Book Review: The Secret Ways of Perfume by Cristina Caboni! (@cristinecaboni)

The Secret Ways of Perfume
Author: Cristina Caboni
Publication Date: August 11, 2016
Published: Transworld Digital
Source: First to Read

My Rating:

From Florence to Paris, a scent like no other can take you unexpected places . . .
Ten-year-old Elena lives in Florence with her cold and distant perfumier grandmother. Only when enveloped in aromas does Elena feel at home, and she has nurtured a unique gift: the ability to decipher the ingredients of a perfume, and experience the feelings it evokes.
Years later, Elena’s talent leads her to the cobbled streets of Paris. There she rediscovers an old, secret family perfume recipe that no other perfumier has been able to replicate.
As Elena begins to open her heart to new adventures she meets a man who is guarding his own secrets. From France’s sun-drenched lavender fields to the ancient heart of Italy, together they will follow a path of secret scents, distant memories and new hopes . . .

I received an ARC from Penguin's First to Read.

I like both of those covers. The one with the Eiffel Tower is the Hardcover edition and the woman in the field is the Kindle edition.

The story was a bit clichéd and formulaic (ha - a pun), but I still enjoyed it very much. Some parts were repetitive and dragged, but overall I liked the characters and the journeys they went on.

I was invested in the mystery about Elena's ancestor, Beatrice, and her lost Perfect Perfume, and how it affected generations of the Rossini women. The outcome was plausible and satisfying.

There were a few things I nitpicked about. I would have liked Elena and her mother to reconcile sooner so that the epilogue could have taken place a few years into the future. But I have my own head cannon for that.

The descriptions about the perfumes themselves were divine and delightful. I would usually read while commuting and I swear I could smell people's perfumes more acutely than usual because of the beautiful prose. It made me want to have my own personalized perfume. There was even one part of the story that took place in a bakery, and I swear I could smell pastries.

4 out 5 Perfect Perfumes.

Book Review: Land of Enchantment by Leigh Stein! (@rhymeswithbee)

Land of Enchantment
Author: Leigh Stein
Publication Date: August 2, 2016
Published: Plume
Source: First to Read

My Rating:

Set against the stark and surreal landscape of New Mexico, Land of Enchantment is a coming-of-age memoir about young love, obsession, and loss, and how a person can imprint a place in your mind forever.

When Leigh Stein received a call from an unknown number in July 2011, she let it go to voice mail, assuming it would be her ex-boyfriend Jason. Instead, the call was from his brother: Jason had been killed in a motorcycle accident. He was twenty-three years old. She had seen him alive just a few weeks earlier.

Leigh first met Jason at an audition for a tragic play. He was nineteen and troubled and intensely magnetic, a dead ringer for James Dean. Leigh was twenty-two and living at home with her parents, trying to figure out what to do with her young adult life. Within months, they had fallen in love and moved to New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment, a place neither of them had ever been. But what was supposed to be a romantic adventure quickly turned sinister, as Jason's behavior went from playful and spontaneous to controlling and erratic, eventually escalating to violence. Now New Mexico was marked by isolation and the anxiety of how to leave a man she both loved and feared. Even once Leigh moved on to New York, throwing herself into her work, Jason and their time together haunted her.

I received this ARC from First to Read.

Ok I am going to be honest. When I started reading I had forgotten what it was about and that it was a memoir. It doesn't read like a memoir, but more like a novel.

Waiting On Wednesday #68

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Title: This Is Our Story

Author: Ashley Elston

Release Date: November 15, 2016

No one knows what happened that morning at River Point. Five boys went hunting. Four came back. The boys won’t say who fired the shot that killed their friend; the evidence shows it could have been any one of them.

Kate Marino’s senior year internship at the District Attorney’s Office isn’t exactly glamorous—more like an excuse to leave school early that looks good on college applications. Then the DA hands her boss, Mr. Stone, the biggest case her small town of Belle Terre has ever seen. The River Point Boys are all anyone can talk about. Despite their damning toxicology reports the morning of the accident, the DA wants the boys’ case swept under the rug. He owes his political office to their powerful families.
Kate won’t let that happen. Digging up secrets without revealing her own is a dangerous line to walk; Kate has her own reasons for seeking justice for Grant. As she and Stone investigate—the ageing prosecutor relying on Kate to see and hear what he cannot—she realizes that nothing about the case—or the boys—is what it seems. Grant wasn’t who she thought he was, and neither is Stone’s prime suspect. As Kate gets dangerously close to the truth, it becomes clear that the early morning accident might not have been an accident at all—and if Kate doesn’t uncover the true killer, more than one life could be on the line…including her own.

I like how haunting this sounds. Kind of reminds me of an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. From what I hear, the tension is amazing. That I can't wait for. 

Guest Book Review: It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover! (@colleenhoover)

It Ends With Us
Author: Colleen Hoover
Publication Date: August 2, 2016
Published: Atria Books
Reviewer: Stephanie M.

My Rating:

SOMETIMES THE ONE WHO LOVES YOU IS THE ONE WHO HURTS YOU THE MOST
Lily hasn't always had it easy, but that's never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She's come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up - she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily's life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.
Ryle is assertive, stubborn, and maybe even a little arrogant. He's also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily, but Ryle's complete aversion to relationships is disturbing.
As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan - her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.
With this bold and deeply personal novel, Colleen Hoover delivers a heart-wrenching story that breaks exciting new ground for her as a writer. It Ends With Us is an unforgettable tale of love that comes at the ultimate price.
This book contains graphic scenes and very sensitive subject matter.

I am a HUGH Colleen Hoover fan, and Just like any other Colleen Hoover book I’ve read, I had to emotionally prepare myself to read her lasted novel (since I’ve learned the hard way when I first encountered a Colleen Hoover book, yeah it wasn’t pretty). This time, I made sure I had the essentials nearby, tissues, teddy bear or pillow to hold (a loved one works too since they can hug back).

Book Review: Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet by H.P. Wood! (@hilarywrites)

Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet
Author: H.P. Wood
Publication Date: June 7, 2016
Published: Sourcebooks Landmark
Source: NetGalley

My Rating:

May 1904. Coney Island’s newest amusement park, Dreamland, has just opened. Its many spectacles are expected to attract crowds by the thousands, paying back investors many times over.
Kitty Hayward and her mother arrive by steamer from South Africa. When Kitty’s mother takes ill, the hotel doctor sends Kitty to Manhattan to fetch some special medicine. But when she returns, Kitty’s mother has vanished. The desk clerk tells Kitty she is at the wrong hotel. The doctor says he’s never seen her although, she notices, he is unable to look her in the eye.
Alone in a strange country, Kitty meets the denizens of Magruder’s Curiosity Cabinet. A relic of a darker, dirtier era, Magruder's is home to a forlorn flea circus, a handful of disgruntled Unusuals, and a mad Uzbek scientist. Magruder’s Unusuals take Kitty under their wing and resolve to find out what happened to her mother.
But as a plague spreads, Coney Island is placed under quarantine. The gang at Magruder’s finds that a missing mother is the least of their problems, as the once-glamorous resort town is abandoned to the freaks, anarchists, and madmen.

I received this book through Net Galley.

Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet was a wonderful story. I really felt for many of the characters and their journey. I even loved the weird and mystical Curiosity Cabinet, which was a character too. The Cabinet and Timur's inventions reminded me a bit of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Because of that magical feeling I put aside some of my reservations about the end and how quickly some characters recovered.

They say write what you know and it shows. The author is the granddaughter of a mad inventor and a sideshow magician. I also loved the author's notes about what was historically accurate and what was historical fiction. I am interested in looking into some of her recommendations that helped her writing.

I have family in Brooklyn near Coney Island, so I have spent time there, and I loved reading the descriptions of the place. It felt like home and I became giddy as I recognized the places.

When Hoffman Island and Swinburne Island were mentioned I knew exactly where they were. In the early 1900s, the islands were used as a quarantine station, housing immigrants found to have been carrying contagious diseases when they landed at Ellis Island.

Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet is a spectacular story and definitely worth reading, especially if you like magical and anything Unusual.

4 out 5 Boxing Kangaroos

Waiting On Wednesday #67

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Title: Dead Girls Society

Author: Michelle Krys

Release Date: November 8, 2016

You are cordially invited to participate in a game of thrills and dares. Tell no one, and come alone. If you dare.
Hope is sick of everyone treating her like she’s breakable. Sure, she has cystic fibrosis (basically really bad lungs), but she’s tired of being babied by her mom and her overprotective best friend, Ethan, not to mention worrying about paying for her expensive medication and how she’s going to afford college. And she’s bored with life in her run-down New Orleans suburb.
When an invitation arrives from a mysterious group that calls itself the Society, Hope jumps at the chance for some excitement. This could be her ticket out. All she has to do is complete a few dares and she might win some real money.
But the Society isn’t all it seems . . . and soon Hope finds that playing the game isn’t a choice—it’s a requirement.

First thought I had was Dead Poet Society. But outside of that, this sounds really interesting. Like Skulls but not. 

Blog Tour: For Better of Worse by Lauren Layne! - Review!

Will a budding wedding planner and her bad boy neighbor 

stop banging heads and start hearing wedding bells?

FOR BETTER OR WORSE
The Wedding Belles #2
Lauren Layne
Releasing Aug 30th, 2016
Pocket Books

My Rating: 

Will a budding wedding planner and her bad boy neighbor stop banging heads and start hearing wedding bells in the sexy second novel in USA TODAY bestselling author Lauren Layne’s irresistible new series that marries Sex and the City with The Wedding Planner?
When small-town girl Heather Fowler finally gets promoted from assistant to actual wedding planner, she’s determined to make it as one of Manhattan’s elite Wedding Belles. Unfortunately, her first client demands an opulent black-tie affair at the Plaza…in five months’ time. Heather’s days quickly become a flurry of cake tastings, dress-fittings, RSVP cards, and bridal tantrums. But what she’s really losing sleep over is the live music blaring from her playboy neighbor’s apartment all night.
Five years ago, Josh Tanner was an up-and-comer on Wall Street, complete with the penthouse and the migraines. But a grim cancer diagnosis made him realize there is more to life than the corner office. If only he could convince his pretty, workaholic neighbor to let loose, too. As Heather lets down her guard, Josh is surprised when he starts falling for the sweet, vulnerable woman hiding beneath those power suits. Soon, it’s Heather’s turn to convince Josh to take the biggest risk of all: love.

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Don't Miss Any of the Wedding Belles Novels

Gotta love a good neighbor story. It’s already been established that this series is amazing. The first two books were out of this world good. And this one didn’t disappoint. I even finished it in a day! That’s how much I loved it.

For Better or Worse is Heather’s story. Going from assistant planner to main planner is her dream. Planning weddings is what Heather has wanted to do for as long as she could remember. As well as living the life of a stylish New Yorker. One of those things she can check off her list once she moves into her new building. What she didn’t expect was her musician neighbor keeping her up when she has to work weddings the next day.

Josh, the hot, somewhat mysterious, sometimes manwhore neighbor is definitely not part of Heather’s plan. Immediately you could tell that these two are destined for more than being just neighbors. Josh, trying to live the life he almost lost, quit his old life and basically just doing things he loves. That includes a bunch of different women but that was until he met Heather. 

I really loved this one because Josh and Heather didn’t start off in instalove. It was a nice build of animosity and friendship first. But when all that came to a head and their lust got the better of them, it got even better. There were times that I found Heather to be somewhat annoying but I overall loved how unperfect she was. Her relationship with her mom was complicated. Same went for Josh. He wasn’t the hot perfect guy. Yet, he wasn’t the unapproachable brooder either. Everything about this love story flowed nicely and felt fun. 

Not only was this a sweet read, I also found myself laughing a lot. Josh was hilarious. His need for banana bread and every time he riled Heather up was the best. I knew I would love it because this series is one of the bests, but I didn’t expect to love it this much. Maybe the same way Heather didn’t expect to ever fall in love either. By the end, we were both pleasantly surprised.

Lauren Layne is the USA Today bestselling author of more than a dozen romantic comedies. She lives in New York City with her husband (who was her high school sweetheart--cute, right?!) and plus-sized Pomeranian.

In 2011, she ditched her corporate career in Seattle to pursue a full-time writing career in Manhattan, and never looked back.

In her ideal world, every stiletto-wearing, Kate Spade wielding woman would carry a Kindle stocked with Lauren Layne books.

For a list of all her works, please be sure to check out her official website!

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