Firewhiskey Reader

This was so fun

Reviewed: 10-20-24

I really liked the characters and the plot was zany but fun! I am definitely looking forward to book two.

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A Perfect Conclusion

Reviewed: 12-28-23

I went through all the feelings in this book but overall, this has Ross’s same gorgeous writing as did Divine Rivals and it just sang to me. The narrators were excellent.

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This was everything.

Reviewed: 08-09-23

Genuinely, everything I hoped and more. If you’re a Gallagher Girl, this book is 100% for you. And the audio narration was fantastic.

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3 people found this helpful

Complicated Feelings Abound

Reviewed: 06-24-23

On the one hand, I love this book and the whole series. On the other hand, this book features the most gender essentialist language and has a male main character who sometimes seems straight out of the Stone Age. But Tessa Bailey shines in this entire series at creating stories that propel you forward. So I wouldn’t say I recommend this book, but I do enjoy it.

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Perfection

Reviewed: 04-11-23

The way I love Kate Canterbary is truly unmatched. She’s a genius. This book was excellent.

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Very solid

Reviewed: 12-27-22

I really liked Virginia Rose’s narration but Jeffrey Kafer doesn’t do the best job distinguishing between JJ and Brooke sometimes and it got a little confusing.

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A Great Leading Lady with a Lackluster Leading Man

Reviewed: 07-10-22

I was in the fourth grade before I settled on a career goal that wasn't princess, which is probably why as a general rule, I tend to enjoy books with royalty and commoners even though my logical brain doesn't really love the idea of a monarchy. Unfortunately, even with the basis that I should have enjoyed American Royalty and with the absolutely enthralling first 40%, the book just failed to live up to its promise for me. And I should have known that I wasn't going to wind up buying the romance from the beginning because even before Jamison and Dani meet, I already hated the way he watched her music videos and formed this idea of her in his head and objectified the hell out of her. And at the end of the day, Dani is such an incredible character that I genuinely wanted like a whole book just about her taking over the world and wanted Jamison to like... disappear. I didn't care to where. But Jamison's life is obviously complicated because, well, he's a Royal. Only, I don't care about Jamison's complicated life because he never seemed to want to be a royal so all of the obligations and trappings were much less interesting to me than Dani because she has actual goals and wants and desires and I wanted to watch her take over the world.

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7 people found this helpful

An Immersive Experience

Reviewed: 12-11-21

I desperately hope Rosamund Pike narrates this entire series. She is such an incredible voice actress and really brought this book to life.

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A Fun Witchy Paranormal Romance

Reviewed: 08-07-21

What the Hex is a paranormal, witchy romance from Alexis Daria and I felt like you could tell it was a book that Daria had fun writing. She's talked about how her roots are in paranormal romance and I think that with a full length witchy paranormal, all of her strengths would shine. That's not to say that this short novella length audio wasn't showcasing her strengths, but I wanted more of everything. I loved the world Daria created with so few words, but I want to know more about everyone and everything. I'm pretty sure this is the start of a series so I'm consoling myself with the fact that I should get more details in future installments.

There's an underlying humor in this book that belies the fact that Daria's love interests are trying to figure out what's wrong with their siblings and how to fix it, while also rediscovering one another. I loved the set up for the romance and thought it worked really well. They were rivals in high school and are now the only two they can trust as they try and unravel this mystery. It's cute and sexy and I enjoyed it a lot. I definitely do not regret the hours spent listening to this one!

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This was so enlightening.

Reviewed: 01-07-21

I read So You Want to Talk About Race soon after it’s release and adored how Ijeoma Oluo explained things in a way that just really worked with my brain. I was a little nervous going into this one because it seemed like it was going to involve a lot more history and despite loving history as a student, I’m not always good at reading about it now. I am pleased to report that all of my concerns were for naught. Ijeoma Oluo is remarkable at how well she takes this pretty huge idea and cuts it down into very understandable pieces with perfectly chosen illustrative examples. I think this book likely could have spiraled into such a huge project that would have felt overwhelming, but Oluo is deliberate in what she chose to include and discuss. You can tell that her examples were chosen with care and really expanded and shed light on things and people who have a very one-sided positive history most commonly told today. I am still seething over the fact that President Teddy Roosevelt has a reputation of being a conservationist when he just kept ignoring the treaties the US made with Native people and took land that was never meant to belong to this country.

This book was well organized and has section headers that I really appreciated. In the introduction, Oluo talks about how things “work by design” so even when something is infuriating and unjust, but there’s “nothing to be done” that it’s often a sign of something working just as it was designed. This is a theme that carries through the entire collection and is really powerful. Oluo makes the case that we have to try something different if we are to save the planet and our country and it’s a compelling argument. It’s also subtle in some ways. She pulls back sometimes on sharing her opinion to give space for the reader to come to their own conclusion. It’s the cross-examination method of asking every question but the last one because you want the jury to be forming the answer to that last question themselves. All of the pieces are there and at the very end, in her closing argument, Oluo hammers her points home. She does so effectively in large part because of how beautifully the rest of the book is laid out. Her conclusion introduces us to a new white man and takes a trek down the mass and school shooter line of reasoning. I would have appreciated more time on this topic, but I think it’s a brilliant place for her to end with an appeal to readers to do something. To change the design.

One final point, y’all may know I mostly read romance novels, and Oluo’s last paragraph in the acknowledgements is one of the most romantic things I’ve ever read and I would like someone to please point me in the direction of any romance novel that sounds similar to her real life love story. I hope Oluo and her partner have many, many years of happiness.

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21 people found this helpful