We reunite with our beloved Sister Holiday in this second installment of the Sister Holiday Mystery series. After the turmoil of the fires at Saint Sebastian, Sister Holiday finally started settling back in, when on Good Friday the unthinkable happens. This leads Sister Holiday and her rag tag team of found family on a seemingly endless goose chase in the midst of a storm of biblical proportions that is drowning New Orleans.

I truly could not put this down. I was never quite sure who was going to be the culprit at the end. I found myself immersed in the mind of Sister Holiday as she desperately searches for answers about the horrors that are plaguing her home. Throughout Blessed Water, we see the unlikely friendship between Sister Holiday and Riveaux really blossom. Do they trust each other? Absolutely not. Do they have each other’s backs through hell and high water? Without a doubt! I appreciated the emphasis on the importance of female friendship and the power it holds.

Overall, I enjoyed Blessed Water more than I did Scorched Grace. This had much more of a mystery feel than SG did. Sister Holiday is as clumsy and messy as ever throughout the investigation, but she does do a better job. There is still a lot of emphasis on Sister Holiday and her mental state but BW reads like less of a character study and more of a true mystery than SG. I’m looking forward to picking up the third book in the series!

Sister Holiday has found herself as a member of the Sisters of Sublime Blood in New Orleans following a series of devastating life happenings. Sister Holiday is queer, a former punk rocker, and tattooed from her neck to her toes. She swears like a sailor and smokes cigarettes she confiscates from students. When a series of fires threatens her school, church, convent, and community she puts on her amateur sleuthing hat and decides to find the arsonist herself.

I truly enjoyed this book. If you’re looking for a true mystery this probably is not for you. Scorched Grace feels a lot like a coming of age story with an arson spree in the background. I did find that, Sister Holiday, despite her numerous flaws, is so likable and found myself rooting for her despite her missteps. I appreciated the glimpses of her past life that are scattered throughout the book. They really help the reader understand what Sister Holiday’s motivations are/were and why someone so far out of the norm would become a nun. Overall, I found that this was an easy vacation read that fulfilled everything I was looking for. I will be picking up books 2 and 3 from this series as well.

I am a HUGE fan of Pole Position so I had high hopes for First to Finish and I was not disappointed. While it was not a 5 star read like Pole Position, I was still very charmed by the story and characters, especially Caleb. I do find Johannes to be insufferable at some points, but Caleb is just so darn perfect that it makes up for it. I think their dynamic is great, they truly balance one another in every situation.

Something that I really appreciate about Caffery’s story telling and plot building is that the romance in the book truly is the plot, there’s no coming out/sexuality struggle sub plot which is so refreshing. It is so lovely to immerse yourself in a world where being openly queer in the top level of a sport, especially motorsport, is not only normal but also celebrated. Having low angst examples of queer joy is something I wish us 2000s queer kids had.

This has been my first Bryce Oakley book in a looooong time. I’m not really sure why I stopped reaching for her books. From Hell, With Love with PHENOMENAL. The beginning is a little slow, but once you get through it the plot is so clever and cute it’s impossible to put down. Ramona and Zara are HAWT together. A “disaster witch” and a corporate demon, need I say more????? Thank you Bryce for this truly phenomenal cozy read full of found family and self discovery.

I thought Summer Official was really cute! I truly enjoyed that the focus of the book was not Saylor and Heaven’s sexuality, but instead focused on the building of not only their romantic relationship, but their friendship as well. It’s refreshing to read about someone’s sexuality just not being a huge deal.

As a millennial, (old i know, i definitely felt it while reading this book) I did find it hard to 100% relate to Saylor and Heaven, but that being said, I really enjoyed reading about them regardless. It felt nostalgic in a way that only those who have experienced a summer like their’s will understand.

Summer Official screams girlhood, SoCal, and first wlw romance nostalgia. The plot was clever and the adventure was quintessentially LA in the summertime.