mishmash

593 points

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Post from the One-Star Romance forum

mishmash

Thoughts from 68%

I’m struggling a little because this book started at romantic, at the meet cute, but the dreariness of life , drifting friendships, and the prospect of great partners who “just don’t have that spark” is so depressing. I’m having trouble believing in Natalie and Rob because they’ve interacted for like a total of 5 hours over the course of 5 years!!!!

mishmash started reading...

One-Star Romance

Laura Hankin

A struggling writer is forced to walk down the aisle at her best friend’s wedding with the man who gave her book a very public one-star rating in this fresh romantic comedy from Laura Hankin. Natalie and Rob couldn’t have less in common. Nat’s a messy artist, and Rob’s a rigid academic. The only thing they share is their devotion to their respective best friends—who just got engaged. Still, unexpected chemistry has Natalie cautiously optimistic about being maid of honor to Rob’s best man. Until, minutes before the ceremony, Nat learns that Rob wrote a one-star review of her new novel, which has them both reeling: Nat from imposter syndrome, and Rob over the reason he needed to write it. When the reception ends, these two opposites hope they’ll never meet again. But, as they slip from their twenties into their thirties, they’re forced together whenever their fast-track best friends celebrate another milestone. Through housewarmings and christenings, life-changing triumphs and failures, Natalie and Rob grapple with their own choices—and how your harshest critic can become your perfectly imperfect match. After all, even the truest love stories sometimes need a bit of rewriting.

Post from the Deep End forum

mishmash

Thoughts from 65% (page 290)

I can’t believe they went like multiple weeks without texting. I simply couldn’t survive like that AT THAT AGE?? With their level of infatuation!?

Post from the Deep End forum

mishmash

Thoughts from 5% (page 24)

She’s 21??? lol oh boy I’m going into this with some skepticism because any college romance I had was RIDICULOUS, at that age.

mishmash started reading...

Deep End

Ali Hazelwood

A competitive diver and an ace swimmer jump into forbidden waters in this steamy college romance from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis. Scarlett Vandermeer is swimming upstream. A Junior at Stanford and a student-athlete who specializes in platform diving, Scarlett prefers to keep her head down, concentrating on getting into med school and on recovering from the injury that almost ended her career. She has no time for relationships—at least, that’s what she tells herself. Swim captain, world champion, all-around aquatics golden boy, Lukas Blomqvist thrives on discipline. It’s how he wins gold medals and breaks complete focus, with every stroke. On the surface, Lukas and Scarlett have nothing in common. Until a well-guarded secret slips out, and everything changes. So they start an arrangement. And as the pressure leading to the Olympics heats up, so does their relationship. It was supposed to be just a temporary, mutually satisfying fling. But when staying away from Lukas becomes impossible, Scarlett realizes that her heart might be treading into dangerous water...

mishmash TBR'd a book

Deep End

Ali Hazelwood

mishmash TBR'd a book

One-Star Romance

Laura Hankin

mishmash finished reading and wrote a review...

mishmash

Nov 09, 2025

3.5

Enjoyment: 3.5Quality: 3.5Characters: 3.5Plot: 3.5

This was a cute character development novel, but in my opinion, not a good romance. The time loop device was great for helping Noelle get over her workaholic, conservative, risk averse personal barriers. But as soon as that device was 'solved' (which took forever.....), Noelle became...very boring again. Which tells me that her character was BORING, and the time loop device was doing all the work. Lol. And Cam - omg, every time we saw things from his pov it was like reading a robot's diary. Ew! I enjoyed Noelle's friendship with Avery + her sister the most, and how she said fuck it to her job, lol.

Character personalities really do matter, because how they react to a situation (and how long it takes for them to 'move the story forward') impacts the pacing SIGNIFICANTLY. Our heroine took foreverrrr to move the story forward, and when she did, NOTHING messy happened. The hijinks were muy minimal.

Finally, it didn't feel like an effective romance to me because

The characters automatically liked each other and the 'barriers' aka the tensions weren't mutual, if that makes sense? Yeah Cam forgets her every day, but that got very old! We didn't get to see HIM pine or hurt.
Noelle's ex bf past that was supposed to be the reason she didn't open up her heart...was a shaky/shallow back story that didn't have me rooting for her happiness. Like ok she had a normal breakup!? The author didn't go far enough in building her romantic back story, and thus, the stakes felt run of the mill, I didn't hurt for her!

Post from the Time Loops & Meet Cutes forum

mishmash

Thoughts from 50%

feeling mixed so far! this story is not exactly moving forward much. Also had to note that all of Cams pov sections are soooo devoid of personality! still pretty cute so far, but waiting for things to pick up PLEASE! m

mishmash started reading...

Time Loops & Meet Cutes

Jackie Lau

The “masterful, inspiring, and full of heart” (Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author) Jackie Lau returns with a thoroughly unique love story about a woman reliving the same Friday over and over again—and the intriguing man who can’t quite remember her. Noelle Tom really shouldn’t have eaten those dumplings at the night market. But the old lady at the stall said they’d give her what she needed most, and what Noelle desperately needed after another long workweek was food. Except now she’s reliving the same Friday over and over. Every morning her alarm goes off at 6:45 no matter what, the Wordle answer is always “happy,” and she watches a silly squirrel video go viral day after day. And no matter how much she works on the same proposal, it’s always erased when she wakes up. It seems Monday will never come in this workaholic’s worst nightmare. Noelle has no idea how being trapped in a time loop is the “thing she needed most,” especially now that everything seems meaningless. Sure, three fancy meals in a row is a fun treat, but it’s getting repetitive. Noelle’s not sure what lesson the old lady was trying to impart. Even a trip to the dumpling stall doesn’t help…because there’s no sign of it. But then she meets a young woman who also ate the dumplings, and good-looking Cam, who appears in multiple places on her Friday. While he seems to have no memory of their encounters, there are signs he might be the key to getting un-stuck. But Noelle will have to put work aside and live a little in order to make him notice her. As their flirtation progresses, Noelle begins to worry that if she ever gets to turn the calendar page, Cam won’t know who she is and her life may never return to what it was before that fateful Friday…

mishmash finished a book

Black and Silver

Gwendolyn Harper

Ivy Saint James was desperate.Despite being a powerful Witch in Dublin's magical community, her talents could only do so much in healing her sister from a horrible illness. Running out of options, she finds herself on the doorstep of a notorious Infernal - an Incubus by the name of Silas Grey - and makes a deal with the gorgeous demon.If he saves her sister, he can have her magic at his beck and call.Except Silas isn't only interested in her supernatural skillset...He wants her.He agrees to her bargain on one condition - that she becomes the Incubus Pleasure Dom's primary food source.And it's hotter than hell's flames.Will selling herself to a devil be too much for Ivy to handle?Or will she learn to embrace her own shadows?(This is an adult romance novel with sexually explicit scenes and darker themes meant for readers 18 years and older. Content warnings are found at the beginning of this book. Please use your own discretion to decide if this book is for you.)

mishmash finished a book

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping

Sangu Mandanna

An enchanting novel about a witch who has a second chance to get her magical powers—and her life—back on track, from the national bestselling author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches . Sera Swan was once one of the most powerful witches in Britain. Then she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine from the (very recently) dead, lost most of her magic, befriended a semi-villainous talking fox, and was exiled from her magical Guild. Now she ( slightly reluctantly and just a bit grumpily) helps Aunt Jasmine run an inn in Lancashire, where she deals with her quirky guests' shenanigans, tries to keep the talking fox in check, and longs for the magical future she lost. When she learns about an old spellbook that holds the secret to restoring her power, she turns to Luke Larsen, a gorgeous historian who might just be able to help her unlock the book’s mysteries. Luke, who has his own reasons for staying at the inn, never planned on getting involved in the madcap goings-on around him and certainly had no intention of letting certain grumpy innkeepers past his icy walls, so no one is more surprised than he is when he not only agrees to help, but also finds himself thawing . Running an inn, reclaiming lost magic, and staying one step ahead of the watchful Guild is a lot for anyone, but Sera is about to discover that she doesn’t have to do it alone... and that the weird, wonderful family she’s made might be the best magic of all.

mishmash finished a book

The Love Haters

Katherine Center

It’s a thin line between love and love-hating. Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West. The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim—but fakes it that she can. Plus: Cole is Hutch’s brother. And they don’t get along. Next stop paradise! But paradise is messier than it seems. As Katie gets entangled with Hutch (the most scientifically good looking man she has ever seen . . . but also a bit of a love hater), along with his colorful Aunt Rue and his rescue Great Dane, she gets trapped in a lie. Or two. Swim lessons, helicopter flights, conga lines, drinking contests, hurricanes, and stolen kisses ensue—along with chances to tell the truth, to face old fears, and to be truly brave at last.

mishmash finished a book

Mate (Bride, #2)

Ali Hazelwood

A Human hybrid and an Alpha Were claw against the bonds of fate in the highly anticipated companion novel to the New York Times bestselling Bride. Serena Paris is orphaned, pack-less, and one of a kind. Coming forward as the first Human-Were hybrid was supposed to heal a centuries-long rift between species. Instead, it made her a target, prey to the ruthless political machinations between Weres, Vampyres, and Humans. With her enemies closing in on her, she has only one option left—if he’ll have her. As Alpha of the Northwest pack, Koen Alexander commands obedience. His authority is so absolute, only a fool would threaten his mate. It doesn’t matter if Serena doesn’t reciprocate his feelings, nothing will stop him from keeping her safe. But power-hungry Vampyres and Weres are not the only threats chasing Serena. Sooner or later, her past is bound to catch up with her—and Koen might be the only thing standing between her and total annihilation…

mishmash finished a book

Isola

Allegra Goodman

An unforgettable epic saga of a French noblewoman deserted on an island where her survival will depend on the power of her faith and love—from the New York Times bestselling author of Sam.Heir to a chateau with its own village and lands, Marguerite is destined for a life of prosperity and gentility. Then she is orphaned, and Jean Francois de la Rocque de Roberval—an enigmatic and volatile older man Marguerite has never met—becomes her guardian, controlling her future. He sells her property to pay his debts, leaving her destitute, and insists she accompany him on an expedition to New France. Isolated and afraid, Marguerite befriends Roberval’s servant and the two begin meeting secretly aboard the ship, drawn together by an intense attraction. But when Roberval discovers Marguerite’s deception, his rage is all-consuming. As punishment, he maroons her and her lover on a small island, condemning them to certain death.Once a child of privilege who dressed in gowns and laced pearls in her hair, Marguerite is now at the mercy of the elements. Without food or shelter, she must learn to hunt and live in a cave. As the weather turns, blanketing the island in ice, survival becomes nearly impossible. Marguerite despairs; has everyone and everything she once held dear abandoned her?A riveting portrait inspired by the real life of a sixteenth-century heroine, and a gorgeous celebration of the power of the natural world, Isola is the timeless story of a woman realizing her true strength.

mishmash finished a book

Catalina

Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

A year in the life of the unforgettable Catalina Ituralde, a wickedly wry and heartbreakingly vulnerable student at an elite college, forced to navigate an opaque past, an uncertain future, tragedies on two continents, and the tantalizing possibilities of love and freedom When Catalina is admitted to Harvard, it feels like the fulfillment of destiny: a miracle child escapes death in Latin America, moves to Queens to be raised by her undocumented grandparents, and becomes one of the chosen. But nothing is simple for Catalina, least of all her complicated, contradictory, ruthlessly probing mind. Now a senior, she faces graduation to a world with no place for the undocumented. Her sense of doom intensifies her curiosities and desires. She infiltrates the school’s elite subcultures—internships and literary journals, posh parties, and secret societies—which she observes with the eye of an anthropologist and an interloper’s skepticism: She is both fascinated and repulsed. Craving a great romance, Catalina finds herself drawn to a fellow student, an actual budding anthropologist eager to teach her about the Latin American world she was born into but never knew, even as her life back in Queens begins to unravel. And every day, the clock ticks closer to the abyss of life after graduation. Can she save her family? Can she save herself? What does it mean to be saved?

mishmash finished reading and wrote a review...

The Witchwood Knot (Victorian Faerie Tales, #1)

mishmash

Sep 12, 2025

4.0

Enjoyment: 4.5Quality: 4.0Characters: 4.5Plot: 3.5

I like Olivia Atwater a lot. Two half souls was GREAT, and such a lovely light romance too. Similarly, I got behind the light romance in this book too - we have our heroine who is smart, stubborn, has a painful past, and our grumpy butler who's actually a sweetie. The only problem with this book was I got really confused by the mechanics of this "knot" vs. fairyland. Lol, It was REALLY hard for me to visualize and understand the main conflict. At least it worked out?

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500 points

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pickingflowers

Thoughts from 15%

spoilers

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mishmash finished reading and wrote a review...

mishmash

Sep 12, 2025

3.5

Enjoyment: 3.5Quality: 3.0Characters: 3.0Plot: 4.0

Hmm. You'd think that a mystery/thriller centered around a home for unwed ladies would have really strong friendships/strong female characters. Instead, those bonds were WEAK. FICKLE. But not in an interesting Brilliant Friend way. Each character had super unclear motivations. Like, was May a good friend? Why did the purple dress girl like May so much?

This book could've shined with strong personalities and relationships, but instead it was just an OK mystery with OK characters and OK plot. Sorry!

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