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Review: The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: stay busy, work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.

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Let’s Talk: The bookstores I visited during my New York trip & the books I bought there

Hi friends! At the beginning of this month I visited my best friend in the NYC area, and aside from seeing some Broadway shows (yes, we did see & Juliet twice within 24 hours), we visited a lot of bookstores. Therefore, I thought it would be fun to tell you about the bookstores we visited and what I bought!

So get comfy, grab a snack and/or your favorite beverage, and let’s talk about all six of the bookstores I went to over Labor Day weekend!

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Review: The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.

When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.

For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.

Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.

Romance is most certainly dead… but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.

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ARC Review: The Getaway List by Emma Lord

The day of her high school graduation, Riley realizes two things: One, that she has spent the last four years trying so hard to be a Good Kid for her mom that she has no idea who she really is anymore, and two, she has no idea what she wants because of it. The solution? Pack her bags and move to New York for the summer, where her childhood best friend Tom and co-creator of The Getaway List ― a list of all the adventures they’ve wanted to do together since he moved away ― will hopefully help her get in touch with her old adventurous self, and pave the road to a new future.

Riley isn’t sure what to expect from Tom, who has been distant since his famous mom’s scriptwriting career pulled him away. But when Riley arrives in the city, their reconnection is as effortless as it was when they were young―except with one, unexpected complication that will pull Riley’s feelings in a direction she didn’t know they could take. As she, Tom, and their newfound friends work their way through the delightfully chaotic items on The Getaway List, Riley learns that sometimes the biggest adventure is not one you take, but one you feel in your heart.

Inescapably romantic and brimming with Emma Lord’s signature cheer, The Getaway List is an uplifting and romantic read that will settle into your heart and never leave. 

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ARC Review: Before We Say Goodbye by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

The regulars at Café Funiculi Funicula are well acquainted with the whimsical ability it grants them to take a trip into the past—as well as the strict rules involved, including that each traveler must return to the present in the time it takes for their coffee to get cold. In Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s previous novels, patrons have been reunited with old flames, made amends with estranged family and visited loved ones. Now readers will once again be introduced to a new set of visitors.

In Last Chance to Say Goodbye, which is translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot and features signature heartwarming characters and wistful storytelling, Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: What would you change if you could travel back in time?

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ARC Review: The Death I Gave Him by Em. X Liu

A lyrical, queer sci-fi retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet as a locked-room thriller

A Twenty-First Century Hamlet.

Hayden Lichfield’s life is ripped apart when he finds his father murdered in their lab, and the camera logs erased. The killer can only have been after one thing: the Sisyphus Formula the two of them developed together, which might one day reverse death itself. Hoping to lure the killer into the open, Hayden steals the research. In the process, he uncovers a recording his father made in the days before his death, and a dying wish: Avenge me…

With the lab on lockdown, Hayden is trapped with four other people—his uncle Charles, lab technician Gabriel Rasmussen, research intern Felicia Xia and their head of security, Felicia’s father Paul—one of whom must be the killer. His only sure ally is the lab’s resident artificial intelligence, Horatio, who has been his dear friend and companion since its creation. With his world collapsing, Hayden must navigate the building’s secrets, uncover his father’s lies, and push the boundaries of sanity in the pursuit of revenge. 

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july & august 2023 wrap up // a letter from coco 💌

hi, hello, dear friends! it’s been a hot minute, and i’ve missed you quite terribly. i hope july and august have been treating you well, and that you’ve been having a wonderful summer, staying hydrated, and reading a lot of good books. 

in all honesty, i haven’t been reading much these last two months — july was simply a whirlwind of a month, and august slipped away in a moment of time, leaving me with very little time to sit down and properly read. i had a couple of family things going on in july (and in august), coupled with eras tour, friends visiting from out of town, going out of town myself for lollapalooza, and maisie peter’s concert in seattle, i just really didn’t have a lot of time to read. that being said, i did finally reach my goodreads goal, so a win is a win! 

in july, i read a total of 11 books, with the hobbit by j.r.r. tolkien being the ultimate standout! a lot of my friends (hi allison, hi jamie) love the hobbit and lord of the rings, so i decided to give the audiobook a go, and had the best time. and unfortunately for august, i read 11 books, but didn’t really enjoy any of the ones that weren’t rereads. 

here’s a full list of what i read in the last two months:

  • The Storm Of Echoes by Christelle Dabos (Audiobook; ★★★☆☆)
  • Will They Or Won’t They by Ava Wilder (★★★☆☆)
  • Fiona And Jane by Jean Chen Ho (Audiobook; ★★☆☆☆)
  • Business Or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon (★★★☆☆)
  • Teach The Torches To Burn: A Romeo & Juliet Remix by Caleb Roehrig (ARC; ★★★☆☆)
  • A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (Audiobook; ★★★★☆)
  • Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan (Audiobook; ★☆☆☆☆)
  • The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (Audiobook; ★★★★★)
  • The Year Of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (★★★★★)
  • Such A Fun Age by Kiley Reid (Audiobook; ★★★☆☆)
  • Tis The Damn Season by Kimi Freeman (ARC; ★☆☆☆☆)
  • A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp (Audiobook; ★★☆☆☆)
  • Bliss Montage by Ling Ma (Audiobook; ★★★☆☆)
  • The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (Reread; ★★★★★)
  • Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi (Audiobook; ★★☆☆☆)
  • The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater (Reread; ★★★★★)
  • I’m Not Done With You Yet by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Gifted; ★★☆☆☆)
  • Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater (Reread; ★★★★★)
  • The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (Reread; ★★★★★)
  • Bellegarde by Jamie Lilac (Gifted; ★★★☆☆)
  • Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey Mcquiston (Reread; ★★★★★)
  • Some Mistakes Were Made by Kristin Dwyer (Gifted; ★★★☆☆)

i’m currently also making steady progress in my les miserables reread & annotations project; i’m 40% in, and on track to finish it in december! in september, i’m hoping to work on my gifted reads/arc bingo more, but also balance that out by reading some books that i’ve been meaning to read for ages, and also read some books for fun! i’ve also got a pretty busy september — honestly, the rest of the year is pretty busy for me, so we’ll see how that affects my reading. 

i recently finally watched the bear, which everyone has been on my case to watch, and i really loved it! i also watched the second season of the summer i turned pretty, and still need to watch the new season of heartstopper — just haven’t decided if i want to do a heartstopper reread before, or after it, which is why i haven’t gotten around to it yet! in terms of music i’ve been listening to, i’ve been listening to gretta ray’s new album, positive spin, and i haven’t been able to stop listening to taylor swift, maisie peters, holly humberstone, sabrina carpenter, and gracie abrams since i saw them live over the summer! 

coming up, i’ve got bumbershoot, which is a local arts + music festival, and then hockey season starts back up in september too! i’ve got tickets to the first preseason game, and am trying to figure out how many other games i can feasibly go to this season. there’s a couple music releases i’m excited for too, most notably, del water gap’s i miss you already + i haven’t left yet, which releases at the end of the month! 

here are some posts i’ve loved reading lately:

Caitlyn’s Monthly Wrap Up: August 2023

August sure has slipped away, hasn’t it? Alexa, play august by Taylor Swift, thank you.

Hi besties! You know what time it is, it’s wrap-up time! As I publish this I am sitting at the airport because I’m headed to the East Coast to visit my best friend Helena — yes, of Bubbling Up With Helena fame! And I figured as I sit here because of my… 5-hour layover (wouldn’t be surprised if I end up finishing another book while I’m here) I might as well share my August wrap up, so let’s get into it!

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