Audiobook

Bloody Fool For Love // Book Review

- Bunny 1 Comment

About The Book
New York Times best-selling author William Ritter marks the beginning of an all-new series that explores prequel stories about fan-favorite Buffy characters. A verified villain. A slayer killer. A god among vampires. And most of all? A hopeless romantic… This rompy, action-packed novel inspired by one of Buffy’s most infamous bad boys is part Bonnie and Clyde, part Sherlock and Watson, with just a bit more bloodsucking.
Buy The Book: https://amzn.to/455nU1s

My Rating

When I heard about a ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ reimagining based on the character of Spike, I immediately added this to my TBR. I was not exactly sure of the plot before going into the book, and probably could not give you a good description of it. Unfortunately, the story is quite forgettable.

The concept of a book that explored the backstory of Spike, a beloved character, had a great deal of promise. While I have always been a fan of Spike, I found that the execution of the story was somewhat lacking. The plot left much to be desired and was difficult to follow at times. There was too much going on for my liking.

One thing I enjoyed was the setting of the book. It took place in the UK, and we got to see the side of Spike, which was a slayer-killer. However, the author did not capture the essence of the characters. Spike is supposed to be this big bad vampire, but comes off too lighthearted. Personally, I think the book generally needed to be darker and more eerie.

“Eat your heart out, Count Dracula.”

However, I appreciate the addition of Drusilla and Darla to this story. This helped connect the story slightly more to the Buffy Universe. Also, I think the author did a wonderful job bringing both these lady vampires to life. Darla reminded me very much of the one from the show. Drusilla was similar to her series counterpart as well. But I admit that I  was never really a fan of these two.

Overall, it did not capture the iconic Buffy vibes that I was hoping for. That said, it was still a good read, and the writing, although not amazing, was decent. I particularly liked the audiobook format since it helped me have a better reading experience. While this prequel did not fully meet my expectations, I would be open to reading more reimaginings in the Buffyverse.

If you enjoy bookish content like this, do not forget to like and share this post. Make sure to follow as well, to get notifications whenever I have new content!

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

July 2023 // To Be Read

- Bunny 1 Comment

Hi Friends,
Happy July! I am excited to be doing my July TBR, and yes I know I said I was going to stop doing TBRs, but the planner girl in me just can’t stop. But, I want to make my TBR a little more fun. I found a numbered list of prompts from Pinterest, and used a random number generator to pick my prompts. Also, I used a random number generator between 1 – 10 to see how many to pick. Here’s the catch – I can only pick books off my physical TBR or audiobooks I own via Kobo or Audible. First up the random number generator gave me 6, which means I’m picking 6 prompts and reading 6 books. But, to make things more interesting if I get the same prompt, twice I have to add a book. Let’s see how this goes.

This first number I got was 8, which is ‘A Book Set In The Decade You Were Born’! I’m very happy for this because I’m a nineties girl and I just bought ‘Throwback’ by Maurene Goo on audiobook. It’s about a teen girl that is sent back to the 90s to help her teenage mother. I can’t wait for all the 90s references.
Related Post: The Way You Make Me Feel // Book Review

Next up, I got the number 3 and the prompt is ‘A Book Outside Your Comfort Genres’.
I decided to go with ‘Talking as Fast as I Can’ by Lauren Graham. I barely read memoirs, or rather, nonfiction in general, but I own this book and I am probably the biggest Gilmore Girls fan ever. And, it’s read by Lauren Graham, which is amazing.

The next number was 9 giving me the prompt ‘A Book That’s Been On Your TBR For 2 Or More Years’. This was more difficult than I thought it would be, because I’m only picking from my owned books. But, I decided to go with ‘As Old As Time’ by Elizabeth J. Braswell. This is a part of the Twisted Tales series, which is essentially a book series of different middle-grade/young adult Disney retellings. From the title you can probably guess that this book is a ‘Beauty and the Beast’ retelling.
Related Post: Part Of Your World // Book Review

Thankfully we got the number 22, because the prompt was ‘A Book By An Auto-Buy Author’. There are so many authors that have become favorites of mine over the last year. Originally, I was going to pick ‘One Of Us Is Back’ by Karen M. Mc Manus, since I pre-ordered the book. But, since it doesn’t come out until the end of the month, I’m going to go with something else. So, my pick is ‘Every Last Fear’ by Alex Finlay, which is the author of ‘The Night Shift’, a book that I loved.
Related Post: The Night Shift // Book Review

Luck was on my side once again, by giving me the number 15. The prompt was ‘Read A Retelling’. If you know me than you know I love retellings, so my pick is ‘The Wicked Ones‘ by Robin Benway. This is a retellings following the evil stepsisters from Cinderella. It happens to be another one of my Kobo audiobooks.

Last, but certainly not least, I got the number 28, which was the prompt ’Read A YA’. Simple enough. I am going easy on myself here, and pick a book that I just started, which is ‘Kisses and Croissants‘ by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau. This is a YA contemporary set at a ballet school in Paris.

The only thing left is to talk about my Novellic book club pick, which is ‘The Summer of Broken Rules‘ by K. L. Walther. You can join my Reading Rabbits book club on the Novellic app!

I hope you liked this fun little TBR! In the comments, share your July TBR. Don’t forget to follow my blog if you enjoy bookish content like this.

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

Coffee Break // Audiobooks Aren’t Real Reading

- Bunny 2 Comments


Hi Friends,
I have wanted to do this post for a while now, because it is something I am extremely passionate about. Is listening to audiobooks ‘reading’? I used to be the type of person that would hate on audiobook readers. I would think it was cheating, and not real reading. However, fast forward 10 years and 100% of my reading is done via audiobooks. Zero regrets. I completely understand people that cannot get behind audiobooks, and have to physically read. Just like anything else, audiobooks aren’t for everyone, and it does take some getting used to. I know that a lot of people believe that you aren’t truly ‘reading’ if you go the audiobook route. But I don’t think that’s really true.

I watched a lot of videos on this topic, and one of them put it very well. In the video, by EmmmaBooks, she posed a question – that if someone drives themself to work, but their co-worker takes the bus, did one of them cheat? Or take the easy way out? The person that drove themself isn’t going to call out their co-worker for taking the bus. They both got the same results, but took different paths to get there. In the debate of audiobooks versus physically reading, you are both consuming the same work, just in different forms.

I am a multi-tasker with serious ADD, which makes audiobooks perfect for me. I can accomplish other things while reading. Also, it is like TV in my head. Oh, the days of radio shows. Best-sellling author Stephen King even did a short video, declaring that “audiobooks are terrific”. They are especially great for people who have learning disabilities, that would otherwise struggle with reading. I am forunate enough to be able to read well, but I do still get frustrated when there isn’t an audiobook version available. Authors that only release physical books are missing out on sharing their work with a whole new dynamic of people.

In my opinion, the whole point of reading is to open your mind to a new world and a new group of people, to bring the story to life. You can do that regardless of whether you listen to the audiobook or read it in print. I would certainly never think less of the people who choose to listen to audiobooks, and I love the fact that all readers are different. but can still come together and share a love for books. I will always advocate for audiobooks, and if that makes me not a real reader, then so be it. Remember – you do you, and enjoy reading any way you please.

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

Book Review: Time Of Our Lives by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka

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  1. Title: Time Of Our Lives
    Author: Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka
    Published: 2020
    Rating: 2.5/5.0 Stars

Synopsis: Time Of Our LivesWhen Fitz and Juniper cross paths on their first college tour in Boston, they’re at odds from the moment they meet– while Juniper’s dying to start a new life apart for her family, Fitz faces the sacrifices he must make for his. Their relationship sparks a deep connection–in each other’s eyes, they glimpse alternate possibilities regarding the first big decision of their adult lives.
Source: GoodReads

I was dreading writing this review, because not to long ago I was singing the author duos prayers. I was very unhappy with this book, and couldn’t get behind the plot. I was hoping for a cute boy meets girl type of story, but that is not really the premise. Are two leads are both college seniors, Fitz and Juniper, who cross path during their multiple college tours. The characters are different, yet similar. Fitz is very dedicated to taking care of his ill mother and has a strained relationship with his older brother. Juniper wants nothing more than to get space from her tight-knit family and has her college life mapped out.

When various chance meetings draw them together they start to develop feelings that become hard to ignore. This sound like a cute opposites attract book in which they both end up learning something from one another, right? Wrong! Well, kind of. Here is the kicker and a major faux-pas within the plot, Juniper has a boyfriend. Yep, they had been going strong for about a year and started the college road trip together. This was a twisted I never saw coming, and didn’t enjoy.

For me, Juniper was a very unlikable character determined to runaway from her family, because they were overbearing. I wanted to shake her and tell her that you don’t need to push your family away to live your dreams. However, I might be projecting, since I have a close-knit family. She was very stubborn at times, and always tried to push her ideas, opinions and the way she lived her life on to other. It got frustrating quickly. Needless to say, I didn’t enjoy reading her dialog.

“It’s extraordinarily freeing.”

Fritz on the other hand was hands down the redeeming part of this book. He was quirky, thoughtful and awkward. I loved that he was willing to give up all his dreams for his mom, and make new goals for her sake. I enjoyed the moments between him and his brother, and you could see the distance between them. However, you could tell that they did love each other even if at times they tried not to care.

I didn’t find Fritz and Juniper a believable couple at all. I couldn’t get over the fact that Juniper kept pushing her wants on the Fritz and essentially peer-pressuring him to-be like her. Maybe, I interrupted her wrong, but her personality was a bit abrasive. I felt like Juniper didn’t learned anything from Fritz, or change throughout the book. Their were small moments that you could see her personality shifting, yet they didn’t last long.

As for Fritz, his character growth was amazing! He discovered that he could live his life for himself while still caring about and for his mom. He learned that his brother cared just as much, maybe even more, than him about their family, but tried to play it cool. During the story, they came together as brothers and it was very touching. Is it sad that I would rather have had a strained brother road trip story instead of the one we got.

This book fell middle of the road for me, which isn’t bad but isn’t great either. I will continue to read whatever these two publish next, yet I might be keeping my expectations low. I want to add that there might be an epilogue in this book, but it isn’t in the e-book or audiobook versions, so I’m confused. I didn’t get a chance to read the epilogue, since I primarily read the formats I mentioned that didn’t contain it. Let me know your thoughts on this book in the comments.

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny