#also the way the narrator for this audiobook voices them is HEARTWRENCHING

[gingerblivet]

Reading The Innocent Sleep like

[veroticker]

Billion dollar daddy - Stephanie Brother

Summary (from Stephanie Brother’s Goodreads page)

A stranger wants to buy me for a month.

Ryan has money. Not just real life rich but fairy tale money that can change my life. He offers me $50,000 to be his companion. I don’t know exactly what’s going to be involved but I’m a stripper so I think I have a pretty good idea.

When I get to his home, nothing is as I expect. He doesn’t touch me. Not straight away. He treats me like I’m his girlfriend. Coastal drives in his super-car, meals at restaurants that cost what I’d earn in a month.

He tells me his story and little by little I fall for the gorgeous man beneath the reserved shell.

I know I shouldn’t. I fight the feelings in my heart because this is all a fantasy. A dream that’s going to end when thirty days have passed.

And it does.

Walking away is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.

Until I realize I’m late.

He’s going to think I’ve fallen pregnant on purpose so I decide not to tell him. Then I get a call that changes everything.

Ryan’s been hiding something from me and suddenly I find that I need to fight for more than just his love. I need to fight for his life.

Blurb

“The Kitty Cat Club.

Pink neon sign. Black shiny doors. Everything is tacky and nasty but I’m thinking about going inside anyway.

I shouldn’t be in this part of town, especially without my security detail, but I need to get away. There’s something so necessary about sitting behind the wheel of a car that’s expensive but not too showy and just driving. I like having a chauffeur most days, but today I need my foot on the accelerator and the wind in my face.

I decide to just go where my journey takes me, to travel to parts of town that I haven’t visited before. I eat a burger in a small run-down looking family restaurant and it’s the best burger I’ve had in a long time. I drink a beer in an Irish pub and it’s delicious. Now it seems my night will be rounded off with some low-class strippers.

I say that and it makes me sound like a judgmental prick.I’m not one. I came from a place like this. I know these people and they are mostly good. Shitty circumstances are just that. Some people rise and some people fall and it’s mostly fate that decides who goes where. I just mean that this isn’t the kind of place I’d normally frequent. Five years ago I’d have booked someone to come to me. A dancer from an exclusive service.

Tonight, though, this seems like a good idea.

The bouncer eyes me carefully. I’m not wearing flashy clothes or accessories but I think he can tell I’m not the standard clientele. He lets me in, never taking his eyes off me as if he wants to let me know that he’ll fuck me up if I step out of line. I don’t have any intention to cause trouble. The last thing I need is to draw any attention to myself while I’m here. It could have some very serious repercussions. In business, reputation is everything.

I make my way to the bar and order a beer. The barman looks bored and I wonder for a second what it must be like to work in a place like this. He’s facing the stage; tits, and ass on display for his whole shift. Maybe he’s become desensitized because he doesn’t even glance at the action. Three girls are on the main stage, gyrating in just their tiny panties.

I sip my beer and make my way to one of the high tables, taking a seat on a tall stool and inhaling deeply. My cock twitches in my pants when the girl in the middle bends over and runs her hands over her pussy. She’s got great legs and an ass as round as a peach, but her fake tits are really off-putting. I like my women natural. Big or small doesn’t really matter so long as what they’ve got going on is all their own. The beer tastes a little like the glass still has dishwasher fluid on it but I sip it anyway.

Then I see her.”

(review under the cut)

Review

(audiobook) This book took me by surprise! With the title and the cheap cover, I assumed it would be a sexy PWP without much depth. Oh was I wrong. The feels!

Don’t be mistaken, it was hot and sexy, with a big appendage and fluid exchanges. But there was more to it, and lots of angst on top of that.

First, the male and female voices were very good. They did several voices each, and they were all recognizable. Even when the chapter was narrated by one of them, the other would do his voices, creating dialogues that made the story even more... alive.

Ryan became one of my fav book boyfriends instantly. He’s a bit moody, but also passionate. And his story is heartwrenching.

The drama part was maybe a bit too much--the reason why “they can’t be together”--but it’s okay.

I really felt for the characters and their struggles, and rooted for them. Go ahead and read/listen to this one!

Quickie

Series: standalone

Hashtags: #billionaire romance #stripper #surprise pregnancy

Triggers: suicide attempt

Main couple: Jessie Ford & Ryan Crawford

Hotness: 4/5

Romance: 4/5

+ Amazing narrators, and they play their character (and other characters of the same sex) even in the other’s chapters, so it sounds like dialogues

- Maybe the writing wasn’t always top quality

Stalker mode

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[slowlydriftingdream]

~Top 17 books of 2017~

I read 80 books in 2017 (yay I reached my Goodreads goal!!) and these are my favorites from this year! (Not all of these were published in 2017, I just read them this year)

1-3) ACOTAR, ACOMAF, ACOWAR

The A Court of Thorns and Roses series stole my heart and knocked my breath out.

E M O T I O N S like crazy but a super lovable cast and a badass main character whom I loved, envied, and wanted as my best friend. I literally do not have words to describe how much I loved these books ESPECIALLY ACOMAF. They really made me feel not alone at a time I needed that most, and I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE NEXT ONE AHHHH.

4-5) Code Name Verity, Rose Under Fire

I listened to the audiobooks for these books and they were absolutely fantastic. The narrators brought the characters to life in such a lovable and energized manner, and the stories were so heartwrenching and REAL. I tend to get bored reading historical fiction, but this duology has made its way into my heart as one of my ~Forever Favorites~.

6-7) An Ember in the Ashes, A Torch Against the Night

This series is another one that I listened to, and I was honestly not expecting to like them at all--boy did they prove me wrong and then some. The voices of these narrators were perfect for giving life to the characters, and I loved how intricate the story became at times, and how the plots only ever seemed to get more and more interesting!! I cannot wait to read the rest of this series. (Also Elias is everything I have ever wanted in a man please and t h a n k y o u)

8) Rebel of the Sands

I really loved this book because of the legends and myths it incorporated from a culture I am admittedly unfamiliar with. While I have heard that others disliked it for the very reason that I enjoyed it, I also felt empowered by the strength of the main character, and I loved that her talents and abilities are so different from my own. I am currently reading the second book in this series, and anxiously awaiting the release of the third!

9) Eliza and Her Monsters

OKAY. This book made my heart melt over, and over, and over again. I enjoyed reading about the artistry and creativity that surrounded the main characters, again because they were talents different than my own. I also LOVED loved loved the romance in this book. LOVED. I finished this book in one sitting and was instantly dying to reread it for those FEELS.

10) The Raven King

I read the entire Raven Cycle series this year, and while I thought they were all good, this one really stuck out to me in the end. I thought it was a fantastic ending to the series, and solidified my feelings for the characters and the relationship dynamics in the story. I heard that some people did not like that a new important character was introduced to the story in this book, but I really loved the character and how he fit into the group dynamic, so if anything, I would say he added to my love of this book.

11) On the Jellicoe Road

I won't lie, I listened to the audiobook for this, and the Australian accents may have biased my love for this story just a teensy bit. I listened to this story over the summer, and I felt that it was the perfect summer read (listen?) because of how the scenery was described, and how light the story was, even when addressing darker topics. I loved how two stories were told throughout the book, and I loved how the mystery of the two stories' relationship unfolded. This book also reminded me of feels I got from We Were Liars, which I listened to in summer '16.

12) Legend- Marie Lu

This is one of the first books I read in 2017, so I honestly don't remember much about the details that made me love it. I do remember finishing it within a couple of days though, which is really hard for me to do when I'm at school. I also loved the "beat the system" themes and plans that created the story, as I too see myself as a rather rebellious person *hair flips* *punches "the man"* *eats badassery for breakfast*

13-15) Heir of fire, Queen of Shadows, Empire of Storms

Sarah J. Maas making her second appearance on this list with some of the books from the Throne of Glass series. Unfortunately, I didn't love TOG as much as ACOTAR, mostly because I felt like the story was choppier, and I was less crazy about the characters and their dynamics. That being said, I obviously still loved parts of it (I mean, REALLY loved parts of it) that made these three books some of my favorites of the year.

16) Caraval

This book I felt so conflicted about when I read it, but here I am two months later still thinking about it, so it clearly did its job. If I'm being honest, I wasn't crazy about the way the story was written, and how it unfurled. The first few chapters leading up to the characters arriving to the game were kind of awkward and choppy?? I really felt that they were unnecessary. BUT THE PREMISE OF THE GAME. Wow. I essentially only rated it on how the game was explained and how it played out, because it was such a creative, whimsical, and DARK telling. I also loved the Hispanic elements that were thrown in since Latino culture is not something I have ever seen in a fantasy book and this little Latina girl was here. for. it. I am so excited to read the second one to see if I learn more about how the game is at is it, because I still think about some of those twists after all this time. (After all this time? Always. *I'll see myself out*)

17) A List of Cages

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, this book. This book melted my heart, made me laugh, then made me SOB, then rebuilt my heart only to SHATTER IT, then left me in a puddle of tears and excess love for these characters. 9/10 times, if you give me a story about brotherly/sisterly love, I'm going to love it way too much. This is absolutely one of those times. This book does discuss some really heartbreaking and potentially triggering themes, but I felt it did so leaving such a positive feeling in my heart, and if a heavy book can end lightly, I feel that an important message is told that the entire world should learn.

TY FOR READING THIS SUPER LONG POST ABOUT ALL OF MY 2017 FEELS!!!

If you read any of these books and loved or hated them, I would LOVE to discuss with you about them, and if you have any recommendations for me for 2018 PLEASE SHARE!!

Happy New Year everyone!! ☺️🎉

[booksbakingandblogging]

We’re almost at the end of 2019! The time between Christmas and New Year’s is a time of doing absolutely nothing while at the same time trying to finish up everything before a brand new year rolls around. Over the past few days, I spent most of my time reading (and I also went to the gym for the first time in my life whaaat) but I’ve also been thinking about my end of year lists as well as my 2020 goals. Those goals will come in due time, but let’s first recap 2019!

As was the case last year, I didn’t set a reading challenge for myself on Goodreads. I didn’t want the pressure of the “you’re 3 books behind schedule” terror and I just wanted to read what I felt like reading, instead of reading short books to try and catch up. Once again, it worked out well for me! In 2019, I read 55 books, which is an all-time record for me. According to Goodreads, my average rating is 4 stars, which is very good as well. I read a lot of books that I really liked, so it’s been a great year. Of course, there have also been some very disappointing reads, but we’ll get to those later.

My 2019 TBR

At the beginning of the year, I made a list of ten books I definitely wanted to have read by the end of the year, which you can find here. I’m very happy to announce that I read all ten of them! November and December were dedicated to reading the final two, but as of a few hours ago, I read them all. I also just realised that there are only two books on this TBR that didn’t make either my list of favourites or my list of least favourites of 2019. The first is The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien and the second is Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, which I just finished today. The other eight all feature later on in this post.

10 favourite books of 2019

There’s not a clear order to my list of favourite books of the year, apart from the final two, which were my two absolute favourites. The first eight were amazing as well and I gave all of them either 4.5 or 5 stars. They were heartwarming, heartwrenching and/or heartbreaking and were either books that me very happy or books that made me think (or both).

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My two absolute favourite books of the year were Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid and The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. They’re very different books, but I love them both with a passion.

Daisy Jones & the Six is a book that’s written entirely in interview format. It’s the story of the rise and fall of a rock band in the seventies. I happen to be a big fan of seventies rock music, so I was immediately interested in reading it. I hadn’t expected to be blown away by it as much as I was, though. To be clear, this is all fiction; the band or the individual people don’t exist. However, because of the way the story is told it felt as if all of it is based on real facts. I got so immersed in the story and so invested in all of the characters that I nearly cried at the end and immediately wanted to reread the book. Important detail: I listened to this on audiobook, which is an amazing experience since it’s narrated by an entire cast of voice actors.

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is a sci-fi novel and the first in a trilogy. It focuses on the crew of a spaceship called the Wayfarer. There’s a plot to the story, of course, but, unlike most of the sci-fi I’ve read, the book is definitely character-driven. The characters are all incredibly well-developed and so believable. As a crew, they have to work together to perform their current job successfully, but since they don’t all get along and some of them have some big secrets, the focus is more on their relationships and backgrounds than on the job itself. The book tackles big themes like racism and discrimination but in essence, it’s a small story about these characters and it made me intensely happy.

Honourable mention: In September, I reread Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell after first reading it in high school. I loved it even more than I did back then and it’s now an all-time favourite! If you want to know more about my thoughts on this classic, you can watch this video I made on it:

Least favourite books of 2019

This year was a very good reading year, but I also read a couple of books that ended up being quite disappointing.

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I’ve talked about my dislike of The Silence of the Girls a lot so I’m not going to go into it again, but you can read all about my angry thoughts right here. All I’ll say here is that it’s my least favourite book of the year and I was sorely disappointed by it since it didn’t do what it promised to do.

The other three books on the list were simply books that fell flat for me and weren’t as good as I hoped they’d be. I was really excited for Aurora Rising but both the plot and the characters weren’t believable to me. I wasn’t invested and the book mostly annoyed me, unfortunately. I made a full video on this book as well!

Children of Blood and Bone had been on my TBR since it came out and everyone was hyped about it. I really wanted to like it (because diverse fantasy that discusses racism!), but unfortunately, the story fell flat for me. I thought the plot was predictable and even though the stakes were high, it was constantly clear everything was going to be okay.

I’ve wanted to read If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller ever since one of my university professors talked about it in my first year of uni (which is seven years ago now). I was pretty disappointed, though. The concept of the story was really cool but derailed a bit at some point, and the writing felt a little too pretentious at times. What mostly put me off the book, though, was its treatment of women. I am so done with the male gaze and the entitlement some men feel when it comes to women, and this book was full of that.

And that was it for my reading year recap! I had a great reading year and I’m really looking forward to all the books on my TBR of 2020. Reading is just the best, isn’t it?

I hope you’ve all had a great 2019 and will have an even better 2020! How has your reading year been? Did you encounter new favourites? Let me know your favourite book of the year in the comments!

I read 55 books in 2019 and these were my favourite and least favourite ones! We're almost at the end of 2019! The time between Christmas and New Year's is a time of doing absolutely nothing while at the same time trying to finish up everything before a brand new year rolls around.