Introvert’s Book Club
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Big Book/Writing Community News
It’s the end of an era. NaNoWriMo made a huge announcement this afternoon. Video with the details here.
Old Flames and New Fortunes by Sarah Hogle
Rating: 3.5/5 (Rounding up to 4 for Goodreads, Amazon, etc)
Spice: 2/5
Plot: 3/5
Primary Genre: Paranormal/Fantasy Romance
Blurb: A small, magical town tucked away in rural Ohio, Moonville is the perfect place for flora fortunist Romina Tempest to expand her shop, where she uses the language of flowers to help the hopeful manifest their love lives. After giving up on her own big romance eleven years ago, at least she can bask in the promise of others’. So, when the shop’s potential financier shares news of his wedding, Romina jumps on the opportunity to discuss buying the business. What better place to negotiate a deal than at a wedding, even if she has to fake-date her chaotic colleague Trevor to get an invitation? But all hell breaks loose when she discovers Trevor’s soon-to-be stepbrother is none other than Alex, her high school sweetheart. Her greatest love. The boy who, eleven years ago, broke her heart, and who now thinks she and Trevor are dating. What starts as an innocent misunderstanding becomes a week-long fake dating scheme, as Romina resolves to make Alex pay for breaking her heart. The only issue? She can’t deny their still-burning connection. Caught between proving to Alex what he lost, and coming clean and risking her business, Romina must decide whether giving Alex another chance means going back on herself, or finally releasing her hold on the past.
New Releases April 1, 2025
April 1, 2025 Book Releases - No lie! These books look like they need to be added to your TBR
A Few Bookish Finds for Amazon’s spring sale (non-kindle options!)
Up to 30% off of Amazon devices and so much more. I’ve listed a ton of eReader options below as I know that a lot of you are bailing on Kindle due to the recent policy changes. I plan to stick my Kindles for now but I am really getting the itch to buy a Kobo Libra. I keep talking myself out of it. On top of eReaders galore I have some cozy patio furniture, drinks, a stanley and lots of reading accessories. I’m throwing an Alexa on here because did you know that Alexa will read you your audiobooks from Audible? And if your Kindle Unlimited book comes with an audiobook companion it will autosync and “she’ll” start reading on the past page that you were on. I love to use this feature on days when I’m doing chores around the house. You check into Kindle Unlimited here and Audible here. I love an Amazon sale!
Summer in the City by Alex Aster
Rating: 4/5
Spice: 1.5/5
Plot: 3/5
Primary Genre: Contemporary Romance
Blurb: From #1 New York Times bestselling author Alex Aster comes her adult debut novel Summer in the City—a swoony, fast-paced rom-com set in New York City in which a screenwriter and a sexy tech CEO go from lovers to enemies and back to lovers again… Twenty-seven-year-old screenwriter Elle has the chance of a lifetime to write a big-budget movie set in New York City. The only problem? She’s had writer’s block for months, and her screenplay is due at the end of the summer. In a desperate attempt at inspiration, Elle ends up back in the city she swore she would never return to, in an apartment she could never afford (floor-to-ceiling windows, skyline views, and a new coffee shop to haunt included). It’s the perfect place to write her screenplay…until she realizes her new neighbor is tech “Billionaire Bachelor” Parker Warren, her stairwell hookup from two years ago. It’s been a lovers-to-enemies situation ever since. When seeing him again turns into a full night of hate-fueled writing, Elle realizes her enemy/twisted muse might just be the key to finishing her screenplay... if she can stand being around her polar opposite. She writes anonymously, and he’s on the cover of every business magazine. He frequents fancy red carpeted events, and she doesn’t like leaving her emotional support five block radius. One summer. One wall apart. He needs to fake a buzzy relationship during his company’s precarious acquisition. She needs to write a movie around a list of NYC locations. Both need a break from their unrelenting schedules, and a chance to rediscover the skyscraper glimmering, pizza crusted, sunlit charms of the city. Summers always end, and so will this agreement. It’s all pretend. Promise. Until it isn’t.
Book News For Romance Lovers
Get ready for some information on exciting upcoming romance releases. You probably know about two of them but I’ve got two that might take you by surprise!
Free Book Friday - but make it every day
My free book Fridays have kind of fallen off, mostly because they’re so time consuming. I wanted to let all of my readers know that there are a few sites available that allow you to sign up for daily emails listing free kindle books. You can download and read these even if you don’t have a Kindle because Amazon has a kindle cloud reader which is a web browser that allows you to read your kindle books, as well as the kindle app which allows you to read your books on your smartphone or tablet. Check out the links to the website for free kindle books below!
Elphie: A Wicked Childhood by Gregory Maguire
Blurb: What happened to young Elphaba before her witchy powers took hold in Wicked? Almost 30 years after the publication of the original novel, for the first time Gregory Maguire reveals the story of prickly young Elphie, the future Wicked Witch of the West—setting the stage for the blockbuster international phenomenon that is The Musical.
Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, will grow to have a feisty and somewhat uncompromising character in adult life. But she is always a one-off, from her infancy; Elphie is the riveting coming-of-age story of a very peculiar and relatable young girl.
Young Elphie is shaped and molded by the behaviors of her promiscuous mother, Melena, and her pious father, Frex. She suffers ordinary childhood jealousies when her sister, saintly Nessarose, and brother, junior felon Shell, arrive. She first encounters the mistreatment of the Animal populations of Oz, which live adjacent to but not intertwined with human settlements, haunted by a Monkey and receiving aid from Dwarf Bears. She thrashes through her first bruising attempts at friendship, a possible lifeline from her tricky family life. And she gleans the benefits of an education, haphazard though it must be—until she arrives at the doors of Shiz University, about to meet the radiant creature that is Galinda.
Elphie is destined to be a witch; she bears the markings from childhood—most evidently in her green skin but more obscurely and profoundly in her cunning and perhaps amoral behaviors, as she seeks to make do, to slip by, to sneak out, to endure, and to aspire.
Ever Dark by M. Violet
Release date 03/19/2025
Rating: 4/5
Spice: 5/5
Plot: 4/5
Primary Genre: Paranormal Dark Romance
Blurb: Evil used to exist only in my nightmares.
Until I moved to Ever Graves. A town full of secrets, curses, and death. The darkness comes for me now in the form of three wicked deviants:
Bones, Draven, and Aries. They want to corrupt my soul and leave their filthy marks on my flesh.
They are all that is unholy. But their depravity isn’t my only torment. I’ve been plagued by a nightmare since I was a child. A monster who comes for my body and soul every time I close my eyes. Awake or asleep… there is no escape. Ever Dark is a dark gothic romance where the FMC ends up with multiple MMCs. This book is set in the world of Melancholia and directly tied to Wickford Hollow Duet, The Devils of Raven’s Gate Duet, and Absentia Mori. Content not suitable for everyone. Please check the author’s website for a full list of CWs.
Spells, Strings, and Forgotten Things by Breanne Randall (Sisters of Shadow and Light #1)
Rating: 4/5
Spice: 1/5
Plot: 4/5
Primary Genre: Romantasy/Fantasy Romance
Blurb: A young witch cursed with sacrificing memories to cast spells must decide how much she’s willing to lose to save her town in this thrilling tale of magic, love, and self-discovery—from the New York Times bestselling author of The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic. In the small town of Gold Springs, Calliope Petridi and her two sisters carefully guard the secret of their magic and the price they must pay to practice memories. The more powerful the magic, the greater the memory required. Luckily, all Calliope wants to do is forget. Forget the mother who left them without a trace. Forget the cracks in her relationships with her judgmental oldest sister, Thalia, and her distant middle sister, Eurydice. Forget about the very cost of her magic. And most of all, forget the way the love of her life shattered her heart two years ago. But when an ancient evil awakens in their town, the fragile thread that holds the sisters together breaks. As their magic slowly begins to fade, Calliope accidentally binds herself to an annoyingly handsome leader of a rival coven infamous for their ruthless pursuit of power. Battling a sizzling chemistry to a man she can't trust, Calliope needs to confront her sisters and the painful memories of her past, dark family secrets, and ancient magic in order to keep the town and all she loves safe. But will she have anything left of herself?
The Cul-de-sac by Christopher Null
Rating: 4/5
Spice: 0/5
Plot: 4/5
Primary Genre: Thriller
Blurb: How well do you really know your neighbors? Veteran serial killer Klaus Fischer is determined that his most recent murder will be his last, but like many retirements, this one isn’t sticking. No one has come close to suspecting he’s buried the victims on his quiet suburban California cul-de-sac property—but he’s feeling the urge to kill again, and this time he’s set his sights on a target dangerously close to home. Widowed Peg Jurgensen has lived on the cul-de-sac for the past fifteen years, and she’s ready to shed her doldrums and re-enter the world around her. And where better to start than with mothering the curious young teen Eliza van Damal, whose family just moved to the cul-de-sac in order to expose their daughter to a better life. Eliza, however, prefers to coerce the enigmatic hermit next door, Alex, into helping her pass math. Alex wishes the lot of them would disappear. The closer these misfits become, the more danger even the most ordinary conversations invite. As the body count rises, can these residents trust anyone hiding behind their doors on this street? Fans of The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena, The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell and The Good Neighbor by A.J. Banner will love this domestic thriller filled with dark secrets and dangers lurking in a seemingly quiet suburban neighborhood...
