Donna's Reading Chair

Book Review: The Day After The Party

Thank you to the Facebook Group I Just Want To Do Book Nerd Stuff With My Friends for selecting this as our book club pick for the month of April! I would have never read this one otherwise!

That being said, this was fairly predictable, with the exception of the twist at the end. Overall the book kind of felt rushed in general. This is the first book I’ve read by Nicole Trope so I’m not sure if this is her style…shorter, faster paced books with less details, or if that was a one off (if you’ve read her before, let me know).

Katelyn loses memory of her birthday party. Her best friend and husband seem to be hiding something from her. Supposedly her memory went missing from traumatic information and she believes her husband has a secret he’s failing to tell her. I did enjoy getting to know the backstory of Katelyn and best friend Leah and if I’m honest, it’s all weird how they’re both connected to Katelyn’s husband as well. Reminded me a little of Vanderpump Rules, haha.

This is told in dual POV with Katelyn and Leah, but in 3rd person, and with how rushed everything kind of was, didn’t really execute well. By the time you get to the end it’s like, wait, that’s it? Surprising, but, that’s it? Also, it doesn’t read like a thriller, more like a domestic drama.

3.5 stars. I’m not mad I read it, but it was just eh. If it falls into your lap, it’s a worth a read, but I wouldn’t seek it out. The ending made me bump it up a half star, so not a terrible book, but not a great one. Just a middle of the road one! Anyway, onto the next read!

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Title: The Day After The Party

Author: Nicole Trope

Genre(s): Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

Publisher: Bookouture

Release Date: October 30, 2023

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: The Love Haters

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for my advance audiobook copy of The Love Haters in exchange for my honest review!

the cover for Katherine Center's book The Love Haters which shows a woman and man laying on pool floats in their bathing suits

This book follows Katie, on a quest to save her job that her coworker Cole says in jeopardy, and travels to Florida where she meets Hutch, and works on a project. Both Katie and Hutch have sworn off love and Hutch happens to be Cole’s brother…so why didn’t Cole take the project?

Katie does video work and on the side does day in the life profiles of people. Cole lets her know her job is on the chopping block and she should also do a day in the life of Hutch, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, who also famously saved Jennifer Aniston’s dog. There’s a lot of history that gets unraveled…trust me.

Katie also has body issues. She once dated a now famous singer and the internet was not kind to her. I didn’t get the picture that she was never that large, so I was annoyed for most of this book. Weight was a constant theme. As someone who has struggled with her own weight, I was just screaming to stop, you aren’t even that big!

It did make me reflect on how I am with my own weight. I’m just like Katie, expect I don’t moan and groan about it daily with my best friend. With Katie’s past love and her body issues, she has sworn off love. Hutch, for reasons unknown to us, has also sworn off love. Do they get flirty? Yes. Does Hutch’s aunt and her friends start to play sly matchmaker? Maybe…and oh do I love them so!

There is a little hurricane drama that spices things ups, along with family drama. This book really has a lot going on that is all connected. What made me absolutely LOVE this one was Center’s note AFTER the book, which delved a little into how we should love ourselves and I had tears. All the annoyance I had felt, my perspective completely changed. Katherine Center, never stop writing your books, you are a once in a lifetime gem.

5 stars. It’s a romance with a fantastic story along with some Coast Guard action. Absolutely one of the best books I have read in awhile! Pre-order this ASAP!

Title: The Love Haters

Author: Katherine Center

Genre(s): Fiction, Romance, Chick Lit

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, Macmillan Audio

Release Date: May 20, 2025

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: The Unlucky Ones

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for my advance audiobook copy of The Unlucky Ones in exchange for my honest review. My apologies for the delay in the review, I’m behind (as always), but I did enjoy this one!

The book is actually the fourth book in the Black Harbor series, but don’t let that deter you from this! I don’t feel like I missed out on anything!

We have former police transcriber turned novelist, Hazel, return to a town she said she’d never come back to when she finds out her ex-husband has been murdered. Black Harbor was a place she ran from, it isn’t a good town. Black Harbor honestly had a small town vibe for being such a large city, and was the place to be if you were looking for the latest and greatest drug on the streets.

Kole, an officer investigating the murder, happens to be Hazel’s former lover…yeah, maybe kinda sorta when she was still married too. They end up joining forces to tackle the case, much to other’s dismay, but there’s something shady things happening and others ending up dead, so they have to do what they have to do.

I do plan on going back and reading the first three books in this series because I enjoyed it so much. I want their back story in full and see how their relationship has ebbed and flowed.

4 stars. It’s a great thriller with a touch of romance thrown in for good measure, I highly recommend this one!

Title: The Unlucky Ones

Author: Hannah Morrissey

Genre(s): Fiction, Thriller, Suspense

Publisher: Minotaur Books, Macmillan Audio

Release Date: March 25, 2025

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: Heartbreak Beach

Thank you to the author, Bailey Thomas, for an advance copy of Heartbreak Beach in exchange for my honest review!

I was lucky enough to get an advance reader copy of Heartbreak Beach in exchange for my honest review! It’s out on April 25th!!

The book is about the reality TV show Heartbreak Beach, and it’s down to the final contestant, Elise, who has fallen in love with the main guy, Jared. She can’t believe they found love and is excited that he’s going to ask her to leave with him…until the producer lets Elise know she’s going to break his heart because that will bring in higher ratings.

Elise doesn’t want to break his heart, she’s in love, but she’s also reminded that in her contract it says she is to do as told! She’s so conflicted she starts to stray away from Jared, but eventually he gets the information out of her and they come up with a plan to stay together!

It’s a cheesy romance, a light, fun read, with a shocking ending. It’s a quick read absolutely packed with adventure. 3.5 stars from me!

Title: Heartbreak Beach

Author: Bailey Thomas

Genre(s): Fiction, Romance

Publisher: Bailey Thomas Books, LLC

Release Date: April 25, 2025

Find it here on Goodreads

Amazon & The Kindle: Revisiting Part 5 Kindle Unlimited #Amazon #Kindle #KU #Ebooks #KindleUnlimited

I originally published a 6 part Amazon & The Kindle series back in 2019. I wanted to revisit the post I created about Kindle Unlimited because since 2019, I have drastically changed my opinion of it! I hope you enjoy the information I have to tell!

Kindle Unlimited

When I first posted this, I was not a subscriber and had NO interest in it. Now…I’m a subscriber and LOVE it. Currently it’s $11.99 a month. I still have a crazy huge Kindle library, but like my bookshelves in my living room, I need options!! I have also increased the amount I read making $11.99 for Kindle books a money saver for me!

You can browse books in the Kindle store and if you see Kindle Unlimited above the book title it means it is within the Kindle Unlimited library. Essentially you are paying $11.99 a month for the ability to borrow up to 20 books at a time. You do not get to keep them and once you stop paying the monthly fee you lose access to all of those books. Browse Kindle Unlimited books here.

They offer a 30 day free trial so you can try it before you start to commit to it. Authors get paid by the pages you read, so that is how they make their money when they offer their books to the Kindle Unlimited library. A few times a year Amazon will offer a 3 month subscription for 99 cents and that’s an even BETTER deal. Keep an eye out if you’re curious and that’s a deal you would try!

Fan of audiobooks too? If you see the headphone symbol on the book, that means you also get the audiobook through KU. Simply download the Audible app, log in with your Amazon account, and it will appear in your library. You do NOT need an Audible subscription for this feature!

Currently I have the follow books checked out on KU that are also in my Audible library: Happy After All by Maisey Yates, Royal Savage by Victoria Ashley, and What Lies Between Us by John Marrs. Also, sometimes when you have the book checked out on KU, it is available for purchase on Audible at a discounted rate!

Are you a member of Kindle Unlimited? Do you enjoy it? Any other questions? Reach out and I will do my best to answer them! I hope this helped you decide if Kindle Unlimited could be right for you!

Book Review: Courier

I love Kindle Unlimited (KU), to the point I usually have always maxed out my borrow amount because there’s soooooo much I want to read! I made myself start to actually read the books I borrowed through KU so I can have room to add more, this was one that was on there that I decided to dive into, and I am SO happy I did!

Woah…Courier by Zoe Rosi is a creepy stalker novella that is a true, absolute must read. What makes this even creepier is the stalking…because it’s nothing out of the ordinary and is absolutely something anyone could do to any random person 😮. I may have peeked outside my blinds when I finished this one…

By the way I finished this in ONE day. ONE DAY. It’s only 173 pages and with each page turn the story escalates just a little more. Short chapters written in a manner that have you craving for what Bob (our stalker) does next…

So Bob was a delivery man and drops off an order to a house and decides that the husband is a bad guy and needs to save the wife. He stalks her and makes it his mission to save her. It’s unbelievable the information he can find and how he keeps an eye on her.

I don’t want to give too much away, but the ending 🤯🤯🤯, oh my. My jaw was on the floor! This is what made this get 5 stars from me!! If you enjoy darker reads, you MUST pick this one up!

Title: Courier

Author: Zoe Rosi

Genre(s): Fiction, Thriller, Horror, Short Story

Publisher: Lighthouse Books

Release Date: January 30, 2024

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: One Desperate Life

If you haven’t checked out Chirp for audiobooks, you need to. They have GREAT sales and offer GREAT prices for audiobooks. It’s worth a look into, this is one I found on Chirp and I’m so glad I did!

One Desperate Life by D.J. Maughan is a short, quick paced what I’d call historical thriller that will have you wanting to finish this in one sitting.

The story takes place in the early 1900s, in the time of train travel & horse and buggies, and is told using past & present timelines. Louise finds herself attracted the man set to marry her sister and ends up in a whirlwind romance with him.

Eventually finding herself pregnant from a night with him, she runs away to seek him out, but things aren’t what they seem. Will she be able to survive him?

It was a little confusing on audio at first with the timelines and names, I don’t want to give away too much, but once I figured out who was who and how the past & present connected it was an easy listen!

4 stars. Great, quick read! Truly a gripping thriller!

Title: One Desperate Life

Author: D.J. Maughan

Genre(s): Fiction, Thriller, Historical Thriller

Publisher: Hulyeseg Inc

Release Date: April 26, 2024

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: True Life in Uncanny Valley

Thank you to Netgalley, Random House Children’s, and Labyrinth Road for this advance reader copy of True Life in Uncanny Valley in exchange for my honest review! This book came out last week and is an absolutely fantastic YA read!

Eleanor is your typical teenager being raised by a single mother. She has a sister, also know as mom’s favorite, and almost lives in both their shadows. Eleanor is also obsessed with celebrity Hugo Harrison, but not for the reason you may think…you see, Eleanor’s mom had an affair with him and he’s her dad. In her spare time she enjoys spying on him and his family and wonders what could have been.

Fast forward to Eleanor running into his new wife and small child and landing a nannying job for the summer. She’s finally going to see what he’s like, but can she keep her true identity under wraps? How will she keep this from her mom?

I think any pre-teen/teen will absolutely devour this book. It has the perfect amount of teenage angst and I never found Eleanor or her friends to be annoying. It was overdone, it was just the right amount. I think at any point in time as teens we can feel lost and ignored and the author did a beautiful job at writing this story just so. I think a lot of teens will be able to directly relate to this story. There’s even a smidge of clean romance!

4 stars. Even adults will find this story unputdownable as what will the outcome possibly be? I really enjoyed this one and this should be at the top of your list if you love reading YA!

Title: True Life in Uncanny Valley

Author: Deb Caletti

Genre(s): Fiction, Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Publisher: Labyrinth Road

Release Date: March 18, 2025

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: Girl Anonymous

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Audio for this advance audiobook copy of Girl Anonymous by Christina Dodd which was released earlier this week!

Where do I begin? This is a spicy, mob based thriller that bounces around a bit, but towards the end has one focus and is easy to follow along with. I almost wanted to stop this one in the first half, but I kept going…albeit at a slower pace, but I’m satisfied I stuck with it.

We have Maarja who lost her mother at a young age and inadvertently helped kill a mob boss, which because of this was in hiding. As an art mover, she ends up back at the Arundel house (the same one where she was involved with the now deceased mob boss), where an explosion takes place and takes out the mother. Maarja manages to make it to safety, but now is dealing with Dante, the Arundel son.

Dante decides he must protect her and essentially he forces himself on her. At this point in the book, I was rolling my eyes and just not enjoying Dante as a person. Maarja was a virgin and was essentially forced into something in order to save her life, and I just didn’t like the aspect and how Maarja justified what was happening. It felt abusive and I never really liked Maarja and Dante after this.

The story goes on and we find out someone is after the Arundel family. More spicy scenes happen and more cringing on my part happens. They put together a plan to try and catch who is doing this to the family and I will say the last 25% of the book I was hooked in. It was all business and I absolutely enjoyed the ending. I think if there wasn’t so much bouncing around or spice (don’t get me wrong, I love spice, but this was just cringey and felt very forced), this would have been a 5 star book, but it took a lot to get through to enjoy this one.

3 stars. If this falls into your lap, read it, but take caution. I wouldn’t seek this one out!

Title: Girl Anonymous

Author: Christina Dodd

Genre(s): Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Romance

Publisher: Canary Street Press, Harlequin Audio

Release Date: March 11, 2025

Find it here on Goodreads

Book Review: The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth

What happens when you leave your Netgalley shelf alone for so long…you end up buying a physical copy of a book you were fortunate enough to receive an advance copy of! Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for my advance copy of The Good Sister in exchange for my honest review.

The story is about twin sisters, Fern and Rose, who grew up with a less than stellar mother. Fern works in a library and sees her sister multiple times a week. Rose is married, desperate to have a child, and ensures her sister is well taken care of.

Fern is neurodivergent and I thought the way Hepworth wrote her character was absolutely fantastic. I loved Fern so much and found myself wanting to protect her through the pages. This story is also told from Fern’s point of view in the current time and through Rose’s journal entries where she talks about the past.

The real question is…who is the good sister? As this story unfolds, we start to see a few things that have us questioning a lot. Was their mother really abusive and a user? She did have an overdose when they were 12 years old that sent them to foster care. Fern regularly visits her mother in an assisted living home. Rose refuses and has not seen her mother in 10 years.

Fern works at a library and is pretty much an outcast. She never partakes in activities with her colleagues and they all kind of leave her alone. No one really understands her…

Without giving too much away…Fern finds a way to get her sister a baby. A baby she gets warned about to not give to her sister. With everything that has happened in her past, Fern is in no way capable of raising a child, nor should she really be trusted. Rose has done nothing but protect her, shelter her, and take care of her, it makes sense she should raise the baby…right?

4 stars. The suspense part of this book doesn’t really kick in until the last part of the book, it reads more as a fiction/literary tale up until that point, but once it kicks in, it’s a WILD ride. I absolutely loved how Hepworth kept us guessing and strung us along. I also really enjoyed Fern’s friend Wally aka Rocco and loved what he added to the story, along with her colleagues. This put a smile on my face at the end with everything that happened, absolutely delightful read, highly recommend!

Title: The Good Sister

Author: Sally Hepworth

Genre(s): Fiction, Mystery, Contemporary, Suspense

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Release Date: October 27, 2020

Find it here on Goodreads