#BookReview : Say Yes Summer by Lindsey Roth Culli @PRHGlobal #SayYesSummer #YA #Contemporary

8 Comments June 30, 2020 Books Teacup and Reviews

Say Yes Summer by Lindsey Roth Culli
Publication Date : May 12th 2020
Publisher : Delacorte Press
Genre : YA Contemporary
Pages : 256

Perfect for fans of Morgan Matson and Netflix/Hallmark Channel rom-coms, this is the story of a girl who decides to give in to the universe and just say yes to everything, bringing her friendship, new experiences, and, if she lets her guard down, true love.

The perfect book to kick off summer! For as long as Rachel Brooks can remember, she’s had capital-G Goals: straight As, academic scholarship, college of her dreams. And it’s all paid off–after years of following the rules and acing every exam, Rachel is graduating at the top of her class and ready to celebrate by . . . doing absolutely nothing. Because Rachel Brooks has spent most of high school saying no. No to dances, no to parties, and most especially, no to boys.

Now, for the first time in her life, there’s nothing stopping Rachel from having a little fun–nothing, that is, except herself. So when she stumbles on a beat up old self-help book–A SEASON OF YES!–a crazy idea pops into her head: What if she just said yes to . . . everything?

And so begins a summer of yes. Yes to new experiences and big mistakes, yes to rekindled friendships and unexpected romances, yes to seeing the world in a whole new way. This book is a fresh and fun take on the coming-of-age novel that explores the quintessential themes of growing up: taking risks, making mistakes, and, of course, love. And who knows? Lindsey Roth Culli’s hilarious and heartwarming debut may just inspire your own SAY YES SUMMER.

*** Note: I received e-copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to PRHGlobal for free copy. ***

Say Yes Summer was cute and fluffy YA Contemporary, a coming of age story of Rachel and her summer of saying yes to everything. It was about pros and cons of saying Yes or No that comes with opportunity cost, experiencing the world for the first time, friendship, family, and love.

Writing was simple, easy, and entertaining. It was super-fast paced, I finished this book within a day, which rarely happens with me. It was first person narrative from Rachel’s perspective that made me understand her feelings and how she was seeing the world and experienced her summer adventure. Setting of Michigan and all beautiful touristy beach, Kalamazoo lake, Lake Michigan, Mt Baldhead and Rachel’s parents’ new venture cream cart and ice-cream gondolas (yum yum) gave the story whole summery vibe.

Plot was simple that started with Rachel suddenly realizing she missed out so much in four years of high school by saying No to everything except studies. Now she felt nobody knew her, she successfully made herself invisible and boring and now she wanted to change that. When she found her grandma’s self-help book ‘The Freedom to Say Yes’, she got idea of saying yes to everything and fully enjoy this summer. In doing so, she experienced many good things but also messed up lot of things.

It was interesting to read how Rachel came out of her shell, overcame her fears, rekindled friendship, found lovers, learned many things specially what it’s like to be free and live out in real world. It was pretty simple plot, I knew how this was going to end but at the same time it was cute and lovely to read Rachel’s summer adventure.

“I think balance is the key to finding out what you really, actually want. Not just what you’re forcing yourself to say yes to.”

I loved all characters specially Rachel. She was smart, caring and lovely person. We see her thoughts towards her classmates and friends, how she saw them through their social media life and gossips she heard but not by knowing and interacting with them in real but as soon as she started interacting with them, she learned how wrong and judgmental she was, how much she blocked out reality and picturized them how she wanted to see them. It was bit weird to see she was observing Clayton so much that she could tell what was going on in his life but at the same time she literally didn’t know what Miles felt whom she knew in real for her whole life both in school and at job at her parents’ restaurant. She was wrong about lot of things and I liked how she realized that. Her development was best part in the book.

Clayton was popular guy, Westfield’s Soccer star and so very handsome but he was nothing like those famous boys who act like they own the world. He was lovely, kind, and gentle soul. Rachel thought he was perfect guy but in reality he was normal human who had his own issues. I loved him for being true and real all the time, even when Rachel messed things.

Miles was Rachel’s childhood friend and worked at her parent’s restaurant. He too was going through his own issue, trying to get over grief and loss. He was not bad. I knew he liked her. I felt for this guy and his reaction to both loss and feeling for Rachel was genuine but still I wasn’t completely at his side.

Carrie was my favorite secondary character. She was wise and smart and lovely girl. I liked the way she helped Rachel and how they sorted their problems. Bethany and Rouxi, her family and Nona were also great.

Love triangle and dating two boys at same time didn’t work that long. Romance and two-timing was wrapped pretty soon. But there were cute moments that made me smile and I liked how they knew each other better in this short relationships.

I liked message in the book given through Rachel’s development- not judging people based on what they show out to the world, even popular girls and boys have their problem and behind all their fame they are normal human being; it’s never easy for anyone to be out in the world and experiencing the real world and life; even best laid plans can go wrong; it’s okay and to mess things but important to not to hurt anyone’s feeling and make things right later; going out of comfort zone is good but also should stay true to yourself; and most importantly it’s okay to say NO.

“Every choice has embedded within it an opportunity cost. Saying yes isn’t free. When you said no to parties and to boys, you were saying yes to your family, and to your friends, and to your responsibilities. And sometimes that- learning when to say no and especially what to say no to- is just as important.”

Climax was filled with lots of drama with boys and then with family. But then Nonna’s wisdom made Rachel gather all courage and make things right by apologizing for her royal mess. End was lovely with packing, time with friends and surprise gift from family and Rachel finding her love.

Why 4 stars-

It’s not like I don’t like love triangle but what makes me not so inclined for love triangle stories is protagonist always going with a boy I don’t like as much as I like the other boy. And that’s what happened here! And another reason was, I have read/seen something like this before. It sounded a bit clichéd and predictable.

Overall,

Say Yes Summer was fluffy, feel good, enjoyable, cute and coming of age YA contemporary with lovable characters. I recommend this to fan of this genre.
Tweet

Books Links : Goodreads | Amazon

Affiliate Link : Book Depository

I hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know in comments what do you think about my review and this book, if you have read it already or going to add to TBR. What are your favorite fluffy contemporaries?

Happy Reading!

Follow me-

If you enjoy my posts and blog, please consider supporting me.

#CoverReveal : When the Roses Die by Sheritha Singh @evernightpub #WhentheRosesDie #Fantasy

6 Comments June 26, 2020 Books Teacup and Reviews

Hello readers! I’m happy to share cover for When the Roses Die by Sheritha Singh. It’s an interracial fantasy YA romance with a beauty/beast flare releasing today. Check out interesting synopsis and beautiful cover in this post.

When the Roses Die by Sheritha Singh
Publisher : Evernight Publishing
Genre : fantasy / YA romance

Synopsis:

Why must fairy tale romances be so complicated?

When sixteen-year-old Sana learns her crush is a shape-shifting beast in hiding, and she’s a descendant of the Coven that can either save or destroy him, she’s forced to make a choice that will determine their
future—if she accepts her destiny.

With the coven on their trail, Sana and Kiaan escape to the Underworld where they must destroy the Blederz and save the surviving Dark Beings from the coven’s reign of terror. But when the roses in Silver Moon valley start dying out, Kiaan’s beast may just not survive.

Books Links : Evernight Teen | Amazon

I hope you enjoyed reading about this book. Let me know in comments what do you think about the cover or if you are going to add it to TBR.

Happy Reading!

Follow me-

If you enjoy my posts and blog, please consider supporting me.

#GuestPost: Stumbling blocks to writing a long series by Sherryl D. Hancock, author of #WeHo Series @vulpine_press

8 Comments June 26, 2020 Books Teacup and Reviews

Hello Readers! Today I’m excited to welcome Sherryl D. Hancock, author of WeHo Series to celebrate release of 16th book in series, Darkness Past, on Books Teacup and Reviews to talk about Stumbling blocks to writing a long series. The series is packed with strong, kick-ass women who deal with real issues and overcome a lot of adversity. Check out this interesting guest post and more about book in this post.

Stumbling blocks to writing a long series:

Writing a long series means never having to say goodbye!

As a writer you fall in love with the characters in your books, and writing interconnected series means you don’t have to stop seeing your characters. When I wrote my first book in what was to become the WeHo series, When Love Wins, I had no intention of writing a series. My character Tyler Hancock was inspired by my wife and her time spent in the United States Air Force. She was negatively affected by the military’s stance on gays in the military (they weren’t allowed!). At that point I just wanted to get that story out there. My second book, When Angels Fall, didn’t have the same characters. It was only when I began visualizing my third, Break in the Storm, that I saw a way to bring back Devin and Skyler from When Angels Fall. Even then, I didn’t really plan a “series.”

One year out of high school, before WeHo ever came about, I accidentally began writing my first series of books. The very first book I wrote from beginning to end was called Building Empires, which turned out to be the first and second book of my MidKnight Blue series. Building Empires was so long I had to split it into two books, when I finally got published many years later! That’s when I fell in love with the main character Midnight Chevalier; I didn’t even know I liked women then! In Midnight I had a strong female character, a woman who took no crap from anyone, and who was tough enough to hold her own against anyone! I found that after writing about her exploits, I didn’t want her story to end! I wanted her to grow, change, live and love! I wanted other characters in the book to grow up, and become their own people.

When I began writing WeHo number four, Turning Tables, I saw how I could bring characters from my other series, MidKnight Blue, into my WeHo universe. Even bringing a supernatural element to the books, using a character I’d previously developed who has the gift of premonitions. I think that’s when the idea of writing a series starring recurring characters and centering them all in West Hollywood (WeHo), California really took hold. Thus, the WeHo series was born!

By the time I started the third Midnight Chevalier story, I realized that I needed to add characters who’d grown up in the previous two books. So I started adding new characters, while developing the ones I already had. Giving them love lives, letting them change and grow as people. As it turned out, the characters changed me too. As I explored the options for their lives, what they could do, how they could find love, I realized what was truly missing in my life: REAL LOVE! Right around the time I started to write the story about Kana Sorbinno meeting the love of her life, a woman, was about the same time I discovered my preference for women. As I explored the gay lifestyle for my characters, I learned more about myself.

It took me another ten years to finally end my marriage to a man, and live the life I’d wanted for so long. That’s when I met my soul mate, and a few years later, finally decided to write a lesbian romance! And we all know what that led to!

Now, you’re probably wondering… I thought she said this was about the stumbling blocks to writing a long series… Well, yes, there are stumbling blocks and that is MANAGING so many characters and trying to keep track of their stories. There are over forty women in the series! With more to come! It’s not always easy to wrangle so many personalities, habits, backgrounds, jobs, cars, and music preferences (if you read the WeHo series you’ll see I’m all about the music and the cars!). It only becomes worse when your publisher moves to audio books! Then the poor narrator has to come up with different intonations for each character.

How do I keep track of all of them? Well, I have a book, and that book has notes from the books, from research on the books. The book also has a list of characters by name, age, the vehicles they drive. I know that probably seems silly if you haven’t read the series, but the cars are featured heavily in many of the “group” scenes! I even have pictures in this book. The pictures are of women that inspire the characters, shots of the cars they drive, random things like an article for an apartment rental in New York, or a picture of the Colonel’s Insignia for Kai Temple in Quid Pro Quo, or a picture of a tattoo one of the characters has. The pictures can be anything I need or want to remember about the character.

The music is a whole other arena! I have so much music downloaded from what the various characters listen to. I have playlists for certain characters, or at the very least a playlist of a type of music. I have a classic rock playlist for when I need to get into the head of Jericho Tehrani (from Turning Tables) when she’s driving her Dodge Challenger Hellcat down the road. I also have a house music playlist for getting into the mind of Memphis McQueen (In Plain Sight)! Music is very important to me and can stir up so many emotions and memories. Many people who have read my series have told me how they discovered Breaking Benjamin, or Linkin Park because they read the names of the songs in the book and downloaded it. I love sharing my passion for music with my readers!

The most important thing about writing a long series, is enjoying the feeling when another book is ready to come out and people are anticipating it! I love seeing the excitement of my readers when I post that a new book in the WeHo series is coming out! It fuels my need to write, even if it means adding another name to the growing list in my book! I am starting a new series, about fire fighters working for Cal Fire here in California…maybe I won’t use the same characters over and over again, but maybe you’ll see characters you know too!

Book Detail:

Darkness Past (WeHo series #16) by Sherryl D. Hancock
Publication Date: June 22, 2020
Publisher: Vulpine Press
Genre: LGBT romance

Sierra Youngblood’s life is in danger. After being threatened and stalked by an old client, Kashena Marshal is assigned as her protection. But Kashena isn’t just any security officer, she’s an old flame that Sierra could never forget.

After years apart they soon discover they still share a spark, despite Sierra now being married to a man with a son. Eventually, she realizes she can’t live without Kashena and chooses to leave her husband. But when Jason turns violent, Kashena is forced to protect Sierra once more.
As the dust starts to settle, could there be yet more Darkness in the Past?

Series detail – https://www.vulpine-press.com/we-ho

About the Author:

Sherryl D. Hancock lives in Sacramento, California, and has been writing since she was a teenager. Sherryl’s bestselling WeHo series deals with a number of important topics, such as abuse and problems with mental health. Sherryl’s books are filled with strong, inspiring women in the hope of helping and inspiring others.

You can find her latest book, Darkness Past, here.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Let me know in comments what do you think about this guest post and if you have read any book in this series or are you going to add it to TBR.

Happy Reading!

Follow me-

If you enjoy my posts and blog, please consider supporting me.

#CoverReveal : OUR LAST CHANCE by JAQUELINE SNOWE @FillesVertesPub #fvpbooktours #YAContemporary

6 Comments June 16, 2020 Books Teacup and Reviews

Hello Readers! I’m excited to be part of the Cover Reveal for OUR LAST CHANCE by JAQUELINE SNOWE, from Filles Vertes Publishing. Check out beautiful cover and excerpt in this post.

OUR LAST CHANCE by JAQUELINE SNOWE
Series : The Final Season Series
Expected Publication Date : December 15, 2020
Publisher : Filles Vertes Publishing
Genre : YA / Contemporary
Cover Designer: Jena R. Collins/JRC Designs

Synopsis:

Rule one: Soccer is life.

Rule two: Forget boy drama.

Rule three: Stay out of Trouble.

Lana Reyes has no intention of breaking her own rules for senior year. That is until she doesn’t get her soccer scholarship—the one and only shot of getting out of her small town. With only one more showcase to make a name for herself, she needs help to increase her speed and agility—a skill set touted by her ex-crush and hottest guy at school.

Dylan Cadwell’s perfect spirals and chiseled features can’t erase the struggles he faces at home or in the classroom. With failing grades and parents who engage in constant yelling matches, the dream of playing college football is his only escape—one that could easily slip through his fingers if his lackluster grades aren’t pulled up immediately. If he loses a full-ride scholarship, he’s destined to be stuck in their small town forever.

When Lana and Dylan discover each other’s situation, they hatch a plan: He’ll train her; she’ll tutor him. It’s a seamless strategy, designed to help each other keep their eye on the prize—until rekindled feelings emerge and the greatest prize of all could be the love playing out between them.

Excerpt:

Chapter One

Lana

Senior year, baby. This was it.

Soccer. Scholarship. Shenanigans. If I could get it printed on a T-shirt, I would wear that shit every day. I shoved the final piece of toast into my mouth, tied my hair up into a high ponytail—my signature look since sixth grade—and bounded down the stairs like a bobcat. My parents raised their brows at my loud entrance, but they shouldn’t have been surprised. They’re the one who called me la tormenta—the storm—as a toddler, and I’d vowed to live up to my name.

The narrow hallway decorated with various family pictures led into a small kitchen that had a half-wall separating the dining area from the living room. We had a strict, no-food-ever-on-the-couch policy, so I grabbed a Pop-Tart and ripped it open near the trash bin.

“Mornin’ padres,” I said without spitting any crumbs on the floor. My mom’s gaze went straight from my mouth to the clean white tile; I cupped my hand under my chin in a dramatic fashion. “I’m not going to spill.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that one before.”

I rolled my eyes, sharing a quick look with my dad sitting quite comfortably on the beat-up burgundy couch. I shared his style more than my mom’s. He liked rock music and had an earring; Mom wore button-up collared shirts and loafers. Despite their vastly different styles, they both were half-Mexican and from strict Catholic families, so they had the same integrity and outlook on life. He winked at me and pointed to the newspaper. “Did you see last night’s game?”

“Sí, claro. Cruz Azul won again.” I grinned. Soccer was the end-all, be-all of our family—and my future. No scholarship meant no college for me, and we all knew it. The panic I had carried all weekend flared in my gut—today was the day.

Today my coach would tell me the results of the showcase I’d played in a couple weeks ago.

Add to Goodreads

Pre-order link

Author Bio:

Jaqueline Snowe lives in Arizona where the “dry heat” really isn’t that bad. She prefers drinking coffee all hours of the day and snacking on anything that has peanut butter or chocolate. She is the mother to two fur-babies who don’t realize they aren’t humans and a new mom to the sweetest baby boy. She is an avid reader and writer of romances and tends to write about athletes. Her husband works for an MLB team (not a player, lol) so she knows more about baseball than any human ever should.

Author Social Media:
Facebook: @ jaquelinesnowe
Twitter: @jaquelinesnowe
Instagram: @ jaquelinesnowe
Bookbub: @jaqueline-snowe
Website: www.jaquelinesnowe.com

What do you think about the book and cover? Are you going to add it to TBR?

Happy Reading!

Follow me-

If you enjoy my posts and blog, please consider supporting me.

#BookReview : Love is What You Bake of it (The Meraki Series Book 1) by Effie Kammenou #Romance @EffieKammenou @lovebooksgroup

6 Comments June 6, 2020 Books Teacup and Reviews

Love is What You Bake of it (The Meraki Series Book 1)
Publication date : March 24th 2020
Genre : Romance
Pages : 278
Stars : ★★★★★

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is synopsis_edited.jpg

The only love Kally Andarakis is baking is in the form of the sweet treats she whips up in her café, The Coffee Klatch.
Kally never believed herself to be a person worthy of love, but when an intoxicating man she considered out of her league pursues her, she risks everything to be with him. Later, when tragedy strikes, truths are revealed that leave Kally brokenhearted and untrusting.
Eight years later, Kally is a successful pastry chef running the café she’d always dreamed of owning. With a home of her own, a profession she’s passionate about, and the support and love of friends and family, Kally is content with the life she has carved out for herself.
Until the day Max Vardaxis walks into her café…
With arguing parents, meddling relatives, an overly energetic grandmother, a man-crazy best friend, and the long ago, mysterious disappearance of a grandfather, this new man in town is just one more complication in Kally’s life, if not the main one.
Kally must now decide whether to keep her heart safe or to once again take a ‘whisk on love.’

*** Note : I received e-copy of this book as a part of blog tour. many thanks to Kelly @Love Books Group for tour invite and author for review copy. ***

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is review_edited.jpg

Love is What You Bake of it was lovely romance that revolved around Kally, her café and her love and faith issues. It was about not everything is as it looks and make assumptions based on it, having faith in person you love, healing, forgiveness, and giving love second chance.

Essential ingredients for Love is What You Bake of it:
Flour of interesting characters
sugar of love
butter of romance
yeast of faith
salt of twist and heartbreak
eggs of secrets and revelations.

How to mix it and put it in oven? That’s in the book, written in smooth and captivating first person narrative from Kally and, occasionally, Max’s perspective. Setting of Port Jefferson and Kally’ café, The Coffee Klatch, made the story beautiful.

It started with Kally visiting grave of person she loved, who broke her heart and left her with unanswered questions. This made me want to know more about this person, what happened, and what questions needed answers. 8 years later, now Kally had love of her life, not a man, her café. Past burnt her soul so deep she didn’t believe in love and men until a police officer entered her café- Max who had his own past and wasn’t looking for love. But firework of attraction wasn’t something they could ignore and love was inevitable. I was curious to know what was Max’s past, what happened with Kally all those years ago, if they will stay together after knowing each other’s past, can Kally trust Max and his love or will he break her heart.

Kally was amazing throughout the book. I loved her passion and talent. She was practical, sensible, sweet, and down to earth person. If she was real we could be friends. But she had her flaws, she jumped to assumptions quickly without looking for reason or explanations, she judged all men based on her one worst experience, and never had faith in love and herself. I still don’t understand why she thought she was not desirable and somebody men would not fall in love with! It was easy to root for her. I loved the way she developed, learned to love and have faith in it.

Max was police officer and returned to village with his daughter, Athena, after horrible past. His love for Athena was great. He too had trust issues but unlike Kally he wasn’t someone who would leave without listening full story. I loved his determination and faith but, like Kally, I feel he should have cleared the misunderstanding before all the drama started.

Romance and chemistry was fiery, their relationship developed gradually and I loved the way they made up after break up. I was expecting lot of sexy scenes from cover but there was only few so that was good thing for me. I like more story in a book than just steamy romance.

All characters were interesting and there were so many. I loved family dynamics. Enjoyed story of Andarakis females– Kally’s mother and grandmother’s story and problems in their married life. Kally’s missing grandfather gave the story another layer. I didn’t know anything about Junta and what happened in Greek during their rule around 1970. It was horrible time and I could see why Junta was compared to Nazis.

What I loved most was Kelly’s aprons and quotes on it dictating her mood-
“Sometimes you just need to eat a cupcake with icing and get over it.”
“Baking is my superpower and my apron is my cape”
“I don’t give a frap.”- Aren’t they amazing?
Another thing I loved was Greek culture, beliefs, food, confections, and history. Recipes and quotes about baking in the beginning of every chapter were awesome. My baking skill is zero and I don’t have oven but my mom has so I’ll send her these recipes. There was humor, heartbreak, wisdom, mystery, secrets, faith, hope, love, family, and baking… everything one want in a book.

Turning point was predictable. I knew this will happen as soon as Max failed to correct Kally. What happened after it was all surprising. Kally’s trip to Athens, surprise she received on her return and shocking revelation in climax that changed all Kally’s belief about love and faith was brilliant. Make up after that and proposal at the end left me smiling. Grandfather still remained mystery so I hope to find more answers related to him in next books of the series.

Overall, Love is What You Bake of it was entertaining and heart warning love story with beautiful setting, interesting characters and lots of mouthwatering confection. I highly recommend this to romance lovers.

About Author:

Effie Kammenou is a believer that it is never too late to chase your dreams, follow your heart, or change your career. She is proof of that. At one time, long ago, she’d hoped that by her age, she would have had an Oscar in her hand after a successful career as an actor. Instead, she worked in the optical field for 40 years while raising her two daughters.

In 2015, three years after the death of her mother from pancreatic cancer, she published her debut novel, Evanthia’s Gift, book one in a women’s fiction, multigenerational love story and family saga, inspired by her mother and her Greek heritage. Kammenou continues to pick her father’s brain for stories of his family’s life in Lesvos, Greece, and their journey to America. Her interview with him was published in the nationally circulated magazine Reminisce.

Evanthia’s Gift: Book One in The Gift Saga was a 2016 finalist in the Readers Favorite Book Awards. Waiting for Aegina: Book Two in The Gift Saga was awarded finalist status in the 2019 International Book Awards and Chasing Petalouthes, the last book in the trilogy, had also placed in the Readers Favorite Book Awards for the 2018 contest.

Her latest novel, the first book in a new contemporary romance series, is now complete. Love is What You Bake of It, follows Kally’s path to independence despite her sometimes stifling family and her tumultuous road to finding love. But it wouldn’t be a Kammenou novel without a delve into the past, or the references to mouth-watering foods.

Effie Kammenou is a first-generation Greek-American who lives on Long Island with her husband and two daughters. When she’s not writing or posting recipes on her food blog, aptly named cheffieskitchen, you can find her entertaining family and friends or traveling for ‘research.’

As an avid cook and baker, a skill she learned from watching her Athenian mother, she incorporated traditional Greek family recipes throughout the books for a little extra ‘flavor.’

She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theater Arts from Hofstra University.

For updates on promotions, events and new releases, follow Effie on Social media.

Facebook | Instagram | Newsletter signup

Buy Link: https://amzn.to/2y2xLvQ

Goodreads

Affiliate Links : Amazon.in | Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | Book Depository

ORGANIZED BY:

Love Books Group

What do you think about the book? Have you read it already or any book by the same author? Are you going to add it to TBR? Which is your favorite favorite confections?

Happy Reading!

Follow me-

If you enjoy my posts and blog, please consider supporting me.