Category Archives: Sunday Loves

That’s a Wrap!

Posted on December 30, 2024 by AmyB

Each year, I try to create a reading challenge that’s fun and challenging but also realistic, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. I’ve read over 285 books for this challenge, 71 of which have sat on my Kindle for far too long. I’ve discovered a lot of new authors and exciting books in 2024 and can not wait to see what next year’s challenge will bring.

Here are the books that made my 2024 Reading Challenge a success:

CategoryBook
A book by an author who is new to meYour Hand in Mine by Lily Foster
Contemporary RomanceDoes He Know by Kaylee Ryan
Biker RomanceCaution to the Wind by Giana Darling
Paranormal/fantasyAnchor of Secrets by Tessa Hale
Sports RomanceWatch Your Mouth by Kandi Steiner
Romantic ComedyMr. Big Shot by R.S. Grey
Accidental Pregnancy RomanceGame Changer by Stacey Lynn
Older Brother’s Best FriendTell Me What You Want by Lucia Franco
A Holiday RomanceFalling for the Grinch by Amy Alves
Forbidden RomanceI Wish I Would’ve Chosen You by Whitney G.
Billionaire RomanceThe Playboy by Marni Mann
Jilted brideAdvice From a Jilted Bride by Piper Rayne
Workplace RomanceFilthy Lawyer by Whitney G.
Fake relationshipReputation by Jenna Hartley
Marriage of ConvenienceIrresistibly Dangerous by J. Saman
Rock Star RomanceTimes Like These by Julia Wolf
Dark/Taboo RomanceFive Brothers by Penelope Douglas
Mafia RomanceLethal Vows by Kia Carrington-Russell & T.L. Smith
Forced ProximityBlack Ties and White Lies by Kat Singleton
Historical RomanceThe Outlaw Nobel Salt by Amy Harmon
An Enemies to Lovers RomanceDevious Vows by Jagger Cole
Age Gap RomanceEleven Eleven by Micalea Smeltzer
Friends to Lovers RomanceReckless Abandon by Ashley Cade
Diverse RomanceNot By Sight by Kay Lyons
Small Town RomanceClaim Me Forever by AL Jackson
A book where one of the main characters is a First ResponderCaught in the Flames by Kacey Shea
Second Chance RomanceThe Edge of Forever by J. Saman
Dystopian/Science Fiction RomanceHomestead by Claire Kent
A Grumpy/Sunshine RomanceMore Than I Could by Adrianna Locke
Morally Gray HeroReckless Hearts by Jagger Cole
Redemption RomanceRedemption Road by Katie Ashley
Fated Mates RomanceLegacy of Shadows by Tessa Hale
Single Parent RomanceI Wish You Were Mine by Jessica Peterson
Insta-loveReckless Love by Hannah McBride
Royal RomanceSeducing the Princess by Diane Alberts
A Fighter/MMA BookSweet Victory by Gina Maxwell
Bearded Man On CoverBuilt to Fall by Julia Wolf
Bad Boy RomanceBrutal Obsession by S. Massery
Gothic RomancePhantasma by Kaylie Smith
Favorite TropeWhere We Belong by Ashely Munoz
A book everyone is talking aboutButcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver
A book chosen for its coverThe Silence of Monsters by Jay Crownover
A book with a one-word titleBlitz by Devney Perry
A book with a setting in a different country than where you liveThrough the Glen by Samantha Young
A book with no people on the cover.The Wren in the Holly Library by K.A. Linde
A book where one of the main characters is/was in the militaryHealing Touch by Brenda Rothert
A Book with PiratesThe Ever King by LJ Andrews
A Book with a number in the titleIn Five Years by Rebecca Serle
A Debut NovelEverything We Never Said by Sloan Halow
A Book that won an awardDragon Bound by Thea Harrison
A book with less than 1000 ratings on GoodreadsStriking Distance by LK Shaw
4 Books on my TBRVacancy by Linda Kage
I Wish We Had Forever by Jessica Peterson
Foretold by Chantel Fernando
Little Dove by Layla Frost
4 New ReleasesSweet Collide by Ava Harrison
A Vengeful Occasion by Kristy Marie
Pulse by Adirana Locke
I Thought of You by Jewel E. Ann
A book with a Red CoverUnrequited by Julia Wolf
A book with a Pink CoverThe Virgin Next Door by Lauren Blakely
A book with a Blue CoverFalling for Gage by Mia Sheridan
A book with a White CoverA Fighting Chance by Kat Savage
A book with a Black CoverForewarned by Chantal Fernando
A book with a Yellow CoverThe Dead Guy Next Door by Lucy Score
A book with a Purple CoverSmitten by the Best Man by Piper Rayne
Summer: A Book with a Summer SceneThis Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune
Fall: A book with a fall themed coverWitch of Wild Things by Raquel Vasquez Gilliand
Winter: A Book that takes place in winterNot Just a Crush by Helena Hunting
Spring: A Book that releases in springDead to Rights by Jessica Prince
A foodie bookTill There Was You by Lindsay Hameroff

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Posted in Adult, Age Gap, Biker, Billionaire, Bully, Chick-lit, Christmas!, Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary Romance, Dark Romance, Debut Novel, Diverse Romance, Dystopian, Enemies to Lovers, Fairytales, Fantasy, Forbidden Romance, Forced Proximity, Grumpy Sunshine, Historical Romance, Mafia, Marriage of Convenience, Morally Gray Hero, NA, Paranormal Romance, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Suspense, Second Chance, Small-Town, Sports Romance, Sunday Loves, Urban Fantasy and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Sunday Loves – 13.07.2014

Posted on July 13, 2014 by charmouabb

How’s your True Blood watching going?

Episode 4 preview…

Our True Blood nights seem to be flying by. We’re already staring down the barrel of episode 4?!!!! Extra depressing since this final season is only 10 episodes long. Anyway I thought I’d take a quick minute to discuss the happenings…

WARNING IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED THE FIRST 3 TB EPISODES DO NOT READ ON!!!

I’M SERIOUS! DON’T READ ON!

FINAL WARNING!

….

Ok, firstly… BOOOOOO!!!!! Why did they kill off Alcide! I care about him as a character a lot more than I care about characters like Lettie Mae (Tara’s mum) and even worse than the fact he was killed off, why did they kill him off in such a non-scene. It seemed a wee bit of an anti-anything to have him shot in a passing camera angle. His character definitely deserved something more. If you’re going to kill off a character like that then do it with some effort. Tara was also killed off in a non-way (her death didn’t even get camera time except for the before and after) But that I could live with, it was a different way to approach it. Now after adding Alcide to the non-event death it just seems a wee bit bitter. Lets hope more characters don’t get added to the body count… Also, I would like to note… Like Kristal and I discussed, as IF Alcide and Bill wouldn’t have heard the shooter in the trees. Ridiculous.

This brings me to Sookie and Bill, Alcide is out of the picture now, seemingly so is Eric (more on that soon) So now suddenly Sookie and Bill are having deep and meaningful conversations about life and love? And conveniently he’s ‘not the same vampire who did terrible things to her’ since he was drained last season? If this is a play to have these two end up together I am unimpressed.

Now to the next issue. Eric. I’m sure you all were hoping Eric would be back after last seasons events…

 

Good news is that he is back. Bad news is, seriously they’ve given him Hep V?! And for some reason that’s turned him into some wuss of a vampire that’s just laying around waiting to die? That is not the Eric that has been portrayed right through this series. Not at all. So not only do I feel a bit miffed that he’s got whatever that zombie vampire illness is, but I now have to put up with him being a shadow of his former character. Come on, us viewers need a little smidge of good to get us through the last ever season!

And who the heck had even heard of this ‘Sylvie’ before episode 3’s flashback scenes. I’m not buying it.

I’ve decided to finish on a good note, with the things/characters that have Kristal and I enjoying TB… Lafayette. Honestly, love this character. Always have, he’s just freaking awesome. Jason Stackhouse. Hilarious, love that he keeps the humor ticking over that this show needs. (especially this season) Also his eye-candy appeal is not hurting either. Pam!!! Who doesn’t love Pam. I wish that she was getting way more screen time this year so I’m hoping we start to see more of her soon. And finally, Kristal and I both agree that it’s so good to have the story based back in Bon Temps. The last few seasons have seemed like they’ve been everywhere BUT Bon Temps, so we’re loving it.

So we haven’t quite decided where this is going yet… we do have a few ideas. A few hopes and a few fears. Luckily a lot can change in the last 7 episodes… otherwise, could we possibly be looking at the apocalypse? I’d love to hear your thoughts. What are you loving? What are you not?

 

 

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Sunday Loves – 06.07.2014

Posted on July 7, 2014 by charmouabb

My Sunday love this week is dedicated to the very awesome Moonrise Book Blog who are celebrating their 1 year anniversary with all sorts of good things going on! One huge reason that Kristal and I started this blog was to chat and interact with like minded people about books, reading and randomness. So being asked to join in with events like these is so awesome for us.

Please take a moment and pop over and visit Moonrise and check out her posts and enter her competition… It’s very worth it!

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Sunday Loves 29.06.2014

Posted on June 29, 2014 by charmouabb

Ah, I’m just writing randomness for Sunday Loves this week. Think of it as a miniature collection of entertainment type loves from the past week….

1.

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22 JUMP STREET – I don’t think I was a mega Channing Tatum fan…however after seeing 22 Jump Street I feel like maybe I am ONLY a Channing Tatum fan?!!! Oh and Jonah Hill! Those two are just absolutely EVERYTHING together on screen. Seriously, if you haven’t checked it out and you need to laugh for 120 minutes then go and see this movie!

2.

AMAZING READING THIS WEEK  – Neanderthal Marries Human is still whizzing around in my mind. I LOVED this book! So nice to read something that just makes you smile… And luckily for me it seems to have just been the start of hopefully a very long amazing book run because I’m currently 1/3 of the way through Shadow of Night (All Souls 2) and am loving it, just as I loved the first. These are long books so I may be MIA for a few nights but I’ll definitely be filling you all in…

3.

TRUE BLOOD – My BBH already re-capped the first episode so I wont repeat that. I’m just excited it’s finally started up! So I’ll quickly and efficiently note down my important points…

  • OMG THERE IS HOPE FOR ERIC!?!
  • EW, zombie vampires!
  • Did you all notice that Jessica’s boyf James is not the same? Google it. I honestly feel if you’re going to sign up to a show like True Blood as an actor, then you should expect all possibilities.
  • Pam is BADASS
  • Oh and. Sheesh! Tara. What an end!

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Sunday Loves – 22.06.2014

Posted on June 22, 2014 by charmouabb

So last week I finally had a reason to make a brownie recipe that I’ve had written down for literally years. But have never made. And HOLY MOLY I can still taste the goodness. So I’m sharing my recipe for my Sunday Loves this week. It’s the first episode of TB in a couple of sleeps so maybe you might want to cook this bad boy up and have it on hand juuuuust in case Eric doesn’t make an appearance… pretty sure that’s my/our plan!

Oh and btw this recipe does come with a warning: It is extremely extremely decadent. So when it says cut into small squares you literally want tiny small squares. I know this from experience since last week I decided to taste test the brownie before Kindy pickup… It wasn’t a good look me showing up with a chocolate hangover! Totally worth it though.

 

Choc Cheesecake Brownie!!!

Pure indulgent deliciousness...

Pure indulgent deliciousness…

INGREDIENTS:

BROWNIE:

150g butter, melted and slightly cooled

1/2 cup cocoa

3 eggs, room temperature

11/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 cup flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup dark chocolate chipes

TOPPING:

250g cream cheese, softened

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

 

METHOD:

  • Preheat the oven to 170C. Line an 18cmX28cm tin with baking paper.

  • To make the topping, beat the cream cheese, egg and sugar together until fluffy. Add the vanilla essence and beat again until combined. Set aside.

  • To make the brownie, pour the melted butter into a large bowl and sift over the cocoa. Whisk together until combined. Add the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence. Whisk vigorously for about 30 seconds until the mixture becomes creamy and slightly paler in colour.

  • Sift over the flour and baking powder. Use a spatula to combine gently. Fold in the chocolate chips.

  • Spoon half the brownie mixture into the base of the prepared tin, smoothing it out with the back of a spoon. Place dollops of the topping over the brownie, then fill in the gaps with the remaining brownie mixture.

  • Use the point of a knife or a chopstick to zigzag through the brownie and swirl the two mixtures together.

  • Bake for about 45 minutes until the brownie is pulling away from the sides of the pan and is not wobbly in the centre. Cool in the pan and cut into small squares to serve. KEEP REFRIGERATED.

 

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Sunday Loves 15.06.2014

Posted on June 15, 2014 by charmouabb

Sunday Sunday Sunday!!!

It’s Sunday already! This week I’m just going to do a quick round up of our book lives/lives! We’ve had a busy week here at OUBB, my BBH is still without internet and my family and I are mostly recovered from illness and slowly catching up on sleep (thank goodness!) My husband is currently at the movies (no Tom Cruise for me thank you very much!) and I’m already in bed, about to try and finish my scary ghost book (Eeep! Kristal will be hearing about this tonight I can tell) so I can get going on my new author obsession Penny Reid’s newest book: Neanderthal Marries Human. Beyond excited for this one.

I have a review to put up for The Girl with all the Gifts…ZOMBIE book. I kid you not, we all know how I feel about zombies… I finished it over a week ago but I’ve been too freaked out to write a review for it yet! Actually, I really have had the worst luck with books that are too scary for me lately, I think I need to pull back into my comfort zone for a bit to calm down! If anyone has any really great lighter reads please send suggestions my way. My TBR list is out of control, but I like mixing it up with spur of the moment choices so feel free to help me out!

I know that Kristal has some great reviews to put up once she is reunited with the internet (!!!) She’s been reading a story with a different take on Alice in Wonderland, from what she’s told me I’m so intrigued I can’t wait to read her review! And since she reads roughly 5 million books a week no doubt she has many more reviews to come as well. So no rest for the wicked here, I better get back to my Kindle, he’s starting to look like he’s missing me…

 

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Sunday Loves – 08.06.2014

Posted on June 8, 2014 by charmouabb

More True Blood goodness…

Yes, I know… MORE True Blood posts. But it’s June now which means we are on the countdown to the first episode of the LAST season! So in a few short weeks my BBH and I will be settling in to start watching/eating…

Kristal and I...

Kristal and I…

So Last week Trailer #2 was released for the upcoming season, many of you guys have probably already seen it but in case you haven’t….

My only issue, (apart from the vampire zombie thing, we all know how I feel about that…Ahem…) is once again where the EFF is ERIC!!! True Blood you better not mess with us, he better be coming back!

Eric Northman AKA Future Ex Husband #2

Eric Northman AKA Future Ex Husband #2

Swoooonnnnnn…….

So take this as a warning… there will be much more TB discussion here at OUBB… It’s just that time of year!

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Sunday Loves – 01.06.2014

Posted on June 1, 2014 by charmouabb

So here’s a fan-girl moment for you all… Jack White and I have a long history together… He makes music and I listen to/love his music. I have all of his albums from all of his bands which of course include the very amazing White Stripes. He has a new solo album due out June 10th. WHICH IS 10 DAYS TIME PEOPLE!!! I cannot tell you how much I am dying for Lazaretto to be released. I’ve heard bits and pieces of songs over the last couple of months and it’s sounding good. Like really good.

My amazing photography skills Sydney 2012

My amazing photography skills Sydney 2012

His last album was Blunderbuss, released in 2012. I made my husband venture to Sydney, Australia to catch him in concert. I was deathly sick with a seriously horrendous throat infection (which upon landing back in NZ I ended up in A&E for) that hit as soon as we landed in AUS, but no way was I missing that concert. So after spending all day dying in our hotel room I dosed myself full of painkillers and went to one of the best concerts of my life. This man knows how to pull every ounce of life out of his music, and even more so when you watch him live. It was one of those concerts you go to and you just want to relive it and relive it. Amazing.

So you can be guaranteed that if he ventures even close to us here in NZ for his current tour I will be going (and I will be posting about it!) For now though, here is the latest released track from the album…

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Sunday Loves – 25.05.2014

Posted on May 25, 2014 by charmouabb

Charley Davidson love!

 

Tonight my BBH and I are starting our buddy read of the sixth Charley Davidson book, Sixth Grave on the Edge by Darynda Jones. To say we’re excited is possibly a big fat understatement. So, with this in mind (and with the fact I am DYING to get reading!) I am dedicating tonight’s Sunday love to our favourite Grim Reaper…

Here’s the blurb for First Grave on the Right… (Goodreads) This should give you a taste of the amazingness to come…

 

This whole grim reaper thing should have come with a manual.
Or a diagram of some kind.
A flow chart would have been nice.

Charley Davidson is a part-time private investigator and full-time grim reaper. Meaning, she sees dead people. Really. And it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (like murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she’s been having about an entity who has been following her all her life…and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely. But what does he want with Charley? And why can’t she seem to resist him? And what does she have to lose by giving in?

With scorching-hot tension and high-octane humor, First Grave on the Right is your signpost to paranormal suspense of the highest order.

If you like UF or even if you just like a read that will make you laugh, love and be brave then you will seriously LOVE this series. Charley has the perfect amount of hilariousness and attitude to make you wish you were her best buddy. You seriously wont get enough of her… and her penchant for naming inanimate objects. Also, just as a warning… you will absolutely end up with a book boyfriend from this series. He is hotter than hell itself. Swoon. Seriously. Read it. And when you have, swap notes with us!
First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson, Book 1)

By Darynda Jones
Second Grave on the Left (Charley Davidson)

By Darynda Jones
Third Grave Dead Ahead

By Darynda Jones
Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet (Charley Davidson)

By Darynda Jones

 

Oh and just in case you get as hooked as we are… here is the seventh book due out later this year….

 
Seventh Grave and No Body (Charley Davidson)

By Darynda Jones
Fifth Grave Past the Light (Charley Davidson)

By Darynda Jones
Sixth Grave on the Edge (Charley Davidson)

By Darynda Jones

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Sunday Loves – 18.05.2014

Posted on May 18, 2014 by charmouabb

Let the countdown begin…

BUT SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHERE IS ERIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just need some reassurance that he’ll be showing up,,, I’ll even make a bargain, if they bring back Eric then I wont whinge so much about the fact that I’m pretty sure I see zombie-vampires…. Ahem….

More Eric. Less zombies. That is all.

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