More mini-reviews! Reviews of Teddy Spenser Isn't Looking for Love, Instant Karma, In a Holidaze and Kingdom of the Wicked. That's an m/m contemporary, an f/m YA contemporary, an f/m contemporary and a YA fantasy.
Rating refresher! Categories are based on whether or not we recommend them to fellow readers - DNF (Did Not Finish), Pass, YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary), Read it Eventually, Read it Soon.
This post contains affiliate links.
Teddy Spenser Isn't Looking for Love, by Kim Fields
My Verdict: YMMV/DNF
Amazon ◊ Barnes & Noble ◊ Bookshop ◊ Kobo
Teddy Spenser isn't looking for love, but he is really annoying. Perhaps if it wasn't told entirely from Teddy's POV I would have stuck with it, but as it is, I wasn't enjoying spending this much time with him. Romeo does nothing wrong and Teddy just makes assumptions about him and then picks little arguments because he doesn't want to be attracted to him. Teddy is big into fashion and design, so readers who are likewise inclined may enjoy his approach to life and work. He definitely skews young, so readers looking for characters early in their careers will probably like him more than those of us who want a bit more maturity from grown men.
There are definitely some funny bits! I bet if I liked Teddy more I would have found this a fun read.
Worth noting that there are also some microaggressions in the first 20% of the book (all I read) that even my white ass noticed. I really like this cover and apparently I will never learn my lesson.
Content Warnings: I don't know, sorry!
I received a digital copy of this book for review.
Instant Karma, by Marissa Meyer
My Verdict: YMMV
Amazon ◊ Barnes & Noble ◊ Bookshop ◊ Kobo
A judgmental overachiever has to convince the boy she hated working with all semester to redo their final project over the summer. (He's so much nicer than her.) Pru is difficult to like. She took great pleasure in enacting magical "instant karma" on people with no knowledge of why they were doing the things she observed. She treated her love interest poorly and then he treats her poorly in the big climactic fight (which could have been resolved easily if she'd ever talked to him honestly about what was going on). I liked the sea lions so much more than I liked the POV character.
This is a romance, yes, but it feels more like a coming-of-age story in which a rather selfish girl has to learn to think about other people every once in a while. She has a definite savior complex but she doesn't want to ask people why they are making their choices. On top of that, it felt really long.
I was so glad when they finally started getting together because the banter was good and I genuinely liked many of the characters. It was just hard to read about Pru doing the same things over and over and not learning until the end. Also the "magic" makes no sense.
Audio narration was good. Cadence and voices seemed to fit the characters.
A middling read for me.
Content Warnings: mentions of animal death and injury, animal blindness, Quint's dad is pretty much out of the picture
I received a digital copy of this audiobook for review.
In a Holidaze, by Christina Lauren
My verdict: YMMV
Amazon ◊ Barnes & Noble ◊ Bookshop ◊ Kobo
Content Warnings: car accident, character dies multiple times (but not really?), mention of past cancer, mention of past divorce, drug use, many mentions of being "crazy" (because time travel)
I received a digital copy of this book for review but read it on audio through my library.
Kingdom of the Wicked, by Kerri Manisculco
My verdict: Read it Soon
Amazon ◊ Barnes & Noble (Exclusive) ◊ Bookshop ◊ Kobo
I was really looking forward to this witch + demon fantasy with romance and I was not disappointed. When her twin is brutally murdered, Emilia summons a demon to help her exact revenge. Except she makes a mistake and bonds the demon to her. Of course he's unfortunately hot and has a bunch of evil brothers and everything gets complicated.
This will be too light on the romance for some readers, so here's your warning that it's the first in the series and I expect more relationship development as time passes. It's dark and kinda sexy and definitely murdery. I loved it enough that I could ignore the somewhat predictable villain reveal and I'm looking forward to the next!
Content Warnings: murder, more murder, possession, kidnapping
I purchased this book.
If you appreciate our content and wish to support the site, please consider using the affiliate links in this post and below for your shopping needs. Even if you don't buy the book in question, we receive a small % of your purchase from the vendor. As always, you are welcome to leave us a tip on Ko-Fi!
Support Love in Panels
