Rachel Reads & Reviews

This is Kind of an Epic Love Story Review

Nathan Bird doesn’t believe in happy endings. Although he’s the ultimate film buff and an aspiring screenwriter, Nate’s seen the demise of too many relationships to believe that happy endings exist in real life. Playing it safe to avoid a broken heart has been his MO ever since his father died and left his mom…

rachelbeerwoman

August 26, 2025

Reviews

#balzerandbray, #comingofage, #contemporaryromance, #harpercollins, #kacencallender, #kheryncallender, #lgtbq, #rachelreads&reviews, #realisticfiction, #thisiskindofanepiclovestory, #YA
Idol Gossip Review

Every Friday after school, dressed in their new South Korean prep-school uniforms — sweater vests, knee-highs, pleated skirts, and blazers — seventeen-year old Alice Choy and her little sister, Olivia, head to Myeongdong, brave a dank, basement-level stairwell full of graffiti, and slip into a noreabang. Back in San Francisco, when she still had friends…

rachelbeerwoman

August 21, 2025

Reviews

#alexandraleighyoung, #candlewickpress, #candlewickpublishing, #idolgossip, #kpop, #musicindustry, #rachelreads&reviews, #realisticfiction, #YA
Book of the Month: Emma

Austen once wrote to her sister that Emma may be her most unlikable heroine she’s written, but my friend and I agree that may have been by olden day standards. At most she is spoiled and sheltered, but there are worst things rich people could be. In rereading Emma I have found Frank Churchill much…

rachelbeerwoman

August 20, 2025

Book/Author Highlight

#classics, #emma, #janeausten, #rachelreads&reviews
Rosa By Any Other Name Review

Rosa Capistrano has been attending posh North Phoenix High School to boost her chances of a college education and a career in journalism, thanks to the groundbreaking Brown v. Board of Education verdict for desegregation. But though she’s legally allowed to be there, it’s still unsafe for Mexican Americans. That’s why she’s secretly passing as…

rachelbeerwoman

August 11, 2025

Reviews

#1950s, #chicanomovement, #haileyalcaraz, #historicalfiction, #juancrow, #penguinrandomhouse, #rachelreads&reviews, #retelling, #romeoandjuliet, #rosabyanyothername, #vikingbooksforyoungreaders
Secrets of the Manor

For fans of Downtown Abbey, this historical fiction series follows the three generations of Chatswood and Vandermeer girls from 1848 to 1934. But it is not a linear journey which I believe adds to the fun. While I figured out the answer to the overlying mystery in the first book (and was thus impatient for…

rachelbeerwoman

August 10, 2025

Book Suggestions, Book/Author Highlight

#adelewhitby, #middlegrade, #rachelreads&reviews, #secretsofthemanor, #simon&schuster
Contemporary Summer Romances

Gold Coast Dilemma by Nana Malone During an opulent publishing party, Ofosua Addo crosses paths with Cole Drake for the first time. Their flirtatiously witty exchange culminates in a kiss that etches a permanent mark on both their hearts. But Ofosua’s identity as a Ghanaian heiress comes before Cole. She loves the vibrant traditions of…

rachelbeerwoman

August 9, 2025

Book Suggestions

#africanamericanmcs, #alexisdaria, #alongcameamor, #asianmcs, #avonromance, #berkley, #berkleyromance, #can’tgetenough, #contemporaryromance, #danicanava, #disneyhyperion, #diverseromance, #forever, #foreverpublishing, #gallerybooksimprint, #goldcoastdilemma, #hachettebookgroup, #hispanicmcs, #indigenousfiction, #indigenousmcs, #jesseqsutanto, #kennedyryan, #latinx, #loveisawarsong, #nanamalone, #primasofpower, #rachelreads&reviews, #simon&schuster, #skyland, #somethingcheeky, #thienkimlam, #worthfightingfor
Think of England Review

England, 1904. Two years ago, Captain Archie Curtis lost his friends, fingers, and future to a terrible military accident. Alone, purposeless and angry, Curtis is determined to discover if he and his comrades were the victims of fate, or of sabotage. Curtis’s search takes him to an isolated, ultra-modern country house, where he meets and…

rachelbeerwoman

August 5, 2025

Reviews

#edwardian, #englandworld, #historicalfiction, #historicalromance, #kjcharles, #mlm, #queerfiction, #thinkofengland
Neurotic Hitwoman #5-6

Lynn’s Neurotic Hitwoman series is pulling all cylinders when it comes to making Maggie insane. If she didn’t have the crazy gene from her mother, she might end up in the nuthouse thanks to her non-clinical insane, but still dysfunctional family. Whom she now has to live with since her apartment blew up. Yikes!

rachelbeerwoman

August 3, 2025

Book Suggestions, Book/Author Highlight

#comedy adventure, #comedymystery, #confessionsofaslightlyneurotichitwoman, #jblynn, #rachelreads&reviews, #thehitwomanandtheneuroticwitness, #thehitwomanhuntsaghost
Author Highlight: Dahlia Adler

I read Adler’s Going Bicoastal a few years ago (go look into the tags for my thoughts on it) and since it was fine, and since she pops up on so many of my bookstagram stories, I decided to give the rest of her YA catalogue a try. Perfect since she’s just released another one…

rachelbeerwoman

August 2, 2025

Book Suggestions, Book/Author Highlight

#comeasyouare, #coolforthesummer, #dahliaadler, #homefieldadvantage, #queerfiction, #queerrep, #queerromance, #rachelreads&reviews, #st.martinspress, #st.martinspublishing, #wednesdaybooks, #YA
Girls Survive

I found this at my summer, and if you’re into historical fiction or action-packed disaster, then this is the series for you. Initially I thought this was a rip-off of the ultra-popular I Survived series by Lauren Tarish. They have a lot of the same premise of a kid surviving a famous or underrated event…

rachelbeerwoman

August 1, 2025

Book Suggestions, Book/Author Highlight

#aiylnncollins, #aliceontheisland, #andrealrogers, #anitrabutlerngugi, #audreyunderthebigtop, #capstonepublishing, #daisyandthedeadlyflu, #erinfalligant, #fayeandthedangerousjourney, #florfightsback, #fumikoandatokyotragedy, #girlssurvive, #historicalfiction, #Isurvived, #jessicagunderson, #jessikafleck, #joymichaelellison, #juliegilbert, #lowergrade, #maryandthetrailoftears, #mayumishimosepoe, #minandtheprotests, #mollyandthetwintowers, #ninaunderarrest, #oxtrachristina, #rachelreads&reviews, #sigafuskim, #susangriner, #taraandthetoweringwave