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Stephanie 📚

@stephsbooktalk

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hello! let’s talk books, philly sports, taylor swift & harry styles 🗣
always fangirling.
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📍: reading, pa

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Thank you Kelly Reynolds for the advance copy of this!

QOTD: Are you watching the new season of GBBO? Do you have any family recipes that you enjoy making?

I have absolutely love this series from Kelly and I am sad that this is the 6th and final book in the series! I really felt like Kelly got into her groove with this series. Kelly saved the last book to be between 2 teammates - Matty Miller and Peter Diaz. There was a preview of this storyline in the last book when there was fan fiction discovered by the team starring Matty (& others). And not only that but the last book leaves off with Matty and Peter kissing outside of Clarke & Soren’s wedding and repercussions of the fan fiction was coming back around.

I love that Kelly did not have Matty immediately forgive Peter for his role in the fan fiction. The way she had him grapple with the fact that he was very much still into him and had him be the one to make the move. I’m a sucker for force proximity so I love that they were stuck together working on this cooking tv show for charity during the All Star break. It gave them much needed time to talk and to clear the air.

I loved how patient Peter was with Matty. Matty is still figuring out his sexuality and what that also means as a public figure. They are co-workers/teammates and how does that look like to the team and how the dynamic would be. I’m glad that they communicated their thoughts and fears and was open with their coach about it.   A little bit longer review can be found on GoodReads, Storygraph & Pagebound.

As mentioned, I am sad that this series is over as you get attached to these characters after 6 books plus the bonus novellas but I’m looking forward to the future! We are traveling to Awful, Oregon for the next series that will follow Roman as he goes back home.

Serving Bunt - Kelly Reynolds - Sports Romance - Baseball Romance - Sports Romance Reads - New Book Release - Indie Book Review taken in Oregon by @stephsbooktalk

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3 days ago

Thank you so much to @simonteen Teen for the complimentary PR box and eARC!
Thank you so much to @Simon.Audio for the complimentary ALC!

QOTD: Any books you trying to finish this week?

Once again Lynn Painter has done it! She just nails these young adult books that has me as an almost 40 year old woman, giggling and smiling over these two kids!

The way the two butted heads in the beginning and then started to have just a great friendship. I love how Damion stepped in to help when Julia was trying to navigate NYC and that’s when they learned how much they really have in common. They just fed so well off of one another and when their attraction and feelings start to become apparent, it just was so fun to see! Though - you were also waiting for the shoe to drop because you know the shoe was going to drop as Julia did not know that Damion was related to Remington.

I often talk about when reading YA books when YA books feel too juvenile for adults like myself but for some reason the way that Painter writes these books doesn’t make it feel like that. I believe Painter has young kids and I would imagine she has taken what they were going through, how they speak and their general actions inspire what she puts in her books.

I paired my reading with the audio and once again Saylor Bell Curda and Aidan Bissett are the dream duo! I really hope Painter is able to continue to have them as her narrators in future young adult books. They both just have the tone and the natural talent as book narrators and really are excellent getting Painter’s words across.  A little bit longer review can be found on Goodreads, Storygraph & Pagebound.

This book will make you want to experience New York City in the fall and if you love dabbling into YA romances for something easy and breezy but also have heart and swoons, this is the book for you!

Trust Fall - Lynn Painter - New Book Release - Young Adult - Romance Reads - Young Adult Reads - Audiobook Review - Simon Teen taken in New York City by @stephsbooktalk

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4 days ago

Thank you so much @williammorrowbooks, @harpercollins for the free book!  ⭐️FIVE STAR FRIDAY⭐️

QOTD: Are there two books that you love that give off the same vibe and yet are totally different? Any fun plans this weekend?

WOW! WOW! WOW! This has become my top read of the year!!! I had no idea what I was getting into when I started this book.

I had no idea what I was getting into when I started this book. In my one group chat, I was like oh great I didn’t realize this was an 18 hour audiobook. But somehow that turned into me listening to 42% in one shot. Then I had the opportunity to do a tandem/immersive read from there! And now I want to go back and reread that first 42% again so I could tab my book.

The Idea of You is one of my favorite books and this gave me that vibe even though the book is totally different. It was not because of the age but the dramatic style of the writing. The relationship between Lili and Aleksandr is intense, hot, complex, emotional. The only parts that kind of went over my head was the conversations that they would have on economics and politics but that was where the two of them sparred. And after one of their sparring matches led to a very hot intimate moment in the book.

I absolutely loved listening to this as much as I love doing the immersive read but I definitely got more out of it when I had the physical book with me. This book will sit with me for a while. And I will be thinking about Lili and Aleksandr for a while. I did see that the author posted just yesterday that this is getting a sequel which has me nervous but also itching for more especially with how it ended.
 A little bit longer of a review can be found on GoodReads, Storygraph & Pagebound.

Thank you so much to June @brittleheartreader for letting me ramble about this book in real time!   PS - I NEED THE NEXT BOOK WHEN IT BECOMES AVAILABLE @williammorrowbooks!! Pretty pretty please!   Games: A Love Story - Anna Maria Volkova - Epic Love Story - Romance Book - New Book Release - Book Review - Summer Reads taken in New York City by @stephsbooktalk

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7 days ago

Thank you so much to @AtriaBooks for the advance copy of this!
Thank you so much to @Simon.Audio for the complimentary ALC!

QOTD: Happy First Day of Fall! Have you started any holiday reading yet?

This book is a collection of 12 short stories from fan favorite romance authors. I know some of my favorite romances authors are included which had me so excited to read! I did not read this as an advent but it could totally work.

Each story was roughly about an hour long (which of course can vary depending on your reading speed). I took notes on each of the stories and there were some that I felt was stronger than others.

I have to imagine for the authors short stories could be tough as everything has to happen so quickly. I did like how each story varied in their romance level in the sense of spiciness.

Full review with recap of each of the 12 stories can be found on GoodReads, Storygraph & Pagebound.

I paired my reading with the audiobook and had multiple narrators. The narrators are: Avery Caris, Kirt Graves, Jordan Manx, Adenrele Ojo, Valentina Ortiz, Ann Richardson. The only narrator I had previously listened to was Kirt Graves, I would listen to other books narrated by the others!

Overall this was really enjoyable and I love being able to read quick holiday stories from my favorite people and discovered new authors!

Twelves Loves of Christmas - Advent Reading - Christmas Reads - Holiday Romance - Holiday Romance Reads by @stephsbooktalk

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10 days ago

Thank you so much to @wbywattpadbooks for the advance copy of this!

QOTD: What was the last book that left you swoony?

My god. I absolutely ate this book up. I am not really sure why the early ratings are so low for this? I thought that this book was such a good time and had me swooning left and right. I felt like I was going through withdrawal from reading a hockey romance and thought let me scratch that itch and this definitely did that for me. This was the book I was ready when my insomnia decided to appear and kept me fully engaged in the middle of the night and I didn’t want it to end.

Nash’s love for Kennedy was so pure. He is in this unique situation where he is a professional hockey player who also is in the spotlight and everything he does is elevated to the media. He is constantly in the spotlight and his move is always being watched. So bringing a normal person into the fold was a lot of pressure and a lot of noise. Nash was so persistent with Kennedy of his feelings and just his actions with her just had me swooning. Since they had known each other since childhood into their teens, they knew each other well.

If you are worried that this book is not spicy, I am here to tell you that have no fear that this book had me blushing and smiling. I just can’t get over how Nash treated Kennedy. He truly cared so much about her. They were not afraid to be vulnerable and open and honest with one another. And I love that they established early on that they were going to be honest with how they were feeling.

As you know, when there is a sport involved in the book I love when the sport is actually played and sure enough we do get ample about of hockey playing in this. And of course the fan favorite of the girl wearing her man’s jersey!  Full review can be found on GoodReads, Storygraph & Pagebound.

This was my first book from the author and hope to read more from them!

Hooking Nash - Hockey Romance - Spicy Romance - Sports Romance - Book Review taken in New York City by @stephsbooktalk

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11 days ago

Thank you so much #partners @bibliolifestyle @harperperennial for a #gifted copy of this book!  
✨ BOOK TOUR ✨  QOTD: What are you up to this weekend?
 Doesn’t the cover make you excited for fall?! This is the author’s debut adult novel. I have not read a love triangle in a long time so I’m looking forward to diving into this!
 What to except: 🍁 Second Chance
🍁 Love Triangle
🍁 Slow Burn 🍁 Multiple Timelines 🍁 Celebrity

Ellie McCain has always dreamed of a bigger life, so when she’s accepted into a prestigious acting school in New York City, she packs her bags—even if it means leaving her family, her friends, and Rory Campbell, the boy who held her heart for years, behind.

At first, life in New York is even better than she’d dreamed it would be—she loves her classes, she gets a position at a fancy production company, and she’s even falling in love with her classmate-turned-roommate-turned-best friend, Ben. But soon the shine starts to wear off: her boss has made it clear that the only role he’ll be casting her in is “Unpaid Intern #3”, and while she’s happy that Ben’s career is starting to take off, she’s struggling to stay afloat. And it doesn’t help that everyone around her seems to be passing her by—even her childhood sweetheart, Rory, is living out his dreams as a Professional Golfer. But when she runs into Rory for the first time in ten years, she starts to wonder what exactly it is she’s running from, where is she going, and who is running with her.

Told in alternating timelines of the past and present and moving between Vancouver, New York, and Los Angeles, This Changes Everything is the story of love—first love, one-that-got-away-love, and true love—and asks if maybe, just maybe, all of those loves can be one and the same.
 This Changes Everything - Book Tour - Fall Reads - Love Triangle taken in New York City by @stephsbooktalk

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13 days ago

🍁YOU PICK EM CHALLENGE 👻  Runs from October 1st November 30th

Mercedes and I were brainstorming different ideas on something we wanted to do together. Wa-la the You Pick Em Challenge came to be.  This is a way to ensure that we are reading not only what we want but also upcoming ARCs.  We have two sets of templates to pick from – one is cozy, fall like and the other is dark & haunting. The books must have a fall theme which is listed on the slides.   Blank templates can be found in our stories (then highlights) and incase you want to use IG grid templates they are on the following slides.  We are going to pick 2 winners for either a Zon or Bookshop gift card.

You get an entry for every book you complete by Nov 30th. Use your board to either check off what you completed or to show off the ones you finished.
 Bonus Entries:
• if you share your planned TBR (tag us)
• if you share this post and comment with a 🎃
 We each also have a tentative plan on what books we want to read. Check out Mercedes’ page for her TBR!
 Any of our picks catch your eye?

Reach out if you have any questions!

Book Challenge - Fall Reads - Horror Reads - Slasher Books - Cozy Reads - Magical Reads - Fall Book Challenge taken in BOOKSTA by @stephsbooktalk

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14 days ago

Thank you so much to @MacMillan.Audio for the complimentary ALC! #MacAudio26
Thank you so much to St Martin’s Press & Saturday Books for the awesome PR package!

QOTD: Have you ever gone through burn out? What was the last thing you were burned out of?

I was a little apprehension going into this book as a book friend wasn’t able to finish. THOUGH it was not because of how the book was written it was more of the context of the story. She just could not relate whereas I still am in a time of my life where some of the journey that our FMC Camille felt familiar. It’s hard to describe what genre this book falls under as the core of this book is centered about friendship. Not that the book needs to be put in a specific box but I think people should know going into it that this isn’t a full on romance book. There is a romance storyline that is woven throughout it and plays more into it in the 2nd half but this book is about adult friendship.

As I approach my 40s with no children and my sibling lives in another state, making friends and keeping friends at least for me is hard. This book tackles how post college young adults are navigating friendships.

A longer review can be found on GoodReads, Storygraph & Pagebound.

I read this one via audiobook and this was done in a duet style done by Victoria Villareal and Michael Gallagher. I really liked Victoria’s narration and Michael’s tone was so relaxed that it felt like a kid that has been leaving by the beach so it worked! Michael has a huge backlist catalog of audiobooks that he worked on but Victoria is still a newer author. I would listen to both of them again.

Overall I really enjoyed this and I am glad that I went for it as I really was wrapped up in Camille’s story and her navigating what she wants to do next in all aspects of her life.

Burnout Summer - Jenna Ramirez - Burned Out - Summer Reads - New Adult Book - Coming of Age Reads - Book Review by @stephsbooktalk

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15 days ago

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16 days ago

Thank you so much to @prhaudio for the complimentary ALC! #PRHAudioPartner

QOTD: Did you keep up with the US Open? Have you read any sports romance recently?

I had been wanting to read this ever since I heard it was announced! There aren’t too many romance books that center around tennis especially those with male characters.

I thought the author did such a great job with making you feel like you were watching the matches taking place. I haven’t played recreational in many years and obviously I have never played tennis professional so the description of what was going on in Austin’s head as well as the match put me there. I often talk to friends about how hard it must be to be a professional athlete and how stressful it is to have the weight of the pressure can be. Austin felt that internal pressure and he had some health scares because of it. As someone who does suffer from mild cases of anxiety, I thought the author did such a great job with the descriptions of Austin’s anxiety.  A little bit longer review on GoodReads, Storygraph & Pagebound.

The audiobook was narrated by Shawn K. Jain who I have never listened to before! I thought he did a great job with the narration. And even for Diego, he was able to create an accent that separated the two characters.

Overall I just really enjoyed this book and looking forward to more from the author! It certainly wanted me to get back into following tennis (used to follow way back in the day during my summers off from school pre internet).

The Open Era - Edward Schmit - Tennis Romance - Sport Romance Reads - PRH Audio - LGBTQ Reads - Audiobooks Read by @stephsbooktalk

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18 days ago

Thank you so much to Valentine PR & Piper Rayne for the complimentary copy of this and the ALC!

QOTD: Did you have a favorite book this summer?

Piper Rayne is back again with a new small town family series set in the country. The Mercer family is made up of brothers, Elliott, Ansel, Hollis and sister Sutton, all whom I’m assuming will be getting their own book. What Piper Rayne does so well is creating these families that you can’t help but get invested in and want happy endings for them all. And not only families but side characters and the small town as well.

Elliott has a bunkie (which I had to look it up just to get a visual) that is rented out and this time it was rented to a young woman Emelia who works for a real estate development company. She has a reputation of going into small towns and making them more touristy. This makes Elliott very upset and doesn’t want any part of what she is up to. The tension between Emelia and Elliott is so good! But what ultimately cools their tension is Elliott’s daughter Baylor. Baylor has rules for when guest stay at the bunkie but they seem to disappear when Emelia shows up. And then they really became non existent when a storm caused a tree to fall on the bunkie making Emelia to stay in the main house with Baylor and Elliott.

Just like with the last series the audio is a full cast! All of my favorite narrators are back to tackle the Mercer Family series - Jason Clarke and Callie Dalton, with Connor Crais, JF Harding, Aaron Shedlock, and Jill Smith. Jason’s voice is so rich and feels like the eldest son voice. Callie has this tone that comes off as snippy which works well with her character. I’m not sure who did the voice of Baylor, but she sounded so good and like a child!

I recommend this book if you are looking for a new series to start that set in a small time with a full cast of characters!
 Holding Ground - Piper Rayne - Small Town Romance - Enemies to Lovers - New Book Release - Valentine PR - Romance Reads - Summer Reads by @stephsbooktalk

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22 days ago

QOTD: Have you participated in a readathon before? If you are in the US, did you do anything fun for Labor Day?

Similar to Fourth of July, I hosted a Labor Day readathon to try to make a dent into some books.

My husband, furchild and I escaped to our place at a campground and I was able to relax by the pool before it closed for the season. I am lucky that I had the time and the space to do so and really my only task in the last 5 days was to relax and read. I love our deck down there & sitting in my favorite chair!

Slide 2 were my hopefuls
Slide 3 is what I completed & my progress

So thankful that I had a wonderful set of readers who shared their progress and completions over the weekend!

Hoping to do another one the winter months for a weekend ☺️

Weekend Reading - Readathon - Bookish Friends - Reading with Friends - Summer Reading - Pool Reads taken in BOOKSTA by @stephsbooktalk

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23 days ago