Read moreDani Poissant is the daughter and former accomplice of the world’s most famous art thief, as well as being an expert forger in her own right. The secret to their success? A little thing called magic, kept rigorously secret from the non-magical world. Dani’s mother possesses the power of persuasion, able to bend people to her will, whereas Dani has the ability to make any forgery she undertakes feel like the genuine article.
At seventeen, concerned about the corrupting influence of her mother’s shadowy partner, Archer, Dani impulsively sold her mother out to the FBI—an act she has always regretted. Ten years later, Archer seeks her out, asking her to steal a particular painting for him, since her mother’s still in jail. In return, he will reconcile her with her mother and reunite her with her mother’s old gang—including her former best friend, Mia, and Elliott, the love of her life.
The problem is, it’s a nearly impossible job—even with the magical talents of the people she once considered family backing her up. The painting is in the never-before-viewed private collection of deceased billionaire William Hackworth—otherwise known as the Fortress of Art. It’s a job that needs a year to plan, and Dani has just over one week. Worse, she’s not exactly gotten a warm welcome from her former colleagues—especially not from Elliott, who has grown from a weedy teen to a smoking-hot adult. And then there is the biggest puzzle of why Archer wants her to steal a portrait of himself, which clearly dates from the 1890s, instead of the much more valuable works by Vermeer or Rothko. Who is her mother’s partner, really, and what does he want?
The more Dani learns, the more she understands she may be in way over her head—and that there is far more at stake in this job than she ever realized
Review: Last Call at the Local by Sarah Grunder Ruiz
Read moreRaine Hart is used to the challenges of living with ADHD. It’s why she ditched her life in Boston to busk around Europe as a traveling musician. No boss. No schedule. No one to disappoint but herself. But when a careless mistake in Ireland leaves her unable to perform, she sees no other option but to give up her nomadic life.
Since inheriting the Local, Jack Dunne has wanted to make the pub his own. But the baggage of running a family business and the intrusive thoughts that stem from his OCD make changing things a challenge.
Over a pint with handsome, tattooed Jack, Raine accidentally insults him and the pub. Instead of taking offense, Jack, impressed by her vision of what the pub could be, offers her a job bringing it to life.
But when Raine and Jack develop feelings for one another their opposite lifestyles won’t accommodate, it becomes clear the pub isn’t the only thing that needs reinventing. As the end of their business collaboration draws near, they’ll have to find a way past the limits they’ve placed on themselves or let go of a love that could last a lifetime.
January 2024 Wrap Up // a letter from coco 💌
hello, dear friends! i hope you’ve been having a lovely 2024 so far! january is always a weird month for me; there’s the promise of new beginnings, fresh starts and blank pages, and also an unhappy anniversary. i feel like every january, i dive in headfirst and my goals with a lot of energy and get burnt out by the end of the year. i’ve been trying to pace myself better, and work at my goals while maintaining what’s most important: having fun. reading is a hobby, not a chore, and bookstagram + book blogging should not be a secondary (or tertiary) job.
Read moreARC Review: The Breakup Tour by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka
Read moreRiley Wynn went from a promising singer-songwriter to a superstar overnight, thanks to her breakup song concept album and its unforgettable lead single. When Riley’s ex-husband claims the hit song is about him, she does something she hasn’t in ten years and calls Max Harcourt, her college boyfriend and the real inspiration for the song of the summer.
Max hasn’t spoken to Riley since their relationship ended. He’s content with managing the retirement home his family owns, but it’s not the life he dreamed of filled with music. When Riley asks him to go public as her songwriting muse, he agrees on one he’ll join her in her band on tour.
As they perform across the country, Max and Riley start to realize that while they hit some wrong notes in the past, their future could hold incredible things. And their rekindled relationship will either last forever or go down in flames.
Review: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Read moreLydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.
So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favorite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfill the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos.
ARC Review: Valley Verified by Kyla Zhao
On paper, Zoe Zeng has made it in New York’s fashion world. After a string of unpaid internships, she’s now a fashion columnist at Chic, lives in a quaint apartment in Manhattan, and gets invited to exclusive industry events.
But life in New York City isn’t as chic as Zoe imagined. Her editor wants her to censor her opinions to please the big brands; she shares her “quaint” ( small) apartment with two roommates who never let her store kimchi in the fridge; and how is she supposed to afford the designer clothes expected for those parties on her meager salary?
Then one day, Zoe receives a job offer at FitPick, an app startup based in Silicon Valley. The tech salary and office perks are sweet, but moving across the country and switching to a totally new industry? Not so much. However, with her current career at a dead end, Zoe accepts the offer and swaps high fashion for high tech, haute couture for HTML. But she soon realizes that in an industry claiming to change the world for the better, not everyone’s intentions are pure. With an eight-figure investment on the line, Zoe must find a way to revamp FitPick’s image despite Silicon Valley’s elitism and her icy colleagues. Or the company’s future will go up in smoke—and hers with it.
Let’s Talk: Cossette’s 2024 Reading Goals, Content Goals & Tracking
Hello friends, and happy new year! I hope you’re having a lovely 2024 so far, and that your year is filled with lots of good reads, good health, and lots of fun adventures. Personally, I’m really excited for a fresh start, especially after a much needed content creating break. Last year, I had a bit of a mediocre reading year — not necessarily in quantity of books (although I did read a lot less in 2023 than I did in 2022) but in terms of enjoyment, and just got pretty burnt out from bookstagram and book blogging in general. Over this break, I took some time to think about how I want 2024 to look for me, in terms of a reader, a bookstagrammer and a book blogger, and thought it’d be fun to share all of that with y’all here!
Read moreLet’s Talk: 24 Books I Want to Read in 2024
Hello friends! As 2023 comes to an end, I wanted to highlight 24 books I want to get to in 2024. I’ve been particularly bad at reading from my physical TBR pile in 2023, and so all 24 of these books are books I’ve either had sitting on my shelves for ages, or recently gifted ones. I’ll be sharing more about my 2024 reading goals in the new year, but for now, here’s my 2024 physical TBR priority list!
Read moreLET’S TALK: COSSETTE’S MOST ANTICIPATED 2024 RELEASES
Hi, hello friends! I can’t believe 2023 is almost over, and 2024 is just mere weeks away. I’ve been pretty out of the loop lately, but I’m hoping to get back into reading more in 2024, especially given how many incredibly exciting books are on my 2024 radar! Please note: this list does not include any books published by St. Martin’s Press, in compliance with the boycott.
Read moreReview: Pride and Prejudice and Pittsburgh by Rachael Lippincott
Read moreWhat if you found a once-in-a-lifetime love…just not in your lifetime?
Audrey Cameron has lost her spark. But after getting dumped by her first love and waitlisted at her dream art school all in one week, she has no intention of putting her heart on the line again to get it back. So when local curmudgeon Mr. Montgomery walks into her family’s Pittsburgh convenience store saying he can help her, Audrey doesn’t know what she’s expecting…but it’s definitely not that she’ll be transported back to 1812 to become a Regency romance heroine.
Lucy Sinclair isn’t expecting to find an oddly dressed girl claiming to be from two hundred years in the future on her family’s estate. But she has to admit it’s a welcome distraction from being courted by a man her father expects her to marry—who offers a future she couldn’t be less interested in. Not that anyone has cared about what or who she’s interested in since her mother died, taking Lucy’s spark with her.
While the two girls try to understand what’s happening and how to send Audrey home, their sparks make a comeback in a most unexpected way. Because as they both try over and over to fall for their suitors and the happily-ever-afters everyone expects of them, they find instead they don’t have to try at all to fall for each other.
But can a most unexpected love story survive even more impossible circumstances?