Introvert’s Book Club
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Check Out the Booksta
Murder by Cheesecake by Rachel Ekstrom Courage
Golden Girls #1
Rating: 4/5
Spice: 0/5
Plot: 3/5
Primary Genre: Cozy mystery
Blurb: The first novel in the all-new Golden Girls Cozy Mystery Series! When Dorothy’s obnoxious date is found dead in a hotel freezer, it not only ruins a gorgeous cheesecake but threatens the elaborate St. Olaf–themed wedding Rose is hosting. Things are heating up, and not just because of Blanche’s hot flashes. Rose’s cousin is eloping to Miami, and Rose is playing host. If she can't balance the groom’s family’s snobbery against the traditional St. Olaf wedding week guidelines, her hometown may never accept her cousin again! Dorothy quickly realizes she needs a date with whom she can exchange wedding-related wisecracks. Turning to a newfangled VHS dating service, she believes she’s found the ideal conversationalist. Unfortunately, what looks good on TV can actually be a total jerk in real life. It seems she’ll just have to enjoy the company of Sophia, Blanche, and whomever Blanche has targeted for a hookup. As the Girls all pitch in, Rose is thrilled that the tea-and-fish-themed kickoff event is perfect, not a herring out of place. That is until Dorothy’s date is found dead—face-planted in an otherwise scrumptious-looking cheesecake. With every guest a suspect (especially Dorothy) and a marriage on the line, the four besties must ID the real killer, get the should-be-happy couple down the aisle, and make sure nobody from St. Olaf gets lost in the wilds of Miami. It’s up to the Golden Girls to sleuth out a way for friendship and love to win the day!
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.
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.
Teasing His Tiger by Tanya Lynn
Rating: 3.5/5
Spice: 4/5
Primary Genre: Hockey Romance
Trigger Warnings: See author’s website
Favorite Quote: See - The Dedication. IYKYK.
Plot 3/5:
An older man (MMC Mark) hasn’t gotten back into the game since his wife passed away from cancer several years ago. A divorced and traumatized 30 year old (FMC Rebecca) is trying to recover from the emotional damage of her marriage. Halloween night Mark and Rebecca encounter each other at a special sort of club. It’s obsession at first sight for Mark but Rebecca has a roster and she isn’t sure she even wants Mark to be on it. That won’t stop Mark from keeping a very close eye on her. From her window.
The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore
Rating: 3.5/5
Spice: 2/5
Primary Genre: Holiday Romance
Trigger Warnings: I don’t really think that there are any, if you disagree let me know in the comments.
Favorite Quote:
‘You’re a big dog person, I take it.’
‘They’re better than people in every way.’
His laugh was low and deep and did absolutely nothing for her.
‘I agree.’
Plot 3/5:
Rich Georgia peach named Kira buys northeastern Christmas tree farm, although she is grumpy and hates Christmas. Very sweet guy named Bennett who’s home for the holidays tries to help her fix things that she doesn’t want any help fixing.
