One Hot Summer Anthology - ARC

 

Hiya all!

Today's blog post will be featuring One Hot Summer which is a compilation of different stories by different authors.

Cover is from Amazon- the Arc didn't include this?!

I feel kinda bad about not liking this book but I really couldn't like this anthology.  We were sent this anthology in exchange for an honest review.  Ready? Here we go!

First things first: this book is like an appetizer platter.

That is the best way that I can describe it.  I signed up for the reading blitz thinking that it would be an actual anthology of short stories?  I didn't realize that this would a collection of the first several chapters of completed books.  While there are 7 different authors, their stories featured in this anthology range from having 7 to 11 chapters and then they just tell you to go and buy the book when it's available for purchase.  Which is fine (I guess?) but really, if I'm going to buying a book with only parts of books in them- be up front with that... Don't be misleading. 

I also signed up for the blitz because I happen to be a fan of Katy Regnery!  I like her books and I really liked her YA book when she wrote under the pen name, Callie Henry.  So I figured, why not?!  NOW I didn't have any problem with Regnery's story in this anthology.  (I liked her story and I actually plan on buying Single in Sitka was when comes out next month.) 

I'm going to go in order of the books as they are featured in the anthology to tell you a little bit of what I thought about them....

Here goes nothing!

The Summer of Us by Melanie Moreland: 
I'm reading the synopsis of the story now on Amazon about this book and for the life of me, I can't remember what I read under The Summer of Us!  It didn't do anything for me.  I was fairly neutral about this one. 

The Inheritance by Amy Briggs:
I liked this one! I thought it was well written and I could definitely see myself reading the rest of the book.  I liked the idea that this woman, inherited a small fortune (and a home and a dog) from a colleague.  I liked that Briggs wrote a story about how you might not be with someone in a physically intimate way to make them love you and share things with you.   

Summer Seduction by Caisy Quinn:
NO. Just a big fat NO.
What the heck?!
This story follows a 17 (A SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD!!!) and the night she spends with a 24 year old guy from her college level art history class.  This 24 year old guy is also about to be her HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY TEACHER!!
NO. NO NO NO.
I wanted to crawl out of my skin while reading this one. 
Just. NO.

By the Seaside by Heidi McLaughlin:
While writing this review, I've realized that this one and The Inheritance seemed fairly similar to me.  There is something underlying about them both that makes me think that... This one was okay.  I didn't really get how this one "event" could change everything for the main character, Kelly- how she was basically driven out of her hometown and lead a life that she didn't really want.  But traumatic events change people and even though an outsider might not see it as that, it depends on how the person living it sees it. 

Love's a Beach by Danielle Pearl
This is another one that I liked.  This one who quite real.  There wasn't anything about it that was far fetched. It tackled something that was very real and something that a lot of women experience.  (A perk about this book? There's a character named Jillian!!)

Single in Sitka by Katy Regnery
What can I say? I'm a fan of Katy Regnery.  I started to find myself swooning over Luke Kingston! I liked the interactions between him and his kids.  I liked the real fears that his older son, Chad toward Amanda.  I liked how the story started off in a goofy way.  I thought it was cute.  I'm very excited for when this book comes out in October.  It ended on a true cliffhanger and I can't wait to see what will happen next!

The Secret at Sunset by Shari J. Ryan
I didn't care for this one either.  I found the main character Alexa to be self absorbed.  Meh. 

Out of 7 stories, I have to say that I would confidently go and buy 2 of the books to find out what happens.  Two of them were good and while I could see myself going out and getting copies to see what happened- would I really do it? No.  Then the last 3... while I found two to be meh, so much to the point where I don't remember what the heck happened in them.  That ONE really made me get upset (ask MB!).  I would honestly say to pass this anthology.  Go out and get copes of Love's a Beach and Single in Sitka when they become available!

~ Jillian

A Totally Awkward Love Story by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison - Reshelved Books

Happy 2019 Everyone!

I hope everyone rang in the New Year in a fun way. I hope everyone has some awesome goals set for themselves this year and you fully accomplish them by going above and beyond :)

What better way to start off the new year than with a lukewarm review??

I finished two books today and I started a new one. 

A Totally Awkward Love Story by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison is the lukewarm reviewed book. 

(In a very strange way, this little YA book does make mention of a philosophy from the other book that I finished. A review of  I’ll Be There for You by Kelsey Miller will come at a later date!)

This a classic example of judging a book by it’s cover. The cover art is totally adorable (this is not the original cover art though)- it has little people drawn on it and there’s quotes from the book behind these little people.  But that’s where the cuteness stops. 

I don’t have any true issues with this book. I just didn’t like it. It lacked something. 

It’s a solid 3 coffee beans. Yes, I’m giving the rating before I finish my review. (A new change for the new year?)

A Totally Awkward Love Story takes us across the pond to meet 18 year old Hannah and 17 year old Sam. By a weird state of fate, Sam and his friends crash a party of Hannah’s friend, Stella. Sam and Hannah meet each other in the bathroom- Hannah is having some concerns from a recent waxing incident and Sam just needs to use the restroom. They share a magical moment in the bathroom, creating a new way to high 5 (high 10) for an important occasion and how awesome not spiced grape juice is. 

But as life is, these two star crossed lovers have been pulled apart by the arrival of Hannah’s crush, Freddie. (I guess you could say, this is The One Where Girl Leaves Boy. Anybody get it?) Sam is sad and goes to see if he can find Hannah. He sees that Hannah is very much preoccupied with Freddie. So Sam goes back to his friends. Sam does met Hannah’s friend, Stella. Which is the official start of these two running into each other. 

The start of a long winded and complicated series of run-ins. I think these run-ins might be why I lost interest in Sam and Hannah. 

Hannah believed that Sam was her lobster. Sam believed that Hannah was his lobster (he never used those words but the notion was there that they shared the same feelings) YET these 2 couldn’t get their act together. 

I recant the statement above where I said that I didn’t any real issue. I do. I have a real issue with this storyline and that was Stella. I thought she was a really crappy friend. She had a big mouth and she was doing things to Hannah that best friends don’t do to their best friends. 

Hannah’s grandmother had bought her this dress that both her and Stella thought was beautiful. When they were in Kavos, Stella happened to go through Hannah's luggage and happened to find this dress (mind you, Hannah had HIDDEN the dress prior to traveling to Kavos). Without asking, she just puts it on and decides to wear it out for the night. See? Characteristics of a crappy friend. 

Then they all ended up at a festival together for 3 days. Hannah and Sam find each other again. But yet again, have a long drawn out trouble with encounter. Just like they have at the end of the book. 

Yes, the story had it moments where I would laugh. But it had moments where it was fresh and I was wondering if that was totally necessary.  It had more moments where it was boring. 

This is a lukewarm book at best. 

~ Jillian

The Witchfinder's Sister by Beth Underdown - Reshelved Books

Hello everyone!  

In honor of the spooky pumpkin spice latte season, I bring you a review that's rather witchy, at least in the historical sense.  When we think of historical witches, we often think of Salem, Massachusetts and the Salem Witch Trials that took place in the 1690's.  Beth Underdown's The Witchfinder's Sister takes us to pre-Salem overseas in England in 1645 where like in Salem, women were hunted, tried, and murdered for being a suspected "witch." 

This novel follows the story of Alice Hopkins, who after becoming a recent widow when her husband dies in an accident, is forced to return to her childhood home, which is now owned by her brother Matthew Hopkins.  Alice, after miscarrying and losing many children while her husband was alive, is pregnant once again.  This is both a blessing and a curse.  It is a blessing because it is something that she has yearned for, for so many years and because it is the last physical tie she has to her deceased husband, but it is also a curse because now it will be so much harder for her to remarry.  It appears as though her future lies with being a single mother under the rule of her brother's home.  But then Alice loses this baby as well.    

One night, Matthew comes home late and terribly frightened.  He saw something, but when questioned by Alice he will not speak of it.  Alice herself had felt something... animal and dog-like come inside with Matthew that night but she cannot explain the phenomena and wishes to forget it.  It is after this, that Matthew begins to hunt women, especially those without family, children, or who have had children recently  pass, as well as those who may be suffering from mental distress and tries and kills them for being witches.  According to this Wikipedia article, the real life Matthew Hopkins is believed to have murdered 300 women for suspected witchcraft.  Isn't that crazy?

I always had a fascination with the witch trials, which I why I decided to pick up this book.  That being said, historical fiction isn't always my thing.  While I found this book interesting, I wasn't overly blown away with it, especially towards the end.  So dear Dewey Readers, I leave you with a rating of 3 out of 5 Coffee Beans.  

Until the next read!

~Jessica