, and the heart-wrenching truth about why she’s there in the first place.
Sizzle Reel by Carlyn Greenwood
Thanks so much to the publisher for a copy of Sizzle Reel! I’m so excited to read this one and I think one of my bookclubs will be reading this together which is fun. Also, I just noticed the bi pride flag colors on this cover and I’m obsessed.
Synopsis: For aspiring cinematographer Luna Roth, coming out as bisexual at twenty-four is proving more difficult than she anticipated. Sure, her best friend and fellow queer Romy is thrilled for her–but she has no interest in coming out to her backwards parents, she wouldn’t know how to flirt with a girl if one fell at her feet, and she has no sexual history to build off. Not to mention she really needs to focus her energy on escaping her emotionally-abusive-but-that’s-Hollywood talent manager boss and actually get working under a real director of photography anyway.
When she meets twenty-eight-year-old A-list actress Valeria Sullivan around the office, Luna thinks she’s found her solution. She’ll use Valeria’s interest in her cinematography to get a PA job on the set of Valeria’s directorial debut–and if Valeria is as gay as Luna suspects, and she happens to be Luna’s route to losing her virginity, too . . . well, that’s just an added bonus. Enlisting Romy’s help, Luna starts the juggling act of her life–impress Valeria’s DP to get another job after this one, get as close to Valeria as possible, and help Romy with her own career moves.
But when Valeria begins to reciprocate romantic interest in Luna, the act begins to crumble–straining her relationship with Romy and leaving her job prospects precarious. Now Luna has to figure out if she can she fulfill her dreams as a filmmaker, keep her best friend, and get the girl. . . or if she’s destined to end up on the cutting room floor.
If you’ve read any of these, where should I start?
xoxo, Tree
Words About Words 