I saw this meme on It’s All About Booksand thought, I like this!! So, I decided to do it once a month also. Many thanks to Yvonne for initially posting this!!
This post is what it says: Places I travel to in books each month. Books are lovely and take you to places you would never get to. That includes places of fantasy too!!
Bon Voyage!!
Please let me know if you have read these books or traveled to these areas.
The country I visited the most this month: United States
States I visited the most: New York, Maine, California
Cities I visited the most this month: New York City, London
Ancient Greece
Troy, Phthia, Scyros, Mount Pelion, Aulis (Island), Lemnos (Island), Tenedos
England
London, Manchester
London, Preston, Nantwich, Manchester, Avalon
London
Italy
Florence
United States
New York (New York City)
New York (New York City, Chinatown, West Village), Maine (Lincolnville, Megunticook Lake)
Oregon, New York City, Florida, California (Northern, Eastern, Mono Lake, Fortune, Southern), Maine
Florida (Fort Lauderdale, Siesta Key)
South City (Unknown State)
California (Studio City, North Hollywood, Catalina Island, Avalon)
Washington (Rockport)
Maine, Nebraska, New York (New York City, Central Park), New Jersey, Massachusetts (Cape Cod)
New York (New York City, Brooklyn), Mississippi (Hickory), Michigan (Alcona County)
Margo Anderson is sworn off commitment. Alongside her best friend, Jo, she runs a viral podcast featuring rules for hooking up without catching feelings. So when Jo surprises her by deciding to get married and taking up a sponsor’s offer to host an all-expenses-paid wedding trip on Catalina Island, they have the whole internet to answer to.
In a scramble for content to appease their disappointed listeners, Margo cooks up a social experiment: Break all her own dating rules, just to prove that it’s a bad idea. And she’s found the best man for the job in the groom’s best friend and her old high school nemesis, Declan Walsh. He may be easier on the eyes than Margo remembered, but he’s sure to be as smug and annoying as he was before—there is no chance Margo will ever catch feelings for him . . . until she does.
The more time they spend together through cake tastings and wedding party activities, the more Margo can’t ignore their obvious spark, and she may actually be enjoying getting to know Declan. But can she let go of the rules to let him in?
First Line:
The Blue Room was teeming with amateur influencers. The clubs in Studio City weren’t known for a cozy local vibe on the best of nights, but it was especially bad tonight.
Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts by Kristyn J. Miller
Margo and her best friend, Jo, are co-hosts of a viral podcast that they made famous for seven rules for hooking up without getting feelings involved. So, the internet freaked out when Jo announced she was getting married and using a sponsor’s offer for an all-expenses paid wedding trip to Catalina Island. Also upset was Margo. She was left dealing with the fallout from Jo’s announcement. So, she devised a plan. She’s going to break her own dating rules to prove that it is a bad idea. Her victim: Declan Walsh, the groom’s best man and Margo’s arch nemesis from high school. But, as Margo spends time with Declan, he isn’t who she remembered, and she does something that she vowed never to do: She caught feelings for him. But, when a vengeful fan reveals her plan, Margo might just have lost the best thing that has happened to her. Will Margo prove to Declan that what she feels is real? Or has she blown it?
Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts was a medium to fast-paced book that made me laugh in places and want to cry in others. It is mainly set on Catalina Island, centering on the resort and the town of Avalon. Having always wanted to go to Catalina Island, I enjoyed the brief forays into the water and one memorable hike to see bison. On a side note, I was surprised when that came up in this book and did a Google search of it. Seeing that it is real, I want to go there even more.
The main storyline of Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts centers around Margo, Declan, Margo’s plans to do damage control, Jo’s wedding, and the various trips the wedding party takes. I wasn’t a massive fan of Margo’s plan and felt it would end badly. I did think that the author did a great job of weaving all of these details together to make a great story. Because I feel that if she had just based this book on Margo and Declan, it would have fallen flat.
I didn’t like Margo at first. She seemed immature and needy. Even though high school was ten years behind them, she was still focused on how Declan treated her. There were points when she talked crap about Declan to Jo, and that’s when I wanted to stuff a gag in her mouth and tell her to get over it. Her plan to use him for her damage control plan was pretty low. But then something happened that usually doesn’t happen if I had made up my mind about a character. I started to like her. She was acting the way she was because she wasn’t sure what her future held, which scared her. And when her phone was stolen, and everything leaked, I felt awful for her. I wish that storyline had been closure because I was heated. But the author left it as that person did it and got caught, but nothing happened. Margo, of course, got the short end of the stick there. I won’t say how, but it made me very teary-eyed.
I loved Declan. He was the complete package: gorgeous, intelligent, and built. His confession to Margo about why he acted the way to her in high school was sweet. He also dealt with everything that Jo and Margo did (forthe podcast and their sponsors) in stride. There were points in the book where I thought he was a little too laid back, but that didn’t last long. But, when everything was leaked, he jetted. I didn’t blame him; it was just too much. Plus, his feelings were shattered. So, no, I didn’t blame him for what he said to Margo and how he took off.
For a romance, there weren’t a ton of sex scenes. Margo and Declan fooled around a ton, but sex was only a few times. The author did include Margo getting serviced by Declan in a dressing room and Margo returning the favor to Declan in the shower. The sex wasn’t graphic either, and honestly, I could have cared less. For me, it was the chemistry that they had and the build-up. Other people might disagree, but I stand my ground in this case. Declan and Margo had great sexual chemistry.
As for trigger warnings in this book, I can only think of two. They are:
Drinking: The drinks flowed freely in this book. Margo and the rest of the wedding party were drunk up to the wedding.
Drugs: One of the bridesmaids owns a high-profile cannabis store. During the bachelorette party, she brings cannabis-laced brownies and gummies to help celebrate.
The end of Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts was super sad. I hated seeing Margo acting the way that she was. She was depressed and knew she had mucked it up between her and Declan. Of course, this is a romance, and you know they end up together. That scene stole my breath. And the epilogue was fantastic!!!!
I would recommend Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts to anyone over 21. There is language, mild violence, and sexual situations. Also, see my trigger warning list.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Griffin, NetGalley, and Kristyn J. Miller for allowing me to read and review Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts. All opinions stated in this review are mine.
If you enjoyed reading this review of Seven Rules for Breaking Hearts, then you will enjoy reading these books:
WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
What I Recently Finished Reading:
Love breaks all the rules.
Margo Anderson is sworn off commitment. Alongside her best friend, Jo, she runs a viral podcast featuring rules for hooking up without catching feelings. So when Jo surprises her by deciding to get married and taking up a sponsor’s offer to host an all-expenses-paid wedding trip on Catalina Island, they have the whole internet to answer to.
In a scramble for content to appease their disappointed listeners, Margo cooks up a social experiment: Break all her own dating rules, just to prove that it’s a bad idea. And she’s found the best man for the job in the groom’s best friend and her old high school nemesis, Declan Walsh. He may be easier on the eyes than Margo remembered, but he’s sure to be as smug and annoying as he was before—there is no chance Margo will ever catch feelings for him . . . until she does.
The more time they spend together through cake tastings and wedding party activities, the more Margo can’t ignore their obvious spark, and she may actually be enjoying getting to know Declan. But can she let go of the rules to let him in?
What I am currently reading:
What’s worse than nearly puking in front of a cute guy? Zombies. Definitely zombies.
I’m not feeling so great. I don’t know if it’s something I ate, or if it’s from flipping through one too many teen paranormal romances, trying to find inspiration for an obnoxiously backward creative writing assignment. (Seriously. What kind of teacher asks their students to write a story in their least favourite genre?) But I’m determined not to barf in this stupid vampire book I’m holding, especially not in front of the cute guy who’s checking out the library’s pitiful selection of DVDs. So I make a run for the bathroom… only to have the guy follow me in there. Can you believe it?
But that’s just the first unbelievable thing that happens. When we come out of the bathroom, the library appears to be closed. Weirder still, it’s surrounded by a strange, supernatural storm that definitely wasn’t there a few minutes ago.
Being trapped in a library with a new friend (or enemy—I haven’t decided yet) might not be the worst thing in the world. But it might not be the best thing, either… especially once that weird storm starts spitting out characters that are only supposed to exist in stories, and we find ourselves trying to figure out how to take on a horde of zombies with nothing but our wits, the Dewey Decimal System, and some very strange bookish magic.
Elements of Mind is a metaphysical fantasy quartet that celebrates the power of stories… and the people who create them. Join Sadie on her elemental adventure today!
What books I think I’ll read next:
Reality is evil. While everyone considers it good. That is why reality is actually a fantasy. “Possible” because one can never know. And that exactly is what creates the wrong reality. The facts are irrefutable even when false. The truth is secretly abused and only the lies see the light. Everyone should be able to escape forced fantasies and realize all of it for the sake of true fairness and true justice. Destroy reality fairly by knowing all its dark secrets before it destroys you unfairly.
When the guilty do anything to be innocent, the innocents believe they are guilty. The guilty take advantage of that in their unbelievable and unconceivable tactics and strategies to frame the innocents. Guilt has become a method against the innocents. Innocence has become a pattern in favor of the guilty. The guilty get away with it for their crimes and are presented as the good example while the innocents pay the price and are presented as the bad example. Justice has lost its true meaning, its worth, its liability and its reliability. Or it never had any of these? It has become the norm. The guilty are let free and the innocents are in danger. They used to say “Better to free the guilty than condemn the innocents”. The guilty threaten, so the only way to provide secure justice nowadays is to consider all humans as innocents. All innocent! Until justice is fixed!
Murder, secrets, and folklore now consume this once small, seaside town…
In the town of Rockport, Washington one boy will defy all odds and attempt to uncover the towns most sinister secret. When the new girl at Rockport High is found murdered beneath the iconic, Mermaid Cliff, a group of teenagers must hunt for the killer or become the next victims.
The town of Rockport is thrown into the national spotlight when the towns first ever murder occurs. With his parents telling him to leave it alone, and the law enforcement looking into him as a possible suspect, Mark recruits the help of some friends to uncover the secrets and hunt for the killer. The discoveries they make will put Mark on a journey that will change his life and the world – forever.
Be sure to check out the second book in the series which is available now! Book 3 to be released soon!
In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women’s lives and the violence visited upon their bodies.
A wife refuses her husband’s entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store’s prom dresses. One woman’s surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella Especially Heinous, Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a show we naively assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgangers, ghosts, and girls with bells for eyes.
Earthy and otherworldly, antic and sexy, queer and caustic, comic and deadly serious, Her Body and Other Parties swings from horrific violence to the most exquisite sentiment. In their explosive originality, these stories enlarge the possibilities of contemporary fiction.
The husband stitch — Inventory — Mothers — Especially heinous — Real women have bodies — Eight bites — The resident — Difficult at parties
Tade Thompson’s Rosewater is the start of an award-winning, cutting edge trilogy set in Nigeria, by one of science fiction’s most engaging new voices.
Rosewater is a town on the edge. A community formed around the edges of a mysterious alien biodome, its residents comprise the hopeful, the hungry and the helpless—people eager for a glimpse inside the dome or a taste of its rumored healing powers.
Kaaro is a government agent with a criminal past. He has seen inside the biodome, and doesn’t care to again—but when something begins killing off others like himself, Kaaro must defy his masters to search for an answer, facing his dark history and coming to a realization about a horrifying future.
A riveting tale of revenge, survival and redemption, wrapped around an unlikely love story and set against an urban backdrop corrupted by bigotry and misogyny.
Following a racially motivated rape by three Ku Klux Klansmen, 12-year-old Desiree Devine vows revenge. After eight years of training, now a strikingly beautiful assassin, she accomplishes her mission.
Her campaign continues with solitary walks through dark city streets, hoping to be assaulted by men with bad intentions. Those entrapped by her spider’s web pay dearly for their efforts.
Surrounded by three white men one night, she’s rescued by Tony Marino, an Italian-American passerby. A stormy, up-and-down relationship ensues. Ultimately, as her rage matures into purposeful action, and as he begins to see the world through her eyes, they become a team.
Along the way, they encounter serial killers, wife-beaters, actual and would-be rapists, gangsters, crooked cops, a kidnapper and a pedophile priest, as well as numerous women in desperate need of their help. Beneath all the action, though, is the blossoming of a most unusual love story.
An immortal Knight of the Round Table faces his greatest challenge yet—saving the politically polarized, rapidly warming world from itself—in this slyly funny contemporary take on Arthurian legend.
Being reborn as an immortal defender of the realm gets awfully damn tiring over the years—or at least that’s what Sir Kay’s thinking as he claws his way up from beneath the earth, yet again.
Kay fought at Hastings, and at Waterloo, and in both World Wars. After a thousand years, he thought he was used to dealing with a crisis. But now he finds himself in a strange new world where oceans have risen, armies have been privatized, and half of Britain’s been sold to the Chinese. The dragon that’s running amok, that he can handle. The rest? He’s not so sure.
Mariam’s devoted her life to fighting what’s wrong with her country. But she’s just one ordinary person, up against a hopelessly broken system. So when she meets Kay, a figure straight out of legend, she dares to hope that the world’s finally found the savior it needs.
As the two quest through this strange land swarming with gangs, mercenaries, and talking squirrels, they realize that other ancient evils are afoot. Lancelot is back too–at the beck and call of immortal beings with a sinister agenda. And if their plans can’t be stopped, a dragon will be the least of the planet’s worries.
In perilous times like these, the realm doesn’t just need a knight. It needs a true leader.
Luckily, Excalibur lies within reach–and Kay’s starting to suspect that the hero fit to carry it is close at hand.
The nation of Trylia believes that the gift, a force that can alter the world through the intent of the person who wields it, is a myth. The stuff of children’s tales, brought to life only in the imagination.
For Lila, separated from a life she was too young to remember, it’s a confusing power that has set her apart from the family she found. And she is only just beginning to understand it when her home and family are destroyed, and she is captured.
To escape, she unleashes the gift in a destructive wave that also forces a man she doesn’t trust to keep them alive. Bryn won’t survive unless Lila does, and they must flee the wrath of the captors still pursuing her. If they can’t find a way to work together, Lila won’t live long enough to learn more about the gift.
As Lila finds her strength, the gift inside her grows. Unless she can control it, she may be a greater danger than the one at her heels.
WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.
The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What do you think you’ll read next?
What I Recently Finished Reading:
When an anonymous neighborhood forum gets hacked, the darkest secrets of New York’s wealthiest residents come to light—including some worth killing for—in this gripping suspense novel from the author of Just One Look.
It was all confidential. Right up to the moment when it wasn’t.
UrbanMyth: It was lauded as an alternative to the performative, show-your-best-self platforms—an anonymous discussion board grouped by zip code. The residents of Manhattan’s exclusive Upper East Side disclosed it all, things they would never share with their friends or their spouses: secret bank accounts, steamy affairs, tidbits of juicy gossip. These are the same parents who would go to astonishing lengths to ensure their children gain admission to the most prestigious boarding schools and universities. So when a “hacktivist” group breaks into the forum and exposes the real identity behind each poster, the repercussions resound down Park Avenue with a force none could have anticipated.
And someone will end up dead.
Will it be Heather, the outsider who would do anything to get her daughter into the elite’s good graces and into even better schools? Norah, the high-powered suit failing to balance work and the emotional responsibilities of motherhood? Or Poppy, perfect on the outside but hiding more than her share of secrets?
Each of them has something to hide. Each of them will do anything to keep their secrets hidden. And each of them just might kill to protect their own.
What I am currently reading:
Lady Gemma Ashbourne seemingly has it all. She’s young, gorgeous, and rich. Her family was Anointed by the gods, blessed with incredible abilities. But underneath her glittering façade, Gemma is deeply sad. Years ago, her sister Mara was taken to the Middlemist to guard against treacherous magic. Her mother abandoned the family. Her father and eldest sister, Farrin—embroiled in a deadly blood feud with the mysterious Bask family—often forget Gemma exists.
Worst of all, Gemma is the only Ashbourne to possess no magic. Instead, her body fights it like poison. Constantly ill, aching with loneliness, Gemma craves love and yearns to belong.
Then she meets the devastatingly handsome Talan d’Astier. His family destroyed themselves, seduced by a demon, and Talan, the only survivor, is determined to redeem their honor. Intrigued and enchanted, Gemma proposes a bargain: She’ll help Talan navigate high society if he helps her destroy the Basks. According to popular legend, a demon called The Man With the Three-Eyed Crown is behind the families’ blood feud—slay the demon, end the feud.
But attacks on the Middlemist are increasing. The plot against the Basks quickly spirals out of control. And something immense and terrifying is awakening in Gemma, drawing her inexorably toward Talan and an all-consuming passion that could destroy her—or show her the true strength of her power at last.
What books I think I’ll read next:
Mikki Brammer’s The Collected Regrets of Clover is a big-hearted and life-affirming debut about a death doula who, in caring for others at the end of their life, has forgotten how to live her own, for readers of The Midnight Library.
What’s the point of giving someone a beautiful death if you can’t give yourself a beautiful life?
From the day she watched her kindergarten teacher drop dead during a dramatic telling of Peter Rabbit, Clover Brooks has felt a stronger connection with the dying than she has with the living. After the beloved grandfather who raised her dies alone while she is traveling, Clover becomes a death doula in New York City, dedicating her life to ushering people peacefully through their end-of-life process.
Clover spends so much time with the dying that she has no life of her own, until the final wishes of a feisty old woman send Clover on a trip across the country to uncover a forgotten love story––and perhaps, her own happy ending. As she finds herself struggling to navigate the uncharted roads of romance and friendship, Clover is forced to examine what she really wants, and whether she’ll have the courage to go after it.
Probing, clever, and hopeful, The Collected Regrets of Clover turns the normally taboo subject of death into a reason to celebrate life.
One book. Nine readers. Ten changed lives. New York Times bestselling author Erica Bauermeister’s No Two Persons is “a gloriously original celebration of fiction, and the ways it deepens our lives.”
That was the beauty of books, wasn’t it? They took you places you didn’t know you needed to go…
Alice has always wanted to be a writer. Her talent is innate, but her stories remain safe and detached, until a devastating event breaks her heart open, and she creates a stunning debut novel. Her words, in turn, find their way to readers, from a teenager hiding her homelessness, to a free diver pushing himself beyond endurance, an artist furious at the world around her, a bookseller in search of love, a widower rent by grief. Each one is drawn into Alice’s novel; each one discovers something different that alters their perspective, and presents new pathways forward for their lives.
Together, their stories reveal how books can affect us in the most beautiful and unexpected of ways—and how we are all more closely connected to one another than we might think.
Murder, secrets, and folklore now consume this once small, seaside town…
In the town of Rockport, Washington one boy will defy all odds and attempt to uncover the towns most sinister secret. When the new girl at Rockport High is found murdered beneath the iconic, Mermaid Cliff, a group of teenagers must hunt for the killer or become the next victims.
The town of Rockport is thrown into the national spotlight when the towns first ever murder occurs. With his parents telling him to leave it alone, and the law enforcement looking into him as a possible suspect, Mark recruits the help of some friends to uncover the secrets and hunt for the killer. The discoveries they make will put Mark on a journey that will change his life and the world – forever.
Be sure to check out the second book in the series which is available now! Book 3 to be released soon!
Over. The World. Finished. So fast that the survivors only had two words to describe what had happened: Rabbit Flu. So innocuous a name that no one was scared, concerned, reactionary, until it was too late. Over for most, though not for all. In one American city the survivors, among them a handsome news anchor, a malcontent alt-girl, a stripper, a gang leader, a transvestite preacher, a millennial disappointment, a reclusive customer service rep, a teenage girl with a penchant for older men, and two soldiers far from home, among others, decide what to do in the immediate aftermath of the near extinction of humanity.
People so confidently say “I know!” “I have proof!” And while these powerful sentences for some reason look very persuasive, they mean nothing. They are just words. They are just a strong mindset. Either a deceived one tells them or one who deceives. Before these declarations, there should be questions: “Do I know?” “Is this proof?” The only confident thing to say is “I cannot actually know.” “This ‘proof’ might be fake.” Believe nothing, doubt everything especially when others believe everything and doubt nothing. Knowing nothing is the next best solution to the lies, to the deceit, to the misinformation.
Love breaks all the rules.
Margo Anderson is sworn off commitment. Alongside her best friend, Jo, she runs a viral podcast featuring rules for hooking up without catching feelings. So when Jo surprises her by deciding to get married and taking up a sponsor’s offer to host an all-expenses-paid wedding trip on Catalina Island, they have the whole internet to answer to.
In a scramble for content to appease their disappointed listeners, Margo cooks up a social experiment: Break all her own dating rules, just to prove that it’s a bad idea. And she’s found the best man for the job in the groom’s best friend and her old high school nemesis, Declan Walsh. He may be easier on the eyes than Margo remembered, but he’s sure to be as smug and annoying as he was before—there is no chance Margo will ever catch feelings for him . . . until she does.
The more time they spend together through cake tastings and wedding party activities, the more Margo can’t ignore their obvious spark, and she may actually be enjoying getting to know Declan. But can she let go of the rules to let him in?
A new thriller about one man’s ice-cold malice, and one woman’s fight to reclaim her life.
Former Army brat Morgan Albright has finally planted roots in a friendly neighborhood near Baltimore. Her friend and roommate Nina helps her make the mortgage payments, as does Morgan’s job as a bartender. But after she and Nina host their first dinner party—attended by Luke, the flirtatious IT guy who’d been chatting her up at the bar—her carefully built world is shattered. The back door glass is broken, cash and jewelry are missing, her car is gone, and Nina lies dead on the floor.
Soon, a horrific truth emerges: It was Morgan who let the monster in. “Luke” is actually a cold-hearted con artist named Gavin who targets a particular type of woman, steals her assets and identity, and then commits his ultimate goal: murder.
What the FBI tells Morgan is beyond chilling. Nina wasn’t his type. Morgan is. Nina was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. And Morgan’s nightmare is just beginning. Soon she has no choice but to flee to her mother’s home in Vermont. While she struggles to build something new, she meets another man, Miles Jameson. He isn’t flashy or flirtatious, and his family business has deep roots in town. But Gavin is still out there hunting new victims, and he hasn’t forgotten the one who got away.
