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Fated

By Sarah Ready

Coming July 16, 2024

(3.5 / 5)

Fated is the 3rd book in the Ghosted series, though it takes place before the other books, so I think it could easily be read as a standalone. In this story, we follow Fiona, co-owner of her family’s famous watch company in Geneva. She has some abandonment issues and is afraid to fall in love. When she is gifted a family heirloom that will let her dream her desires, she is introduced to a different life on an island, with a husband that might be a chance for her to love.

I wanted to love this book… the premise was interesting, with beautiful settings and great descriptions. The pacing felt a bit slow for my taste, and I think I would have liked to see more of Fiona in the real world. The dream world definitely had more drama and complications than I was expecting. I think I felt a little uncomfortable with the premise of Fiona basically living the life of another person (Becca) in the dream world, who seemed to have different intentions when Fiona wasn’t there. Meanwhile Fiona is dating her friend, Max, in the real world while she falls for Aaron in the dream world. All that said, the end of the book really takes a turn that tugs at the heartstrings and kept me more invested in the story. I was happy about how it ended and like the hints toward the next book in the series.

Thank you to Swift & Lewis Publishing LLC | Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members’ Titles, Sarah Ready and NetGalley for the free review copy of Fated! All opinions expressed in my review are completely my own.

Ghosted

By Sarah Ready

Narrated by Sarah Naughton and Rob Brinkman

Coming soon on September 26, 2023

(4.5 / 5)

TW: suicide

I had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook version of Sarah Ready’s upcoming book, Ghosted. The narrators did a great job reading the book. A special thanks to NetGalley and Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) for the free advance copy of this book. The opinions expressed in my review are solely my own.

I went into Ghosted knowing it was a paranormal romance, but it ended up being so much more than I was expecting. It made me feel such a range of emotions, from laughter to tears. At times it did feel a little long, but then the story took a big turn in a direction I wasn’t necessarily expecting.

The author has a very descriptive style of writing, thoroughly painting the scenes throughout the book. Characters were complex and interesting, with side characters that had big personalities and their own character developments. All of this really brought the story to life.

I will note that Jillian, the main character, is a huge Star Trek fan, so many references to the show are made. I’m familiar enough with the various series to be able to appreciate the references, but readers not familiar with Star Trek might find themselves a little lost at times.

I don’t want to give away any of the plot here, so I’ll just say that I ended up enjoying this book so much more than I expected. It was hard to tear myself away from the story, and I finished the whole thing in just over a day. I would love to read more books by Sarah Ready!

I received a free review copy of this book, but all opinions are completely my own.

September 19, 2023 by danimae1981 Audiobook Fiction Romance 0

All That It Ever Meant

By Blessing Musariri

(5 / 5)

All That It Ever Meant is a complex story that really made me think and almost had a philosophical feel to it. Honestly, when asked to describe the book I was reading, I had to respond that I wasn’t really sure, since it obviously had a deeper meaning that would take reading the whole book to completely understand. At the surface, it was a story about a father and his children on a trip to his homeland, Zimbabwe, several months after the mother died. It is obvious this is a family in mourning and trying to heal after a terrible tragedy.

Mati, the middle child in age (14), is the narrator, but it’s almost as if she’s a fly on the wall, describing what is happening to everyone else while being very passive about herself. Interweaved through the story of the family’s trip in Zimbabwe, Mati seems to struggle with telling the story of her mother, past, and something that happened, bringing up bits and pieces out of order but avoiding the true core of what she’s trying to say. Throughout she is joined by Meticais, someone who can only be seen/heard by her but seems to be a guide helping her process all of this, encouraging her to tell her story.

I’ll admit that at the beginning of the book I felt like I was a bit lost in the swirling mind of a teen, jumping from one thought to the next. But the book kept me reading and thinking as the pieces of this puzzle slowly came together. There were multiple times where I had to stop to process paragraphs that felt especially enlightening, not just for this story but for life in general. Over the course of the story, I had a lot of my own theories about what the core of the story really was – there were lots of hints along the way, but it was hard to put together all the pieces in a way that made sense. In the end, the outcome wasn’t at all what I expected, but it was like finding the missing piece to a puzzle that made it all come together.

This was truly a book you weren’t meant to fully understand until the end, but when you get there, you see it for the masterpiece that it is.

I received a free copy of this book through the Amazon Vine program, but all opinions are my own.

March 8, 2023 by danimae1981 Fiction Hardcover Young Adult 0