The Quest for Psyche (Cupid's Fall #4) by Beth C. Greenberg

The Quest for Psyche by Beth C. Greenberg

My Rating: ★★★

What does the god of love do when he’s suffering from a broken heart? Go to therapy! At least, that was Cupid’s plan until his potential therapist passes him onto someone else. Now we have two gods flying to Lake Tahoe to find Cupid’s latest worth only to learn that her heart beats back!

I’ve been loving this series and I really wanted to love this book, but the romance was a bit of a miss for me. I think the book started off strong as we watched some of our favorite characters hot on the trail for Cupid’s latest worthy. I loved Reed in the previous book, and he was just as delightful as ever, but he felt a little out of place at times this time around. However, I really enjoyed seeing him and it helped take some of my attention away from the romance that lacked chemistry.

Of course, our star couple is Cupid and Mariposa aka Psyche! I was so excited to see Cupid meet and fall in love with his one true love. Sadly, they lacked romantic chemistry. I could see them becoming great friends but the romance just wasn’t there for me. There wasn’t a single spark between them, and the story kept telling me they were in love without showing me they were actually in love. It didn’t help that Pan and Reed were both present and clearly super into each other while Cupid and Mariposa were just sad almost friends.

Overall, this was a good story. It’s unfortunate that the romantic chemistry was non-existent since this is a romance novel, but I am happy with how things turned out for the characters. While you can technically read this as a stand alone story, I do think everyone should at least check out the previous book since the events heavily impact Cupid.

I Want to Eat Your Pancreas by Yoru Sumino, Izumi Kirihara

 

I Want to Eat Your Pancreas by Yoru Sumino, Izumi Kirihara

My Rating: ★★★★

When Yamauchi Sakura accidentally left her diary on a seat in the hospital, she never expected to find one of her classmates reading it! Now he’s the only person at school who knows her secret: she’s dying. Sakura has been living with pancreatic disease, but now her doctors think she has around a year left to live. Her classmate has been a very content loner, but Sakura insists on becoming friends with him and convincing him to help her complete her bucket list of sorts.

My younger brother was obsessed with this book last year, so I decided I should check it out because it’s been a while since he’s been super into a book. While this seems like your usual light romance with a terminal illness thrown in the mix, it’s actually so much more. We see two kids learning to live every day to the fullest. I wouldn’t call this a romance because it’s about friendship, grief, and realizing how we all impact each other.

This is such an incredibly sweet, thoughtful, funny, and sad book. I thought I was prepared for the ending, but that very sneaky foreshadowing really caught me off guard! I think that if you’re looking for a contemporary book that will make you cry and leave a lasting impression on you, then this might be the book for you. I highly encourage picking it up!

The Step-by-Step Astrology Workbook: What the Stars Want You to Know by Jessie Eccles

 

The Step-by-Step Astrology Workbook: What the Stars Want You to Know by Jessie Eccles

My Rating: ★★★★★

I received a copy from Callisto through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you’re looking for an in-depth workbook to use alongside reading your astrology chart, than this is the book for you! Inside, the basics of astrology will be explained before you get to the information on different aspects of astrology as well as what you will find listed on a birth chart. It helps take away the confusion one may have had after looking at their birth chart and trying to figure out what it means!

Once you get to the workbook section, you are in for a treat. I really like how well this book explains astrology before you get to the workbook section. It’s also an excellent workbook that not only helps you figure out what your birth chart means, but also gets readers to interact with their birth charts. I think that this is going to help so many people understand a lot more than if they were to just read a few things on what their chart means. I think this is such a good resource!

Quite the Pair (Cupid's Fall #3) by Beth C. Greenberg

 

Quite the Pair by Beth C. Greenberg

My Rating: ★★★★★

Just when Cupid thought his punishment couldn’t get any worse, his next worthy son is revealed and it’s his best friend! He doesn’t know if he’ll survive having to watch Pan’s heart beat for someone other than him, but that’s not going to stop him from making sure to get the job done right. Now Cupid is crashing face first into the worst heartbreak he’s experienced yet…

I’ve been really enjoying this series, but this has turned out to be my favorite book yet! This time around, we follow Cupid, Pan, and Reed through their rotating perspectives. We don’t follow Reed that often, so it was interesting to see the newest perspective get scaled back a little. However, it doesn’t feel like he’s lacking in the story!

I really enjoyed how much we dug into Cupid and Pan’s relationship because everything was on the line now that romance was finally on the table. It was also really great to see disabilities be represented in the story, which is something I hope to see more often across literature and visual media in general.

All in all, this was an excellent read. The romances were really sweet, and the series has come a long way from two buddies hitting the town to get laid. I’m really interested in reading the next book, which I’m assuming will be the final book, and checking out what other work the author puts out in the future.

The Watkins Book of Urban Legends by Gail De Vos

 

The Watkins Book of Urban Legends by Gail De Vos

My Rating: ★★★★

I received a copy from Watkins Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you love urban legends and hope to learn more, this might be the book for you! Inside, you will find a collection of urban legends across nine chapters based on how they’ve been categorized. It was so interesting to discover the inspiration behind some well-known fictional characters while reading this book! It was also really fun reading different versions of urban legends I grew up listening to. For example, the version I always heard of the babysitter and the man upstairs involved a clown statue that was actually a man dressed as a clown.

All in all, this was an excellent read. It’s very well researched and covers urban legends from around the world. While it can be information heavy at times, I don’t think it will be overwhelming for most people as long as they don’t try to read a large chunk of the book in one go. This reads as more of a text book than an anthology, so keep that in mind if you plan on picking this up.

Tarot for Creativity: A Guide for Igniting Your Creative Practice by Chelsey Pippin Mizzi

 

Tarot for Creativity: A Guide for Igniting Your Creative Practice by Chelsey Pippin Mizzi

My Rating: ★★★★

I received a copy from Chronicle Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If you’ve been looking for a Tarot book to help you expand your Tarot knowledge, then this might be a good book for you! Inside, you will find an introduction, and some basic information on Tarot before diving into the cards. The rest of the book goes through each card in the Major and Minor Arcana. The book helps readers look at the cards differently than they may normally look at them. I’ve used my Tarot and Oracle cards for creative inspiration before, so I like that this book will help people look at their cards in a new light. I also love that there’s so many different spreads included in the book. There’s a spread after each card plus seven spreads at the end of the book.

I think this is an excellent book to have in your collection if you are a Tarot reader, especially if you are artistic in any way. There’s a ton of little creative prompts throughout the book, so even if you don’t pull some cards for yourself or someone else, the prompts may get the wheels in your mind spinning when you feel like you’re stuck.

Love Advice From the Great Duke of Hell, Vol. 1 by unfins

 

Love Advice From the Great Duke of Hell, Vol. 1 by unfins

My Rating: ★★★★★

I received a copy from WEBTOON Unscrolled through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Astaroth, a Great Duke of Hell, was minding his own business when a teenage boy named Paul summoned him to the mortal realm. It’s a shame Paul has failed to notice that one does not just sell their soul to a demon to get a date! In six days, Astaroth will return to hell with Paul’s soul, but not before chaos ensues!

I knew this book was going to be funny when I started it, but I was not expecting to be laughing so hard at almost every turn. We follow Astaroth, Paul, and Paul’s sister Elena from the moment that Astaroth is summoned from hell to aid Paul in his romantic pursuits. One of the things I love about this story is that no one is on the same page, which adds to the absolute hilarity that ensues. The artwork is fun and really helps drive the humor home. The characters' facial expressions alone had me cracking up at times. However, even if the artwork didn’t help with that, I think the humor would stand up well on its own.

I don’t want to say too much and risk accidentally spoiling the story, but if this sounds like something you’d be interested in reading, I say do it. I was laughing so hard throughout each chapter. I’m actually debating on following the story’s original format on WEBTOON when I prefer published volumes in book format. That’s how much I enjoyed this book!