Saturday, January 11, 2025

Review: Puck and Prejudice by Lia Riley

Puck and Prejudice by Lia Riley
Publisher: Avon
Genre: Time Travel Romance 
Puck and Prejudice cover
ISBN: 9780063412323
Source: Publisher
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Audible

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a modern single man in possession of a hockey jersey may be exactly what a Regency woman needs to avoid the shackles of marriage... Goalie for the Austin Regals, Tucker Taylor is benched due to health issues. So he decides to visit his sister in England. But an accidental plunge into an icy pond thrusts him back to 1812 where he comes face to face with a captivating blue-eyed woman who regards him as if he’s grown two heads.

Lizzy Wooddash dreams of a life surrounded by books, engaging conversation, the presence of literary icons like Jane Austen, and... nary a husband in sight. But in Regency England, only widows like her cousin Georgie enjoy freedom and solitary pursuits, unencumbered by expectations. The only way to quickly become a widow is by marrying a dying man or killing a perfectly healthy one, neither of which Lizzy desires.

A visitor from the future might just be the husband of her dreams. Once married, they can figure out how to return Tucker to his proper time, and his absence—aka death—will make Lizzy the widow she always dreamed of becoming. Yet as sparks ignite, they soon realize that matters of the heart rarely adhere to carefully laid plans. Can their love stand the test of time, or will Lizzy get exactly what she wanted...as well as a broken heart?

It is a truth acknowledged within my own circle that if you put a Jane Austen reference in a book title or summary that I am likely to pick said book up. I’m also a fan of hockey, so between Puck and Prejudice featuring a time-traveling hockey player and Lia Riley creating a heroine who is pals with Jane Austen, there was little doubt that this would land itself in my reading pile.

Lizzy Wooddash dreams of freedom, of writing, and of not being bound by her family’s desires for her. Which is why when a confused man in strange garb shows up, lost, confused, and in need of help, the perfect solution to all of Lizzy’s problems lies with him. After battling cancer, Tucker Taylor has been benched from the Austin Regals until his doctor clears him to play. While visiting his sister in England, Tucker gets in a car accident and finds himself in 1812. What’s a man who couldn’t tell Austin from Brontë to do? Accept the help of a trio of women who not only believe him, but are determined to assist him to find a way back. In return, Tucker is all-too-happy to marry Lizzy so that she can be “widowed” to gain freedom when he finds his way home. It’s the perfect plan, except neither Lizzy nor Tucker expect to fall for each other.

Puck and Prejudice starts off slow but finds its footing as Lizzy and Tucker begin to fall in love. The story is cute and while you may have to suspend more disbelief than usual for this book, it’s entertaining enough. I liked the characters and the romance was sweet, with Lizzy and Tucker fitting each other well. That being said, the time travel bits were not as well thought-out as they could have been. I finished the book with more questions than I would have liked and there were some plot holes that left me a bit annoyed. And while I liked it when things started moving for the romance, it did feel a bit shallow.

If you’re a Janeite, there are plenty of references to Austen’s work that don’t really play a role but are cute nonetheless. If you’re not familiar with Austen’s work, missing out on those elements won’t detract from the story as it’s all very shallow and fleeting (including Jane’s presence). Overall, this was an OK story. It was entertaining enough to pass the time with and there was nothing wrong with it, but it didn’t grab my attention the way I would have liked.



FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Best Books of 2024

2025 is here and I'm so excited by all the possibilities this new year will bring. But before I dive into a year of wonderful new reads and re-reads, it's time to look back at my 2024 year in books. In 2024 I read 75 books, including a few re-reads that I fell in love with all over again. I tried 19 debut or new-to-me authors and discovered some wonderful authors whose backlists I cannot wait to dive into. And finally, I participated in my fifteenth A to Z Reading Challenge, a fun challenge that usually leads me to at least a couple of books I might not have moved to the top of my TBR pile otherwise.

I'm doing things a bit differently this year and am splitting my top reads of 2024 into two categories: Best Books of 2024 (Published in 2024) and Best Books of 2024 (Published in years prior). All of the books on this list were first-time reads because otherwise Jane Austen would just have a permanent spot on my year-end list. The books are alphabetized by author, otherwise I'd be here until 2026 trying to determine the order to put them in.


Wit and Sin's Best Books of 2024

Best Books of 2024 (Published in 2024)


Last Call at the Local cover
1. Last Call at the Local (Love, Lists & Fancy Ships, Book 3) by Sarah Grunder Ruiz
Genre: Contemporary Romance
My Review

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Make the Season Bright cover
2. Make the Season Bright by Ashley Herring Blake
Genre: Contemporary Romance
My Review

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Best Books of 2024 (Published in years prior)


The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal cover
1. The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal by KJ Charles
Genre: Historical Paranormal Mystery/Romance

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Delilah Green Doesn't Care cover
2. Delilah Green Doesn't Care (Bright Falls, Book 1) by Ashley Herring Blake
Genre: Contemporary Romance

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Books I've Read in 2025

For the past fifteen(!) years I've kept track of the books I read and it's been quite a fun project. I read so much that everything tends to blend together in my mental library and it's fun to look back and see what I've I've read, loved, and want to re-read (and - on the rare occasion - want to avoid). Plus, it's great to share and compare lists with other book bloggers.

This list is only of books and novellas I've read and finished (though if I read an entire anthology, I list only the anthology title). The books are listed in the order I read them and if I write a review for a book I link it here as well.

There are sure to be many wonderful stories on the list, but the ones with a ** by them are ones I highly recommend.

1. Puck and Prejudice by Lia Riley
2. Aunt Dimity’s Death (Aunt Dimity Mystery, Book 1) by Nancy Atherton

2025 New (to me) Author Challenge

I've done this challenge for the past fourteen years and discovered some amazing authors along the way (not hard to believe since I've read 699 debut/new-to-me authors in that time). It's fun for me to look back on these lists, especially when I see authors who are now auto-buys for me.


The Challenge: Read 10 or more books this year by authors you’ve never read before.
Dates: January 1, 2025 - December 31, 2025

My list:

1. Author: Lia Riley
Title: Puck and Prejudice

2. Author: Nancy Atherton
Title: Aunt Dimity’s Death (Aunt Dimity Mystery, Book 1)

2025 A to Z Reading Challenge

I've had a blast doing this challenge for the past few years and I can't resist doing it again. I've discovered a few now-favorite books I might not have otherwise noticed because of this challenge :)

Challenge details:
- Duration: January 1, 2025 - December 31, 2025
- Read 26 books which titles begin with the letters of the alphabet.
- You may ignore articles like A, An and The at the beginning of the title.
- For the letter X, any book title with the letter X in it is acceptable if you can't find one that begins with X.
- Please only list books you have read. You can read them in any order.
- A book only counts once, so you can include a re-read the first time you read it.


My List:
Aunt Dimity’s Death by Nancy Atherton – 1/10/25
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
Puck and Prejudice by Lia Riley – 1/8/25
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Sunday, December 29, 2024

Review: Shattering Dawn by Jayne Ann Krentz

Shattering Dawn by Jayne Ann Krentz
Series: The Lost Night Files, Book 3
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: Paranormal Romantic Suspense 
Shattering Dawn cover
ISBN: ‎ 9780593639917
Release Date: January 7, 2025
Source: Publisher
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Audible

Amelia Rivers, a member of the Lost Night Files podcast team, hires private investigator Gideon Sweetwater to catch the stalker who has been watching her. Amelia suspects the stalker may be connected to the shadowy organization responsible for the night that she and her two friends lost to amnesia—a night that upended their lives and left them with paranormal talents.

Gideon suspects that Amelia is either paranoid or an outright con artist, but he can’t resist the chemistry between them. He takes the case despite his skepticism. For her part, Amelia has second thoughts about the wisdom of employing the mysterious Mr. Sweetwater. She is wary of the powerful attraction between them, and deeply uneasy about the nightmarish paintings on the walls of his home. She senses they were inspired by his own dreamscapes.

Amelia knows she doesn’t have time to find another investigator, and Gideon is forced to reckon with the truth when he disrupts what was intended to be Amelia’s kidnapping. Now the pair is on the run, with no choice but to return to the haunting ruins of the old hotel where Amelia’s lost night occurred. They are desperate to stop a killer and the people who are conducting illegal experiments with a dangerous drug that is designed to enhance psychic abilities. If they are to survive, they will have to trust each other and the passion that bonds them.

The final book in the Lost Night Files trilogy brings the answers Amelia, Pallas, and Talia have been looking for. Shattering Dawn is an entertaining, action-packed read that brought the trilogy to a mostly-satisfying close.

As with the previous two couples, Amelia and Gideon’s supernatural abilities match each other like lock and key. Amelia is a photographer whose paranormal skills work best in the dark and Gideon is an injured private investigator who is skeptical but interested in the tale Amelia brings him. His own skills are lethal and keep him from wanting to get close to anyone, but he and Amelia are of course, well suited. Their romance is easy to enjoy and they have a good rhythm that makes the pages of the book fly by.

At the heart of the story, however, is the search for answers. What happened to Amelia and her friends during their “lost night”? Who is responsible and what are they up to? To find answers, Amelia and Gideon are going to have to use all their skills and dodge supernatural-powered assassins. Jayne Ann Krentz keeps the action going for the whole story which made it an entertaining read. However, the resolution wasn’t completely satisfying for me. I won’t spoil the story, but at times it felt like Krentz was more interested in connecting and expanding her “Jayneverse” (connecting her Krentz, Jayne Castle, and Amanda Quick books together) than bringing the particular series she was in to a satisfying close. Even with that caveat, I still liked the book overall. Shattering Dawn has entertaining characters, a fast-moving plot, and is typical of Krentz’s style, which I do enjoy.



FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Review: How to Help a Hungry Werewolf by Charlotte Stein

How to Help a Hungry Werewolf by Charlotte Stein
Series: The Sanctuary for Supernatural Creatures, Book 1
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Genre: Paranormal Romance 
How to Help a Hungry Werewolf cover
ISBN: 9781250352330
Source: Publisher
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Audible

When Cassandra Camberwell returns to her hometown of Hollow Brook to clear out her late grandmother’s ramshackle old house, the last thing she expects is Seth Brubaker on her doorstep. Her former best friend was responsible for the worst moment of her high school life, and she can’t imagine he wants to do anything but torment her all over again.

Until she unearths the real reason this annoyingly gorgeous beast of a man keeps hanging around: he’s an actual werewolf, who’s certain she’s the witch that will ease his suffering. But Cassie just isn’t sure if she can trust him again. So Seth offers a pact: he’ll teach her all about her undiscovered magic, and she will brew the potions he needs. No feelings, no funny business, just a witch and a werewolf striking a deal.

Totally doable. Until they get hit with a do-or-die mating bond. And now the heat is rising, in between fights with formers bullies and encounters with talking raccoons. They just have to not give in. Unless giving in just might be the very thing they never knew they always wanted.

It has been over a decade since Cassie Camberwell has seen former best friend Seth Brubaker – not since he embarrassed her in front of everyone in town and sided with the bullies that had always tormented them. Now Cassie is back in Hollow Brook to handle her late grandmother’s home and who should appear but Seth. Seth who is in worse shape than Cassie had expected to ever see him in…and that’s before he transforms into a werewolf. A world of magic opens up before Cassie and she discovers she’s a witch…which is only the beginning of the possibilities and problems that lay ahead of her.

How to Help a Hungry Werewolf is billed as What We Do in the Shadows meets the feeling of Gilmore Girls and it’s neither of those. Charlotte Stein’s first Sanctuary for Supernatural Creatures book had a lot of potential but was an absolute miss for me.

Let’s start with our protagonists: Cassie and Seth. They are over a decade out of high school and honestly, this book would have been better if it was written as a young adult book because they still act like teenagers. They’re both immature and I think what was supposed to be humorous banter was just cringy and awkward. The romance was painfully awkward and full of so much back and forth that I put the book down numerous times. I’m not going keep going on about it, so suffice it to say I didn’t enjoy any aspect of the characters and their semi-development, nor did I enjoy the romance.

The supernatural world of How to Help a Hungry Werewolf is where the story had the most potential. The sentient appliances and Pod, Cassie’s raccoon familiar, were the highlight of the book. However, what should have been a wonderful world of magic and discovery felt inorganic and flat. There’s a way to write a main character who discovers they have innate abilities, to show that things come naturally to them in a way that feels organic. How Cassie’s magical abilities were described felt like lazy writing. It took me three months to read this book because I kept getting annoyed by the writing. Overall, I just could not bring myself to like anything about Cassie and Seth’s story (except, perhaps, Pod). The intended humor missed me by a mile, but your mileage may vary. How to Help a Hungry Werewolf simply isn’t the book for me and I won’t be continuing the series.



FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.