BookOwl

4/5 stars   *Spoiler alert!*   Icebreaker by Hannah Grace is my latest entry into what I consider the wilds of the romance genre. It was a cute and very spicy college romance between a hockey player and a figure skater, both looking to make names for themselves post-graduation.   “‘ It’s not porn. It’s a romance book that happens to have a little bit of sex in it.’”   A little bit , Hannah Grace? Haha. This one had a lot of spice to balance out the sweetness and heartbreak. Mind you, these are all consenting adults, and it’s none of my business, but let’s just say my college experience was very different . Therefore, I spent most of the book with my cheeks beet red, but I enjoyed the genuine respect and care Nate and Anastasia developed between them over the course of the book.   “ I'm in love with her determination and her commitment, her soft side, the way she manages to tell me exactly how she's feeling and why, no matter how uncomfortable it might ma...

    5/5 stars    *Spoiler alert!* “In creating this miscellany, our goal is for you to find at least ten new-to-you and irresistible books by authors of backgrounds different from your own...that you'll read in the next year...The idea is to keep seeking out and reading diverse stories.”   Challenge accepted! (I ended up adding 23 books from Bibliophiles, if anyone was curious, although I may come back and add more during a re-read.)    “It is our small offering to the world, sparked by social injustices and racial reckonings, and inspired by many years of reading diversely and realizing what magic can happen when people leave their comfort zones.”   Pretty much all of the books recommended in this gorgeously illustrated volume center the stories of marginalized groups, like women, BIPOC, and those in the LGBTQAI community. A fair number of them I had read, which had me pointing to the book covers in miniature like I was in a bookstore each time ...