The challenge was set by World Indie Warriors on Instagram. They created three #WIWBingo boards; YA, Romance, and Fantasy.
The aim is to read and review the books on Instagram and tag @worldindiewarriors
The goal is to get three in a line, and help indie books get seen.
I’m doing the challenge. I’ve already read some of the books on the board so I’ll be reposting them this month, and I’m hoping to read some new one too.
I chose this book because it got me my BINGO in the Summer Reading challenge by World Indie Warriors. And, I’m so glad I did!
Setting
Jenny (the MC) lives in a flat with her cat, Bing. She works in customer service, handlings complaints. Her mum & BFF are sending her on blind dates as they’re as desperate for her to meet someone, maybe more desperate than Jenny is.
Main Character
Jenny is a relatable character. She tries hard, but things always go wrong, often with hilarious consequences. She’s crushing on a guy at work that’s not into her, or could he be? But, the situation is never right and she’s off on another blind date.
Bing isn’t the main character but he is such a star in the book I had to mention this cat. In fact he is probably my favourite fictional pet, ever!
Another character I loved was the BFF, Sarah. This girl was always just a phone call away, picking Jen’s spirits up after disaster dates, and laughing with her (and the reader).
Review
I’m a slow reader and I devoured this book in a weekend! This is so well written. There’s hilarious moments in every chapter, and jokes that are weaved through the book that get funnier ever time.
I loved so many of the characters. Bing is my all time favourite fictional pet. Sarah is an amazing BFF! The dream guy was perfection. I lived for every moment in his presence.
I had a friend that went on some entertaining blind dates and this book brought those stories back. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The challenge was set by World Indie Warriors on Instagram. They created three #WIWBingo boards; YA, Romance, and Fantasy.
The aim is to read and review the books on Instagram and tag @worldindiewarriors
The goal is to get three in a line, and help indie books get seen.
I’m doing the challenge. I’ve already read some of the books on the board so I’ll be reposting them this month, and I’m hoping to read some new one too.
I downloaded this book onto my Kindle app ages ago, and forgot about it. But, the World Indie Warriors Summer Reading Challenge reminded me to read it.
I follow Julia on social media and she is my formatter. She’s also the newest member of the Unstoppable Authors Podcast Team.
Setting
The books is set in the future with three different alien races. Well, one race is Gaians which is basically human, from Gaia aka Earth.
Avalons look human but are superior and rule the Gaians. They have access to tech that enable them to teleport and monitor everything the Gaians do.
The Midorians are another alien race at war with the Avalons. They live out in space on massive ships.
Main Character
The main character is Alana. She’s Giana and best friends with an Avalon, Gen. Alana is a rebel and breaks rules like curfew and crosses boundaries to be with her BFF.
Alana is dreading shift day when her & her family could be moved as she likes where they are. She’s also almost eighteen, an age where she’ll be give her profession. As she gets older, there’s more talk of her being coupled.
Review
I liked Alana. She’s a daring character and a rebel. The story is about her finding her Mirror Soul. It’s like a soul mate that awakens powers.
The Avalons don’t allow Mirror Souls and Alana is breaking rules to discover and be with hers, putting everyone she loves in danger.
It’s a fast paced adventure as they travel all over the world looking for somewhere safe to be together. Instead, they unravel a load of secrets, as embark on a mission to rescue Alana’s family.
I’m not a fan of aliens. space or travelling, and this book was up against that. But, the fast pace and action kept me turning the page as I unravelled secrets with Alana.
The challenge was set by World Indie Warriors on Instagram. They created three #WIWBingo boards; YA, Romance, and Fantasy.
The aim is to read and review the books on Instagram and tag @worldindiewarriors
The goal is to get three in a line, and help indie books get seen.
I’m doing the challenge. I’ve already read some of the books on the board so I’ll be reposting them this month, and I’m hoping to read some new one too.
The challenge was set by World Indie Warriors on Instagram. They created three #WIWBingo boards; YA, Romance, and Fantasy.
The aim is to read and review the books on Instagram and tag @worldindiewarriors
The goal is to get three in a line, and help indie books get seen.
I’m doing the challenge. I’ve already read some of the books on the board so I’ll be reposting them this month, and I’m hoping to read some new one too.
World Indie Warriors is a nonprofit organisation that has a mission to bring indie authors together so they can collaborate and help each other. They are a lovely bunch and a joy to work with.
#WIWBINGO
Over on Instagram @worldindiewarriors have created a reading challenge for indie books.
Readers are encouraged to get a line of three by reading books on the bingo cards.
When readers post their review, WIW would like readers to tag them in it.
My debut novel Ocean Heart is featured on one of the bingo boards!
Fantasy books to read this summer!Romance books to read this summer!YA books to read this summer!
If you want to join in, you might be interested to know that Ocean Heart is available to borrow from all good libraries. The library might need the ISBN to order it in. You may find this pic useful.
Ocean Heart ISBN
As a supporter of indie authors & indie books, I already have a few of the books ticked off the bingo card, but no lines.
The MC, Ashley, has moved to a new town, Emerald, for a fresh start, with her dad and his new girlfriend. Can she out run her past?
The girl friend works at Ashley’s new school and introduced her to Lucas, a boy in her year group. Ashley settles into her new school quickly as she already has made friends.
Ashley’s auntie has been counseling her to help with behaviour issues that got so out of hand that Ashley was lucky to only have community service.
Characters
Ashley is the main character. She went off the rails and is now trying to get her life back on track. She’s very self-involved.
Roxanne is the villain. She is the bad girl from Ashley’s past. Together they had wild parties and commit crimes.
Lucas is the lad that Ashley was introduced to before moving to Emerald. He makes sure she settles into school and has a good new group of friends like Chloe.
Her dad and his girlfriend are really nice. Ashley is struggling with her dad’s new relationship and how she fits in. This was the catalyst for her bad behavior and although she working on changing, she’s still not okay.
Review
This book felt like a book 2. I really wanted to see Ashley go wild and hit rock bottom but the story starts after that, once the dust has settled. Except, Ashley hasn’t really processed what happened.
Ashley integrates into her new school with ease. Her new house is in a nice neighbourhood and next door to one of her new friends. Everything is going good until the burglaries start.
Someone is breaking into homes and stealing peoples jewellery. Ashley can’t help but think her past is catching up with her. When someone she loves gets hurt she decides its time to take responsibility for her mistakes. She runs away from home, back to her old town.
There were a few occasions I felt the story was too safe, and the author could have dug deeper into Ashley’s emotions and upped the stakes. It is a quick easy read.
The story has a satisfying ending with no loose ends. Although it is part of a series you can read it as a standalone. Overall it is a good story about taking responsibility for you actions and forgiveness.
The book deals with or touches on the following topics; moving house & starting a new school, death of a parent, parent remarrying, a new baby to the family, going wild (stealing, drinking, drugs, sleeping around), miscarriage, gun crime, running away/homelessness, and needing therapy.
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This story is the perfect teen Halloween romance. Set in a town called Hallow, they make the celebrations a drawn out week of festivities.
The genre is YA Romance and it’s a second chance romance. The story is a novella, a short quick read.
About the Book
Beginning
The book starts with Blaire breaking up with her boyfriend, Lucas. We don’t know why she has done it but it’s quite clear that she’s still love with him.
Blaire has also received a letter. A letter she doesn’t want to read, or keep, but can’t quite bring herself to destroy it. A letter written in her dad’s handwriting.
Blaire is still grieving the loss of her mum. An event that shook her dad so greatly, he took off without a goodbye and left her in the care of her Grams. The anniversary of this tragedy was last Halloween causing her to dislike the holidays.
Middle
Blaire lives with her Grams, and works at the family’s catering business. This often involves her wearing costumes, especially around Halloween.
Blaire’s best friend is her cousin Donnie. It was through Donnie she first met Lucas, the three of them hanging out together. The break up has affected their social dynamics.
Donnie helps Lucas try to get Blaire back. They get her to agree to do four Halloween events, to help change her mind about Halloween.
Blaire finds it hard being “friends” with Lucas. Her feelings are still there and he makes it clear he wants her back, forcing her to push him away more.
End
Blaire finally breaks down and opens up. She faces her fears, opens the letter, and gets her Happily Ever After.
Final Thoughts
If The Broom Fits is a delightful festive read. It has all the Halloween vibes and the sort of sweet romance you can trust Sarah Sutton to deliver. There were times I wanted to slap Blaire, but she’s been through so much, her actions were believable. Blaire is a family oriented girl and this is seen in her sacrifices for the family business and interaction’s where ex’s family. Lucas gets this, and no matter how hard Blaire pushes him, he makes it clear he’s ready to give them a second chance. Lucas is the guy every girl needs.
I have been following Sarah for a while on Instagram as I was intrigued to read her debut novel What Are Friends For?
So, when the opportunity to read an ARC for her new novel came up it was the perfect chance to see whether I like her writing. And, I do.
Don’t forget to join my newsletter for my own ARC sign up news!
Blurb: Out of my League
Beginning
The MC, Sophia, has dreams of getting an internship at a local Newspaper. She is famous for her article on plastic straws that activated change.
Her journalism plan involves writing for the school paper but she receives the devastating news that the School’s Board are scrapping the papers funding to buy bleachers for the baseball team.
Sophia is supposed to be finding ‘the right time’ to dump her idiot boyfriend Scott. She decides to save the school paper by writing a final article, on how toxic the Baseball team and undeserving of the funds. She delays dumping Scott to use him to get the information for her expose.
Middle
Sophia attends an end of school party with her best friend Edith. It’s at Walsh’s house, the captain of the baseball team; the baseball team that has taken her beloved newspaper’s funding.
Sophia isn’t a fan of Walsh. Scott has constantly bad mouthed him to her, highlighting his every flaw.
Scott arrives at the party, with another girl.
When he realises he’s been caught cheating, he dumps Sophia in-front of everyone and humiliates her. Walsh jumps to her rescue and claims they are secretly in love and can now be together.
Despite being a heart throb, Sophia is not into Walsh. She runs off and Walsh goes after her. He offers to be her fake boyfriend and help with the article (not knowing the angle Sophia is aiming for).
We follow Sophia infiltrate the baseball team, gathering incriminating evidence for her article. She fends off her ex-Scott’s snide remarks whilst he flaunts his new girlfriend.
In addition, Sophia’s parents are at each others throats, their ups and downs escalates to divorce. And Sophia turns to her fake boyfriend for comfort. They get close, and she discover’s Walsh’s family life isn’t perfect either.
Walsh starts doing sweet things for her, even when nobody is around to witness it. Sophia starts to fall for him and has to keep reminding herself its not real. Edith tries to persuade her to scrap the article but she can’t see any other way to save her dream of becoming a journalist.
Everything gets very messy for Sophia:
She fights with her parents that now have decided on counselling, and are having a baby.
She runs to Walsh. He confesses he knew Scott was cheating and at the party he planned for her to catch Scott out, to get back at him. Realising she was a pawn in their rivalry from the start breaks her heart. She tells Walsh about the article exposing the team cheating (paying other teams to throw the game) and storms off.
She goes to Edith’s house, and they fight. Sophia is heartbroken that Edith knew about Scott too and didn’t tell her, and Edith points out the many ways Sophia has been selfish.
Ending
Sophia has a lot of making up to do. With the support of her parents and BFF, it’s time to get back the boy she loves with a grand gesture… but, when she arrives at the pitch the game is cancelled.
She bumps into her ex, Scott. He tells her Walsh revealed the baseball team’s cheating. Scott’s new girlfriend is sick of the rivalry between the guys and dumps him.
Sophia finds Walsh speaking to a baseball scout. Despite the cheating, he still got picked. They get together. Sophia loves Walsh more than the article and scraps it.
Her parents are happy. Sophia and Walsh are happy. Then Sophia gets a call. Her teacher sent her straw article to the local paper and they love it and offer her an internship.
So many happy vibes ?.
Final thoughts…
I know nothing about baseball but that didn’t matter. This is a heartwarming sweet love story. I loved the friendship between the girls. All the characters and relationships were well developed, complex and had their own motives.
The fake relationship is believable, there was a good motive from both sides. The chemistry between the two was brilliant and I caught butterflies many times, rooting for them to kiss and realise what they have is real.
“And, just like that, the tingly sensation from my fingers, spread to my stomach.” Excerpt from Out of My League by Sarah Sutton
Sarah is one of the incredible authors you can discover in the World Indie Warriors brochure, containing full details on how to connect with her and buy her books.
