bookishobsessedmama's reviews
446 reviews

Liss Montoya is officially 2 for 2 for me! 
5 STARRRSSZZZZ 📣 

I absolutely loved everything about this! The writing is so bingable and relatable! I absolutely adore how Liss writes! Her characters are down to Earth and relatable and that makes you love them and root for them so much! 

This particular story was so riveting and kept you on the edge of your seat throughout due to the context! Book 1’s plot was more action based and you were constantly waiting to see what would happen, while this one was more love drawn and edge of your seat romance. 

I really enjoyed the plot! You’ll find:
-Inexperienced MMC 
-Brief Secret Dating 
-Professor / Student 
-Amnesia 
-He Falls First 
-Billionaire 

I really enjoyed the scene where she got her memory back! It was so wholesome. I was worried we were setting up to have a third act conflict of her getting mad no one told her about him in her past, but she didn’t give us that and i LOVED that.

Overall another really enjoyable plot, characters and story from Liss! I would absolutely recommend to my peers & will definitely be continuing to read this author! 

4.25 ⭐️ 

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book and its characters! The writing is super bingable and overall a super enjoyable read. 

The slow burn is TOP TIER. The MCs first kiss is over halfway through the book and i never once wished it was getting spicier faster! The glances, the touches, the tension was 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 

I absolutely adored the FMC. Boss energy when she didn’t get the promotion she deserved so she quit on the spot. She knew what she was worth and she stood on business. 👏🏼 👏🏼 

I didn’t read the first book in series - and while i was able to enjoy and really love the characters, I think it would have added even more to the story to have read them in order. So while I don’t think you have too to love the book, i’d say start from book 1! 😊 

Our book boyfriend was top tier. A quiet football player who also co-owns  a CUPCAKE shop. PLEASE. that in and of itself is enough - but he’s such a little romantic, teddy bear it makes it 10x better. 

Tropes:
-Brother’s best friend 
-It’s ALWAYS been you 
-Football / Bakery 
-Slow Burn 🔥

I will absolutely be reading more by this author & would def recommend this book to my peers! 

2.75 / 3 ⭐️ 

this one missed the make for me, unfortunately. I initially picked this up because the cover is adorable and I’ve been wanting to read all the holiday romances as well enter December. With that the overall idea is the book was cute. I liked the idea of the plot and the characters but i feel like it all fell a little flat for me. 

I wanted more chemistry between the MCs and the lack of chemistry made it hard to be emotionally attached to their romance and the story. I felt like the overall conflict felt a little disjointed as well. 

I felt like I was checking the audio to see how long I had left way too often and that’s a downside to me. I want to be so emerssed in the story that it flys by / i don’t want it to end. 

I think the story needed to be longer and more thought out. I did enjoy the narrators - I added a star to bump it up to 3 ⭐️ due to them. 

Overall, i don’t know that i would recommend this book to my peers. I’m sorry! If you loved this book I absolutely love that for you & i’m so glad it’s getting flowers from those who enjoyed it. 

ARE YOU SERIOUS? 

what an absolutely perfect ending to one of my, now, favorite series. Amanda truly writes my absolute favorite characters! 👏🏼 

A Vine Mess is truly such a fun love story - it’s always been you, he falls first (and fast and HARD), road trip, forced proximity, friends to lovers - it’s basically the gift that keeps on giving 😉 

Liam is the ultimate book boyfriend. He had unwavering patience and understanding for Ella. He’s basically waited forever for her, and his feelings and understanding toward her never waver. He’s steadfast and strong and i love that. 

Ella is a little quirky but I love her. She was probably my favorite sister. Her banter with almost everyone she came into contact with was so enjoyable. 

THE SPICE. I ATE IT UP. When she said daddy … OPE. & then she used her fingers to open for him BIG OPE. Amanda wrote (& ate) and left no crumbs on spice in this one. 👏🏼 

Basically i’m just obsessed. If you enjoyed all of the sisters in this series be advised you’ll cry at the epilogue. It was the perfect cherry on top for the season. 

I adored these characters. This world. These sisters. I’m basically in mourning now that it is over. 

I absolutely will always scream and yell for Amanda’s and this love in the vibe series. Absolutely read it immediately if you haven’t already. 🖤

This was such a cozy, feel good christmasy hallmark vibe good time. 😊 

Margaret does a phenomenal job and making the writing feel as cozy as the town that they’re in. Her writing is bingable and enjoyable. She created such warm and relatable characters which i find impressive as one of them was royal and still felt relatable. 

I really enjoyed the overall plot of the book! As someone who enjoys reality dating tv, it felt like a fun “behind the scenes” love story that you wonder actually happens on some of the shows we watch. 

Mix in the TOP TIER angst that was built on top of a rivals to lovers trope and you has the best recipe for a cozy winter romance. 

The banter was well done and I went from hating winter, to being on his team, to being his #1 fan. 

I didn’t read book 1, and wasn’t confused or lost on any of the topics! I will absolutely go back and read book 1 now because I enjoyed this one so much! I would absolutely recommend it to me peers and will be reading more by this author in the future! 

2.75/3 ⭐️ 

I really wanted such a good horror story, and this one was recommended to me from a bookseller at B&N. While i did enjoy the writing style of the author i felt like the story was lacking overall. 

It felt like it was extremely drawn out and slow. I didn’t feel like it was very scary. It was described to me as “jump scare, edge of your seat horror” and i didn’t feel like i was on the edge of my seat at all. 

I have seen that this is one of the author’s earlier works, so i would potentially try a later work, but this one was just not for me. 

I did consume via audiobook, primarily, but also used the physical book at times. I believe that the audiobook did a disservice to the story, personally. There wasn’t much emotion to being that horror side of the story out. 

Overall, i don’t think i would recommend this and it felt a bit lack luster overall. 

the way i was SUCKEDDDDD into this book almost immediately 👏🏼 

Clara wrote characters that were soooo relatable and enjoyable! Her writing is so bingable and enjoyable! i loved all our main characters and side characters and will absolutely be back tracking to her other book! 

El & Gar are the sweeetest! They both struggle with their own personal battles but when they came together it was the sweetest thing. Plus i will always love a fake dating book 👏🏼 

The Celiacs Disease representation was done so well. I adore books that have characters that have some extra special to them because as someone who battles daily i relate to these characters so much! 

🌟 Tropes 🌟 
Brothers best friend 
Forced Proximity 
Fake Dating 
Hockey Romance 
Autoimmune Representation
Nicknames 🧁
He gives up GLUTEN for her ….. swoon 

& i mean i adored that he got into Love Island for her (as a love island lover) i adored this little tidbit. 

I will absolutely recommend this to my peers and will be reading anything Clara puts out! She has easily won me over with this one! 👏🏼 

This was actually so fun! The audio was very well done and kept me engaged from start to finish! The FMC was a quirky and funny and kept a murder mystery plot pretty lighthearted and i enjoyed that!

It gave me comedy / mystery clue game vibes and i ate every second of it up! 

During reading how the FMC kept going back to what her character in her book would do - i actually totally 100% believe that’s how authors are! 😆 

I would absolutely recommend this book to my peers and would read more by this author. Def recommend consuming via audio! 

I feel like there was so much going on, but also nothing going on at the same time? 

Holiday Wedding is marketed as a romance, but it really is a combination of spice, suspense and basically just tag tropes. It didn’t feel like there was much romance imo. When you got the “romance” side of the plot - it was just semi cringeworthy spice scenes, but not a ton of real build up. 

The first 40ISH% of the book, i was really bored. I kept putting it down and picking it back up later because I just couldn’t get into the plot, the characters or just the book in any way. I couldn’t figure out what was even happening cuz it felt like a lot of “busy work” writing the first half and not much plot. 

The second half of the book was a lot better in my opinion. Some aspects were cringy or not my favorite but the suspense aspect of the kidnapping etc. was intriguing and kept me wanting to read more. I feel like once she was rescued and they got married the story should have ended though. 

It has surprise pregnancy trope as well, it doesn’t bother me much, but it quite predictable throughout. 

Overall, it wasn’t BAD but it also wasn’t my favorite at all. If you enjoyed this book, i am so happy for you and i love that, it just wasn’t for me & that’s why reading is the best because it is subjective! 

this should absolutely be required reading for all high school students. It’s tough, hard to read context, but the author does it in such a way that it’s relatable. You have narration, letters, news articles, flashbacks, therapy notes, etc. 

The topics are all relatable in some way or another - death, car accidents, underage drinking, depression, friend loss, scholarship loss, missing scouts, missing school, grades, anxiety, suicide. 

I absolutely loved this book and wish it would have found me earlier in life when i needed to hear this story. 

the audio was very well done. It has multiple narrators and kept me engaged. I would have even liked the book to be longer, but overall it was a hard to read, beautiful story.