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Review of Teddy Spenser Isn’t Looking For Love by Kim Fielding

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This is a fun enemies-to-lovers/opposites attract type of romance that follows Teddy Spenser, our narrator, who works for an up-and-coming Chicago design firm called Reddyflora. Teddy is not amused when his boss puts him on a high profile project with his nemesis — the stodgy and abrasive software engineer Romeo, who also happens to be quite cute. I also learned about “smart vases” in this story, something I never even knew existed.

If working together wasn’t enough, their boss then sends them on a business trip together to Seattle to meet with a wealthy and eccentric potential investor, Joyce Alexander. Oh, and there was a mix-up at the hotel and not only did they have to share a room, but it was a room with only one bed.

I loved watching these two learn about each other over the coming days and seeing both of them overcome their hostilities. It was fun to see how their initial impressions of the other slowly fell apart once they discovered new and admirable facets of the other person, all of which led to a fierce devotion on both of their parts by the end of the book. Their transition from enemies to lovers is quite sweet and heart-warming and I ended up adoring both of these characters.

There was kind of an unbelievable aspect of the story, where the two of them were sent on sort of a contest and needed to perform a set of quirky missions. Though unlikely, I found this aspect of the book to be a lot of fun and I didn’t mind suspending disbelief for a little bit here.

The only thing I didn’t really like was the insta-love aspect of the story. They went from barely knowing each other to eternal declarations of love within a few days. But Insta-love aside, I enjoyed this delightful low-angst book and found both of our characters to be lovable and admirable, with just enough tension to keep the narrative compelling.

All in all, a sweet and tender perfectly constructed story with diverse characters and a heart-warming storyline. I loved the way the story progressed culminating in a beautiful epilogue.

Purchase Teddy Spenser Isn’t Looking For Love from Amazon

Review of Touch by Claire North

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Touch is a unique sci-fi/thriller/espionage story that follows an entity known as Kepler, who is referred to as a “ghost”; that is to say, a being who has the ability to jump from one body to another, basically, hijacking the other person’s body. The ghost then lives that person’s life: it drives the person’s car, is married to the person’s spouse, can spend the person’s money, and have sex using the person’s body. The person whose body they take over (the host) is pushed aside and has no memory of anything that has occurred while the ghost is in control. Ghosts can leave a body at any time by simply touching a different person, and the only thing ghosts leave behind when they move on is bewilderment and confusion.

The story takes off when the host body that Kepler was wearing, Josephine Cebula, is brutally murdered. The kicker is that the assassin was not only out to kill Josephine but also Kepler. Kepler now occupies the assassin’s body and is determined to find out the truth about who or what is behind the assassination — and why.

This story kind of reminded me of Every Day by David Levithan, in which the entity wakes up in a new body every day, except they have no control over who they occupy. In this story, our main characters can jump into any body they want, whenever they want.

I loved the original premise of this story, of how the ghosts can live any type of life they want. They can be whoever they want, look however they want and go wherever they want. If you want to, you could be a movie star or even a leader of a country.

Of course, this isn’t so great for the hosts, who can lose days, months, years, or even an entire lifetime to a ghost. Imagine that you’re seventeen-years-old and shake hands with a stranger. The next thing you know, you’re 77 with children and grandchildren, and you don’t remember any of the prior 60 years. So in this way, the story deals with the morality, implications, and ramifications of wearing someone else’s body. Many interesting moral issues were brought up throughout the book, especially those such as free will, identity, and the nature of love. It also raised some interesting questions about the nature of reality.

Have you ever found yourself in another room and forgot why you’re there? Hmm…perhaps a ghost just took a ride in your skin.

I loved the depth in which the author examined the life of a ghost and found it utterly compelling and fascinating. We learned how such an untethered soul survives by stealing the consciousness of others and are, in essence, immortal (unless their host dies before they can touch another person). It struck me that, in a way, Kepler and their kind are a sort of “parasite” and one can certainly understand someone’s desire to eradicate such beings. And that’s the interesting aspect of this story; that though ghosts are indeed parasites, they are also people.

Regardless, however, there are those who hate and fear ghosts and consider them to be nothing more than monsters who steal people’s lives and deserve to be eliminated. But the villain in this story — a serial killer — has motivations much grander and more dangerous than merely eliminating ghosts.

Even though there was quite a bit of body jumping going on in the story as well as numerous flashbacks, I was never confused. I loved journeying along with Kepler as they described their mesmerizing life, both in the past and present. I found this fast-paced story to be so addicting that, even though the book was over 400 pages, I tore through it in two sittings. The gripping storyline and the short chapters helped in that manner.

All in all, this story ranks up among my favorites, especially with its likable yet morally gray protagonist. The writing is beautiful, the plot is utterly unique and engaging, and the story execution flawless. This dark and brilliant story really took me by surprise and did not disappoint. Loved it!

Purchase Touch on The Book Depository

Review of This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens

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This is an unconventional rom-con that follows Minnie Cooper (and yes, that is her real name), who meets Quinn Hamilton at a New Year’s Eve party after Minnie ends up getting locked in a bathroom the entire night. After talking, they realize that they are somewhat kindred spirits in that they were both born thirty years prior, only a couple of minutes apart, in the same hospital on New Year’s Eve. In fact, their mothers met and the hospital and, as it turns out, there’s a bit of bad blood between the two of them. We learn the reason for this at the beginning of the story.

Apart from being born on the same day/same place, Minnie and Quinn couldn’t be more different. Quinn is being a wealthy (though charming) party-boy with commitment issues and Minnie being a hard-working, somewhat insecure business owner/chef who’s just barely getting by. It’s also worth mentioning that Minnie considers herself jinxed because horrible things nearly always happen to her on her birthday. For instance, during the year in which the main narrative occurs, she ends up locked in her bathroom all night long, and later that day loses her apartment. Thus, she tends to stay at home and hide on New Years’s Eve/New Year’s Day.

The story is told via several different timelines, and as we move through the story, we see how Minnie and Quinn are continuously brought together, often without them even realizing it or being aware of it. For instance, some of these strange parallels involve their paths crossing several times during their childhood and teenage years, though they never officially met each other.

As the narrative progresses, which is told through both of their POVs, we also learn the backstory of their mothers, an essential element of the plotline, which I found fascinating. I also enjoyed how Minnie and Quinn change their views of each other once they begin spending some time together; so in this way, they learn not to judge a book by its cover.

This novel consists of so many more layers than merely being a love story. It’s also about family dynamics, the bonds of friendship, self-esteem, emotional baggage, mental health, and following your dreams. But what really made this novel for me were the brilliant and engaging secondary characters, each of whom added depth and feeling to the story. Not only were they complex and well-drawn, but also authentic, quirky, somewhat eccentric, and utterly loyal. The author lured me in with Quinn and Minnie’s compelling story and snappy dialog, then hooked me with the endearing and captivating characters.

All in all, this This Time Next Year is an enjoyable and satisfying read.

Purchase This Time Next Year from The Book Depository.

Purchase This Time Next Year from The Book Depository

My Popsugar 2021 Reading Challenge TBR! (Video)

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Transcript below:

Transcript

Well, hey friends! Roger here. Welcome to my channel Roger’s Reads. So today, I’m doing my TBR for the Pop Sugar Challenge — the reading challenge of 2021. And Pop Sugar is a media company and every year they put on this reading challenge. There are usually about 40 books or so, each with different prompts that you need to do. If you notice, I have some gaps in my bookshelf and that’s there because I have all these books piled up next to me. I actually have 50 books here that I hope to read in the coming year. So without further ado, let me get started.

In the challenge, I’m just going to read the prompts. I’m going to show you the book. I’m not going to talk about the synopsis of each book otherwise we’ll be here all day! And I’m going to put all the prompts below so then you can decide whether you’d like to do this challenge on your own. You know, it’s come to my attention every year and this is the first time that I’m going to do it. And I might even do a monthly vlog recording my adventures as I move through my Pop Sugar TBR. So let’s get cracking. Oh wait. Before I get started I want to also say the prompts need to be books from your TBR. This could be either your physical TBR on your shelves or on your Goodreads TBR or your to be read list, I guess.

So the first prompt is a book that’s published in 2021. And I actually do not have a book for this yet because it’s going to be a book published in the upcoming year. So that’ll probably be a Book of the Month Club or another book that has come to my attention.

Number two: an auto futurist book. And for that, I’m going with the Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. This has been on my list for a while to read so I’m kind of glad I’m finally getting around to it.

Next one is: a book that has a heart, diamond, club, or spade on the cover. For that one I’m going with the Anatomical Shape of the Heart and this is by Jen Bennett.

A book by an author who shares your zodiac sign. And Garth Nix shares my zodiac sign so I’m going to go with Sabriel by Garth Nix. And I have not read any other books by this author so I’m kind of looking forward to it. And I have a couple of other options such as Kindred by Octavia Butler and actually I think VE Schwab is a cancer as well, so yeah.

A dark academia book: for that one, I’m going with shades of darkness by AR Kahler. And I’ve had mixed experiences with this author. I read the first book of their Runebinder series which I really liked. I hated the second one. So this is the third book that I’m gonna be reading by this author — although I think he goes by Alex in those books — in the Runebinder Chronicles rather than AR. So this is a dark story that takes place at a university so that meets that challenge.

A book with a gem, mineral, or rock in the title. So that one, I’m going with Iron Trial by Cassandra Clare.

A book where the main character characters works at your current dream job. At this point of the game, I’m not… I don’t plan on searching out my dream job but there’s a book on my shelf entitled The Girl with No Shadow by Joanne Harris. This is a sequel to Chocolat. This book takes place — follows a woman who runs a little chocolate shop in Paris and I thought for the sake of this challenge, I would call working at a chocolate shop in Paris my dream job.

Number eight: is a book that’s won the Women’s Prize for Fiction and that’s a book that I have on audiobook actually. It’s called Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. And this just won the Women’s Prize for Fiction so I’m looking forward to it. And this follows Shakespeare’s son. So this has received a lot of accolades so I’m looking forward to getting to that one.

Next up is: a book with a family tree. And for that one — “we were liars” by e lockhart. And in the beginning of this book there is a family tree.

I’m at number 10: a bestseller from the 1990s. This is Speak by Laurie Anderson — by Laurie Halse Anderson. This is another book I’m looking forward to getting to but I keep forgetting about it on my shelf. So I’m going to get to it now.

A book about forgetting: for this one is, Before I Go to Sleep by Jo Watson, and I think this follows a character who who forgets everything every morning — every morning when they wake up. So it sounds intriguing. You know me. I love books about memory and forgetting and things like that.

A book that you have seen on someone else’s bookshelves: for this one I’m going to go with Letter to the Sky by John Boyne. And Simon from Savidge Reads, I do believe — it was on his bookshelf or he talked about this book. And I got it — well it was a Book of the Month Club book a while back and I haven’t read it yet so this year.

Number 13 is: a locked-room mystery. For this, I’m going with the book entitled Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty. And I actually have that one in audio book format so I’ll be listening to that in the coming year.

Number 15: is a genre hybrid. For this one, I chose A Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare. So this is a young adult, fantasy, historical novel, so a couple of different genres this could fall into.

A book set mostly or entirely outdoors. this is a phenomenon I went with The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig. Most of this story takes place on a ship I do believe.

Number 17. A book with something broken on the cover. And for that one, I’m going to go with The Many Lives of John Stone. We see we have broken glass on the cover. And this is by Linda Buckley-Archer.

A book by a Muslim American author: for that one, I went with Love From A to A and that was written by S.K. Ali.

A book that was published anonymously: I do believe for that one I went with The Shadows by Alex North. I believe Alex North is a pseudonym for this author and nobody knows what the real name of this author is — or at least last that I heard.

A book with an oxymoron in the title: for that one, I went with I Woke Up Dead at the Mall.

A book about do-overs or fresh starts: for that one I went with In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren. And this was actually December’s Book of the Month Club but I’m not going to read it until the beginning of a January.

Number 22 would be: a magical realism book.

The Secret Ingredient of Wishes. So I think this follows a woman who has the ability to grant wishes.

Next up is: a book set in multiple countries. For that, I went with Washington Black and I do believe this takes place in several different countries.

A book set somewhere you’d like to visit in 2021. Not sure where I want to visit in 2021 but I decided to go with A Parisian from Kansas. I wouldn’t mind visiting Paris in the coming year but we’ll see. Hopefully, 2011 won’t be as much of a dumpster fire as 2020.

Next up is a book by a blogger, vlogger, youtube creator, or other online personality: that one I went with Looking for Alaska by John Green. For those of you who don’t know, John Green and his brother Hank Green have maintained the Vlogbrothers vlog and they’ve been at it for quite a few years already.

Twenty-six – -a book whose title starts with Q, X or Z. For that one I went with A Queer History of the United States for Young People. I’ll probably read this during the month of June for Pride month.

Twenty-seven — a book featuring three generations — grandparents, parents, and child. For that: A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum. And I believe this follows three generations of women.

A book about social or social justice issue. So that I went with The Boy in the Black Suit. I believe this is about police brutality and racism.

A book set in a restaurant. So here, I’m going with: Last Night at the Red Lobster — Last Night at the lobster… Last Night at the Lobster. And I read this book actually many many years ago and I remember I absolutely loved it. And I’ve been wanting to reread it because I really enjoyed it so this is a good chance to do so.

A book with a black and white cover. And for that, I went with Middle Game by Seanan McGuire, another book i’ve been wanting to read.

Thirty-one: is a book by an Indigenous author. For that one, I’m going with There There by Tommy Orange and I actually bought a kindle version of this book quite some time ago so hopefully I’ll be getting to it this year.

A book that has the same title as a song. And for that one, I went with Revival by Stephen King and the song is by Gregory Porter. And actually, I was surprised how many books on my bookshelves were actually are also names of songs. That was very interesting.

Thirty-three: a book about a subject you are passionate about. Well, I love stories about ghosts so I went with The Ghostly Echoes by William Ritter… right? And this is the second book in the Jackaby series. I read the first one a while ago and have been meaning to continue on with this series.

Thirty-four: a book that discusses body positivity. For that one, I went with Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy. A book found in a Black Lives Matter reading list. For that one, All-American Boys by Jason Reynolds.

A book in a different format than what you normally read. For that one, I’m going to go with Heartstopper 2. I’ve been meaning to continue on with this series. I read the first book and absolutely loved it. And actually the fourth book is coming out in 2021 so I need to read number two and three. So again, this is a graphic novel. It’s a format I usually don’t read or I read rarely.

A book that has fewer than one thousand reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. So the last I time I checked, The Chosen by Taran Matharu. I think it only had 300 reviews, so I chose this one

A book you think your best friend would like: For this one, I went with The Hazelwood by Melissa Albert, right? Yes, Melissa Albert. I love the cover.

A book about art or an artist: for this one I went with The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton. And this was a Book of the Month Club selection quite a while ago that I never read.

A book everyone seems to have read but you: for that one I went with The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

And your favorite prompt from a past Pop Sugar challenge. So I went with the 2020 challenge which is: a book with a book on the cover. For that one I chose: The Book Jumper and it’s written by Mechthild Gläser. I love the cover too. Very cool cover. And I think this is at least a duology and I do have the second one. And I don’t know if there’s any more after that but I have to check.

Okay, so those are the 30 books. Now there was…. there’s also an advanced part of this which is 10 additional books. So I’m going to try to do that as well so it’ll be 50 books total.

So the first one is: the longest book by pages on your TBR list. With that one, I’m going with The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. And I actually have that on my other my bookshelf in the other room. I forgot to bring it out here. And I think that has like 1200 pages, 1100 pages, something like that. So that will take me a while to get through.

The shortest book which is now what we have Venus is a Boy, and this is by Luke Sutherland.

The book on your TBR list with the prettiest cover. And you know, I love the covers for the Gemina series — for the Illuminae series, I guess it’s called. And very beautiful covers. But yeah, I read the Illuminae book quite a while ago and — so now I want to continue on with the series.

The book on your TBR list with the ugliest cover. For that one, I went with Before I Fall. Hideous cover, I think. But that’s just my opinion.

A book that’s been on your TBR list for the longest amount of time. For that one, I’m going to go with Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. This has been on my list for quite some time. I may have read this in high school but I don’t remember. But I bought it a long time ago and I have never read it so it’s time to do so.

A book from your TBR list you meant to read last year but didn’t: that one I went with Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi. I love the cover. this is a bit of children this one is my favorite cover

A book for me Number seven: we’re on now a book from your TBR list you associate with a favorite person, place, or thing. For that one, I’m gonna go with Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman, and that’s because I saw this author in person and I really — it was a memorable evening watching her talk about her book “When the World was Ours” — I think that’s the book she was talking about. But I do love books by this author. I’ve read a lot of other work so this one.

A book from your TBR list chosen at random. So for that one, I just went with Born of Illusion and this is Teri Brown.

Number nine — we’re almost there, the penultimate book: a DNF book from your TBR list. For that one, I chose Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks. I started reading this and just wasn’t feeling it so I didn’t finish it. So I guess I’ll have to finish it for this challenge.

And the last book in the advanced portion of this challenge is A Free Book from your TBR list. For that one, I went with Mind Games by Nancy Mehl. I actually won this in a Goodreads drawing.

So those are all the books that I’m reading from my physical TBR list in 2021 for the Pop Sugar challenge. Are you going to do this challenge? If so, let me know in the comments. So that about does it. As always, I thank you so much for watching. I really appreciate all of your support. And if you like this video, please click the “Like” button below as that really helps my channel out. And I’ll talk to you all in the next video. Roger and out!

Review of Here the Whole Time by Vitor Martens

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The story, originally written in Portuguese, takes place in Brazil follows seventeen-year-old Felipe, a fat gay kid who is relentlessly bullied at school because of his weight and has some several body image insecurities. He’s looking forward to school break — 15 days of quiet and solitude: no kids, no teasing.

So when his mother informs him that Caio, the handsome neighbor kid from apartment 57 will be staying with them while Caio’s parents are out of town, Felipe panics – not because Caio has ever teased him, because he hasn’t. Rather, Filipe is distraught because he’s had a crush on Caio for years and has no idea how he’ll manage being with the boy in close quarters for 15 days.

But as the story progresses, Felipe begins to realize that Caio staying with him might not be a much of a disaster as he’d originally thought. In the coming days, the two boys learn about each other and also learn about themselves in the process.

It was fun discovering how each of them totally changed their perception of the other once some of those self-imposed walls came down. I loved how clumsily they acted around each other in the early days.

Now it was heartbreaking to read Filipe’s insecurities about his body, his self-loathing and the anxiety he experienced. We also learn that Caio has his own issues to overcome and it was endearing to see how together, they each began the healing process as the story moved forward.

There were so many great and positive messages in this book regarding body image, sexuality and even therapy. I loved the character arcs in this story and adored seeing the natural transformation of both of our characters throughout the pages especially with Felipe, as he came to realize that this body size or size is not that which defines him. It was a delight seeing both boys emerge stronger and more confident at the end of the book.

So in this way, I loved tender conversation around body shaming and body insecurities, and the positive manner in which the author illustrates how people see what’s inside a person. The author also tackles the topic of bullying in a heartfelt way and I enjoyed seeing the bullies put in their place.

The ending was absolutely lovely and it warmed my heart to see all of Felipe’s deeply entrenched insecurities come crashing down and how both boys end up overcoming their fears and discover their inner strength.

The romance here was so sweet and tender — absolutely perfect — and each boy finding his own self-confidence added to the perfection. There were also some compelling family dynamics going on, between Felipe and his mother as well as between Caio and his mother.

All in all, this is a endearing, wholesome feel-good story with a huge, huge heart that I’m so glad I read.

Purchase Here the Whole Time on Amazon

Ben’s Bakery and the Hanukkah Miracle by Penelope Peters

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This book is about a baker and a hockey coach, a copy of my favorite things in stories so I was excited about this one. It follows our two main characters, Ben Daniels and Adam Bernard, both Jewish.

Ben runs a Jewish kosher-style bakery in Boston, and he’s just barely getting by. Three years ago, he was a champion speed skater, and Olympic hopeful before a horrible accident on the ice put an end to his dream. Adam coaches a teen hockey league in Montreal. Once a professional hockey player, he also had given up on his dream of playing in the NHL to take care of his ailing father, a retired Rabbi.

When Adam is invited to a prestigious tournament in Boston, which happens to take place during the week of Hanukkah, he accepts, even though he’s hesitant to leave his father alone for the holiday. But he doesn’t want to disappoint his young player. So when Adam and his team pay a visit to Ben’s bakery, the attraction to the two men is instantaneous, and the two embark on a week-long fling. The more Adam hangs out with Ben and gets to know the man, the more he wants to stay in Boston with Ben.

When Ben receives a coaching job offer from the NHL to coach a team right there in Boston, Ben begins to wonder whether it is feasible to start planning a future with Ben. But we learn, Adam has some religious prejudices that could destroy their relationship before it even gets started.

The two main characters had some great chemistry between them that was damped by the continuous spats surrounding differing views of “what it means to be Jewish, with the disagreements ending ultimately with Ben telling Adam to get out of his bakery or apartment. In this regard, I found Ben to be unnecessarily judgmental and kind of a jerk, though he always did come around the next day. But it seems that Adam went out of his way to start disagreements with Ben, which resulted in an eye-roll from me more than a couple of times, especially given that they’d only known each other for a couple of days.

There’s are actually a couple of points where it seems they just are not going to be able to conquer their differences. But each misunderstanding is resolved quickly.

So in this way, religion was a huge theme in this book; more specifically, the way one does or should exercise one’s faith. I found the discussion about the role of religion in one’s life, the complexities of faith, the manner in which people exercise their religion as well as religious belief vs. cultural influence, all of which I did find fascinating.

But for people who are somewhat religion adverse, they might find it a tad off-putting.

The highlights of this story for me were Adam’s junior hockey players. They were so much fun and had me giggling more than a couple of times. They had such delightful personalities, and the banter between them and their coach was priceless, all of which really added an extra enjoyable element to the story.

Though their relationship had a few ups and downs, complete with angst, spats, judgments, and differences of opinion, this ultimately ended up being a sweet and heartwarming holiday romance, with a few “matchmakers” in the story pushing our guys together.

Purchase Ben’s Bakery and the Hanukkah Miracle on Amazon