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The USA Today bestselling author of The Worst Best Man is back with another hilarious rom-com about two strangers who get trapped in a lie and have to fake date their way out of it…
Just weeks away from ditching DC for greener pastures, Solange Pereira is roped into helping her wedding planner cousin on a random couple’s big day. It’s an easy gig… until she stumbles upon a situation that convinces her the pair isn’t meant to be. What’s a true-blue romantic to do? Crash the wedding, of course. And ensure the unsuspecting groom doesn’t make the biggest mistake of his life.
Dean Chapman had his future all mapped out. He was about to check off “start a family” and on track to “make partner” when his modern day marriage of convenience went up in smoke. Then he learns he might not land an assignment that could be his ticket to a promotion unless he has a significant other and, in a moment of panic, Dean claims to be in love with the woman who crashed his wedding. Oops.
Now Dean has a whole new item on his to-do list: beg Solange to be his pretend girlfriend. Solange feels a tiny bit bad about ruining Dean’s wedding, so she agrees to play along. Yet as they fake-date their way around town, what started as a performance for Dean’s colleagues turns into a connection that neither he nor Solange can deny. Their entire romance is a sham… there’s no way these polar opposites could fall in love for real, right?
For the Reading Challenge(s): N/A
The Reason
I desperately needed some romance after reading so many dark and heavy books.
The Quotes
“You know, I think the more something’s important to us, the more we feel we’ll lose if it doesn’t work out. So we convince ourselves not to want the thing.”
“One thing’s clear: Not being in a relationship is better than being in a bad one. Because one bad relationship can change your life forever.”
“Like maybe I don’t deserve you but I want to try to earn a place in your heart.”
“Sometimes we feel things we know aren’t rational, but we still feel them.”
My Thoughts
I picked up this book because I had been reading a lot of horror and hard-hitting books lately and I needed a nice, light-hearted romance. There were a lot of cliches, tropes, and hijinks, but all in good fun and mostly delivered well. I enjoyed the chemistry between the two MCs, and I love the relationships they have with the other supporting characters as well. I think the family aspect of the book is one of my favorite things about it, though I normally don’t like family being too involved in personal stuff. It feels like there was a nice balance between nosiness and respect for privacy with the relationships here. There was some graphic sex on the page which I wasn’t expecting but I thought was done pretty tastefully, considering. It was a really quick read and I enjoyed it very much!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
A man. His ex-girlfriend’s cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible.
In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth—from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds—collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground.
The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot. A dungeon so enormous, it circles the entire globe.
Only a few dare venture inside. But once you’re in, you can’t get out. And what’s worse, each level has a time limit. You have but days to find a staircase to the next level down, or it’s game over. In this game, it’s not about your strength or your dexterity. It’s about your followers, your views. Your clout. It’s about building an audience and killing those goblins with style.
You can’t just survive here. You gotta survive big.
You gotta fight with vigor, with excitement. You gotta make them stand up and cheer. And if you do have that “it” factor, you may just find yourself with a following. That’s the only way to truly survive in this game—with the help of the loot boxes dropped upon you by the generous benefactors watching from across the galaxy.
They call it Dungeon Crawler World. But for Carl, it’s anything but a game.
The Reason
There was so much hype I couldn’t ignore it!
The Quotes
“Cats are assholes. I get it. But do you know why people like cats, despite their asshole-ness? It’s because they don’t fucking talk.”
“If we get to the point where we don’t help each other anymore, that’s when we stop being human.”
“New achievement! You’ve killed an armed mob with your bare fucking hands! Holy crap, dude. That’s kinda fucked up. Reward: You’ve received a Bronze Weapon Box!”
“You’re not going to break me,” I said. “You might hurt me, or kill me, but you’re not going to break me.”
The Narrator(s)
Jeff Hays. For all the books in the series. I have insufficient words to describe how incredible his narration is. I am spoiled by his narration!
My Thoughts
I decided to do one post for the whole series because I’m so far behind with my reviews and I’m too lazy to do one for each book, so I’ll just put them altogether here in this post.
Book 1 – Dungeon Crawler Carl This is a reread; I first read this (and the second book in the series) in November last year and loved it, but I wasn’t able to finish the series at the time so now I have to reread to refresh my memory. I had a lot of other books on my TBR and wasn’t initially planning to pick this series back up now, but life has been kicking my ass and I felt like I needed a story that was fun and easy to read but also thrilling and exciting at the same time to keep my interest throughout everything else happening in my life.
This book is such perfect balance of being light-hearted while still dealing with some heavy issues. I love Carl and Donut as a team; they have the cutest relationship and the best chemistry as a duo. It makes me wonder about the kind of relationship I would have with my cats if they turned sentient! Now that I’m back in the DCC world, I intend to complete the series this time and I’m so ready to start the next books!
Book 2 – Carl’s Doomsday Scenario Continuing the saga of Carl and Donut but now we also have Mongo! I love that they picked their Classes in this book that allow them to get all the perks and upgrades. The side quests are interesting as hell, I am also waiting to see where this goes when they reach the lower levels! I loved the ending of the book and I loved the epilogue even more! It was hilarious! It was incredible! It was amazing! It was (insert all your favorite adjectives here)! I’m sure I’ll be back with another glowing review after I finish the next book!
Book 3 – The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook This is the third book in the series and I think it might be my favorite one so far! One of the reasons the first book pulled me in is because of the humor and how easy it is to read, but it should be acknowledged that there are some very disturbing themes in the book and a lot of emotional trauma as well. This book delves deeper into some difficult topics that are handled so beautifully and serves to show us the growth and development of the characters. I love them more now than ever. I love that although there is more focus on character development, there is no detraction from the excitement of the Dungeon Crawl and the missions, quests, and scrapes that Carl, Donut, and their friends get into.
Book 4 – The Gate of the Feral Gods Fourth book in and I am still caught off-guard by how this story manages to surprise me! I love that we are getting to know more of the other characters better now. As we get deeper into the levels and more Crawlers die, we naturally get fewer characters left, of course, and we see some of them over the course of the books as well. It’s weird how Carl creates community and found family without getting too sappy about it, but in a way that makes my heart swell even more. They show love and care through actions rather than cheesy words (although there’s nothing wrong with that!).
There are several characters whose motives I’m still unsure about though, and I guess we’ll find out as we go. I also love how much more openly defiant Carl has gotten, and how he uses his ratings and popularity as leverage. I can’t help it, guys. I wanted to take a break to read other books, but I already started the next book!
Book 5 – The Butcher’s Masquerade Fifth book in and still going strong! Book 5 gets better and also more traumatic at the same time. I laughed out loud so many times while reading, and probably teared up an equal amount of times. The relationships are the best thing about this book, but there’s also the plot and the humor, and oh, everything! The fact of the premise really allows Dinniman to go crazy with the cast and plot but it also highlights just how f’d up the events in the books are if they happened in real life. There are things set up in previous books that come to fruition in this book, but there are also a lot more that have not come to pass, and I’m sort of scared of what’s going to happen because the story does not go easy!
Book 6 – The Eye of the Bedlam Bride Book 6 and it’s still so good and hilarious, and completely outlandish in a good way! Where do I begin? The fact that we are now on Book 6 and there’s still so much I can say about it because it never gets boring, there’s always something new, and I only fall more and more in love with the characters.
The fact that this freaking book can make me laugh out loud in one paragraph only to make me cry like a baby in the next, to the point that my husband sitting beside me stared at me worriedly and wondered if I was having a neurological event. The fact that the traumatic events that happen in this book is handled so sensitively and seriously, and at the same time so irreverently and humorously, and still makes me relate to the human condition and everything it means to be human for these characters.
I am excitedly anticipating reading Book 7, but also dreading it because once I finish it, I’ll have to wait a while for the next books and I know I’ll miss Carl and Donut. I’m going to read some other books before starting Book 7, but I’m pretty sure I can’t put it off too long!
Book 7 – This Inevitable Ruin This is Book 7 in the DCC series, and the last one to date until the next one, which is expected to be released in May 2026. I don’t know how I can wait that long without going crazy. I don’t often do well with long-running series because I forget details, or get bored with the same story and characters, especially if the author tends to be formulaic. But every single book in this series has only gotten better and better, and just when you think it can’t get better, it gets better!
This book plays with my emotions; making me cry, making me laugh, making me feel awed at the plots, missions, side quests, power plays… making me disgusted because some really disgusting things happen, making me scared and on edge with suspense, making me feel so much! I thought I was already so deeply in love with these characters, but I find myself falling more and more in love with them with every book.
I cannot praise this series enough, but I also feel like I should maybe tone it down because it might raise expectations sky high and I don’t want anyone to be disappointed. It is that good though, for me at least, and now that I’ve finished the latest book and have to wait for the next one, I have no idea what to do with myself!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars. I love the whole series and each book only gets better and better!
Have you read this series? Would you read this series? Did you like it or do you think you would like it?
Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters, and the mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends.
Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it’s a good thing Brother Diaz has the devils on his side.
For the Reading Challenge(s): N/A
The Reason
A bookclub friend recommended it and I had enjoyed the author’s The First Law trilogy.
The Quotes
“Happy endings are just stories that aren’t finished yet.”
“You need to stop clinging to the notion that there is only one right path. You’ll waste half your time panicking you’re not on it, and the rest backtracking to find it.”
“Show me a man who regrets nothing and I’ll show you a man who’s achieved nothing.”
The Narrator(s)
Steven Pacey. I loved him when listening to The First Law books and I love him for this one too!
My Thoughts
Abercrombie’s books usually start out really well for me. I read The First Law trilogy and really enjoyed his writing style and humor. This book is no different. I especially love how interesting and imperfect his characters are. They are all broken in their own ways, but I always feel like there’s hope for them and I want to see it play out in the story. Unfortunately, I feel like this book didn’t hit the mark for me. All the feels I initially felt, with a band of people forced together for some sort of mission, the way they worked together, getting to know each other, their chemistry…
I wanted some sort of resolution for them as a group, but after everything they went through together, the ending was so disappointing. To be fair, this is supposed to be the first book in a series so there’s the possibility that things might get better for them in subsequent books. However, I remembered how disappointed I was with the The First Law trilogy after having such high hopes for the story, and I feel like it’s not worth it to go through this whole journey if this is going to be more of the same.
As a reader, the journey is often more important than the destination for me, but somehow in this case, a lot of the journey felt meaningless when we got to the end of the book. Perhaps it’s unfair to compare the two different stories, but this first book by itself reminded me of how I felt reading the whole The First Law trilogy, and I just feel like the journey isn’t worth the destination.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
The year is 1348. Thomas, a disgraced knight, has found a young girl alone in a dead Norman village. An orphan of the Black Death, and an almost unnerving picture of innocence, she tells Thomas that plague is only part of a larger cataclysm—that the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a second war on heaven, and that the world of men has fallen behind the lines of conflict.
Is it delirium or is it faith? She believes she has seen the angels of God. She believes the righteous dead speak to her in dreams. And now she has convinced the faithless Thomas to shepherd her across a depraved landscape to Avignon. There, she tells Thomas, she will fulfill her mission to confront the evil that has devastated the earth, and to restore to this betrayed, murderous knight the nobility and hope of salvation he long abandoned.
As hell unleashes its wrath, and as the true nature of the girl is revealed, Thomas will find himself on a macabre battleground of angels and demons, saints, and the risen dead, and in the midst of a desperate struggle for nothing less than the soul of man.
For the Reading Challenge(s): N/A
The Reason
It was the BOTM for my in-person bookclub.
The Quotes
“Well, I do what I say. Which is why I don’t say much.”
“Love is always harder. Love means weathering blows for another’s sake and not counting them.”
“Hell, like prison, is worse when you don’t feel you earned it.”
“The injuries of spring are forgotten in the summer, but remembered in the winter.”
The Narrator(s)
Steve West. He was mostly fine, but I really didn’t like his voice for the girl!
My Thoughts
I’m writing this review a long time after reading the book, and for some reason I can’t find my notes so I’m going off a very spotty memory. I remember this being a dark story about a showdown between good and evil, and I remember enjoying most of it. The only issue is that I was rushing to finish it for my bookclub, and there were several parts of the story that included dreams and hallucinations and it was sometimes confusing for me when I didn’t realize what was happening.
In general, I liked the characters, especially the priest. I found the girl annoying (I’m sorry I forgot the names and I don’t have my notes!) but I’m not sure if that’s because I really dislike her character or because I dislike the narrator’s voice for her. I honestly feel that I would’ve probably enjoyed this book a lot more if I was reading it on print and not rushing it like I did. Perhaps one day I’ll revisit the story again.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
A dark retelling of the Brothers Grimm’s Goose Girl, rife with secrets, murder, and forbidden magic
Cordelia knows her mother is unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms, and her mother doesn’t allow Cordelia to have a single friend—unless you count Falada, her mother’s beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him. But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.
After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away on Falada’s sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.
Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother, how the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.
I love fairy tale retellings and I’ve loved many of the author’s books!
The Quotes
“The problem with being rich is that you simply have no idea how expensive it is to be poor.”
“Hester was no hero, but there was nothing in her that would allow her to turn away from a person who had been dropped on her doorstep. Even if that person had brought Doom along with her.”
“I had a terrible feeling when I saw her. You know how people talk about love at first sight? This was like… fear at first sight.”
The Narrator(s)
Eliza Foss and Jennifer Pickens. They were great, I enjoyed the narration immensely!
My Thoughts
I’ve loved several of Kingfisher’s books and I love fairytale retellings in general. I wasn’t familiar with the original story this retelling was based on (Goose Girl) but the description of the book caught my interest. I believe the book first came to my attention back in May during Mother’s Day season, and there were a few books that featured mothers. The mother in question in this book is not a good person; she is an evil sorceress and the MC, her daughter Cordelia, is helpless against her.
I read this in between Dungeon Crawler Carl books, and since I was coming out of my DCC stupor, I expected to take some time to get into this book, but the moment I started reading it, I was completely sucked in and I couldn’t put it down. I was surprised by how hard this book hits and how intense everything was. I loved the characters, and I love how each of them stood out to me in their own ways; Hester, Penelope, Alice, Imogen. A book that vilifies the MC’s mother, but showcases the strength, resilience, and nurturing qualities of the many other female characters. There is so much I love about this book and it reinforces why Kingfisher is one of my favorite authors!
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.
November 2025 Wrap Up
I actually didn’t realize it was a new month already! I mean, I realized it was December but I completely forgot what that means and that I had stuff to get done. I missed the deadline for a couple of books I was supposed to finish in November as well because I wasn’t connecting the fact that time was actually passing. I’m still playing catch up!
Adding to that, my husband recently changed webhosts for our websites, which caused issues with my blog that was a pain to fix, and there might be some I haven’t even realized yet! I think one of the biggest issue is the broken links on my page that I didn’t even realize until recently, because I haven’t been present on the blog! Please forgive me if you came across any issues on my blog, or come across any more issues. I’m still fixing stuff and catching up on things from being unwell last month.
I’ll say one thing; one of the things I’d been catching up on is crocheting Christmas gifts in time for Christmas. And while I feel the pressure of trying to finish as soon as I can, I also get to listen to a lot of audiobooks while crocheting, so that’s a win!
My November 2025 TBR Intentions
I did pretty good with 6 out of 9, I think! I truly intended to read the other 3 as well, but I lost track of the time with due dates and deadlines. Oh well.
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Christine by Stephen King
Nightmares & Dreamscapes by Stephen King
Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Falling by T.J. Newman
Books Read in November 2025
Field Notes on Love by Jennifer E. Smith
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Christine by Stephen King
Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas
Falling by T.J. Newman
Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia
The Dispatcher by John Scalzi
Murder by Other Means by John Scalzi
Travel by Bullet by John Scalzi
Constituent Service by John Scalzi
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer
Notable Books This Month
I have to say the John Scalzi books were my favorites this month! I’d heard a lot about John Scalzi but haven’t read any of his works. These titles just happened to be available on Audible Plus, and they were short and I was curious and now I feel like I want to read more John Scalzi!
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer was also really good. I made the mistake of listening to it to sleep when I had about two hours more to go on the audiobook. Things got real at that point and I was so worked up and upset I couldn’t sleep.
Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts by Kate Racculia was another surprise. I didn’t think I’d enjoy it as much as I did and I was very pleasantly surprised!
There were a lot of other great books as well, of course, with some of my favorite authors like Stephen King and T. Kingfisher, but none of them were surprises because I knew they’d be good, so they’re not noteworthy compared to these other ones this month.
December 2025 TBR Intentions
I’m going to take it easy this December with reading obligations. I do have a couple of books I’d like to read before the end of the year, and also a couple of BOTMs for bookclubs, but otherwise I’ll read whatever I please! I’m leaning towards easy, light-hearted romance, possibly even Christmas-themed!
Emma by Jane Austen
Stoner by John Williams
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
How was your month in November? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful December with lots of great books!
