Boy Am I Going To Miss The Reluctant Royals! #SeriesinaMonthChallenge And Avocado Toast Disappointment

 I would like to move to the alternative universe of Alyssa Cole's Reluctant Royals series.  Too bad you can't do a Go Fund Me to raise funds to buy a magical ticket into the fictional realm.  At least I had the #SeriesinaMonth Challenge.  This series was a wonderful escape during the last few weeks of winter.

What a great-looking cover, right?  I like the bold colors and the dresses each of our heroines has worn on the series covers and this dress is no exception.  Beautiful! This book is featured in the book so it's nice to see a representation of Nya in it. 

I am pretty bummed that this is the last book in the series and that I have already read the first book in the spin-off series, How to Catch A Queen.  At least I can look forward to reading the second book n the spin-off series (Runaway Royals) this summer. 

I loved A Prince on Paper, a 5-star review for me. Picture me ticking these features off on my hand  1. It has the wonderful Nya, cousin to Naledi,  who is inexperienced, but not naive and sensitive in the best ways rake, Johan.  2. There is a tiny fake kingdom  3. there is an exploration of life for someone who has experienced Munchhausen by Proxy. 4. There is a fantastic, fantastic subplot about gender identity and Number five, but really first in my heart... A fake engagement!  I love a good fake engagement. Alyssa Cole is on the top of her game in this book, it's so good and why isn't it a Netflix limited series already. C'mon now! 

Alyssa Cole's writing contains just the right amount of humor! 

Do yourself a favor and get this book, get the whole series but esp get my two favorites, A Prince on Paper and Can't Escape Love! 

*******

Welp, this whole growing avocado tree from a pit is not panning out so well.  Dare I say, it's the pits? Yes, I do dare to make that pun! 

At least I have spring in the great outdoors to look forward to and on that note; time for a couple of springtime photos: 

I see this bird's nest on my walks and runs, so far no eggs. If that changes y'all will be the first to know--well besides the birds! 

Look!! You can see the first hints of green!!

This Weeks #SeriesinaMonth Challenge Post! A Duke By Default #romance

A Duke by Default by Alyssa Cole is the second book in her Reluctant Royals series, this time around I was able to borrow an e-book version from my local public library to read. 

This book is the story of Portia, Naledi's best friend in book one.  I was so excited that she was getting her own book!  Portia's story hits home for many readers. Portia has spent her life feeling she was the bad twin. She's been told she is flighty, lazy, unable to commit, unable to finish anything, and worst of all selfish. The self-loathing she has felt for years, especially when compared negatively by her parents to her twin sister Reggie, has led to self-destructive behaviors on her part, especially drinking.  

She is on the cusp of 30 and has decided it's time for a new Portia. This Portia gets an apprenticeship at an Armory in Scotland. New Portia is abstaining from men and booze. Avoiding alcohol proves much easier than avoid men altogether when she meets Tavis McKenzie, her very handsome gruff Scottish Master Swordsman. 

Watching Portia discovering that her behaviors were rooted in undiagnosed ADHD and seeing how she learned coping mechanisms and slowly began to believe in herself was as enjoyable as the slow burn of the romance. You can't have a HEA before you love yourself. 

Alyssa Cole offers another contemporary romance that has heat, deals with social issues, and solid humor. The series doesn't have to be read in order, but I have to say that reading in order is enhancing my enjoyment of the books. 

4 stars to A Duke By Default! 

Quote from the Book:

“Excuse me?”
The librarian looked up again.
“I need help now. I need to print this article and . . . do you have any books about dukes?”
The librarian’s eyes went wide and she rubbed her hands together with glee. “We have a fantastic romance section,” she said. “Do you need recommendations? How do you like your dukes? Grumpy? Tortured? Alpha, beta, or alpha in the streets, beta in the sheets?”
“Actually, I meant nonfiction,” Portia said glumly.
The librarian sighed. “Aye. Just a warning, love—the non-fic dukes are not nearly as fun.” 

Avocado Pit Update- 

Here we have my original pit, as you can see, not much is happening.

I am coming to the conclusion that my first attempt at growing an avocado tree isn't going well. I decided to try another pit and see if that one might grow.  I think that it is starting to grow roots, but it's too soon to tell. We should know by next week for sure, fingers crossed!

Next Wednesday I will be reviewing the two novellas in the series. Once Ghosted, Twice Shy and Can't Escape Love! 

#TheSundayPost Goal This Week: Mason Bee Open House

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.  See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

Happy Daylight Savings Time to everyone who lost an hour!  On the plus side it will be daylight longer today!  We here in Chicagoland had glorious weather on Saturday but it has now taken a turn for the worse --but still not too bad. I mean we have had some very wintery Marches around these parts.  Once it warms up later this week, I've tasked the Hubs with hanging up our new Mason Bee House!  

Keep your fingers crossed that there are some Mason bees in our area looking for new digs. Mason bees are excellent pollinators so it would be great to have some nearby that can pollinate my garden plants this year.  Over the last few years, I've had bad luck getting my pepper plants pollinated! 

How was your week?  The most interesting thing I did was canvassing for a couple local candidates.  An election for many local offices- ie Township Clerk, Mayor, School Board, etc. is coming up on April 6th so there is less than a month to go. I'm glad I am able to volunteer to help candidates I support and it's a great way to get those steps in! 

Did you do anything interesting this week? 

You can see my reviews from last week here: 

The Disappearance of Emily

First in my #seriesinamonth - A Princess in Theory

Fairy Godmothers, Inc.

(exciting news- I've scored the NetGalley ARC of book 2 in the Fairy Godmothers, Inc. series! 

Upcoming this week I'll be sharing my thoughts on these books:

Thanks for stopping by! 

#SeriesinaMonthChallenge A Princess in Theory and An Avocado Tree (in theory)

The hubs and my dear daughter eat avocados all the time, so I thought, why not try to grow a tree from one of the pits that usually goes into the compost bin.  Hope springs eternal as they say.

Here is a link to the handy Good Housekeeping Article on how you can grow an avocado tree from a pit. 

I have a planter all ready to pot an avocado tree provided that my pit decided to make roots. 

I'll keep you all updated on the pit situation moving forward, you shall be the first to know if we get growth!

And now on to the first book in my #SeriesInAMonthChallenge!  A Princess, in Theory,  the first book in the Reluctant Royals series by Alyssa Cole. I was able to borrow the audiobook from my library so I listened to the book at 1.5 speed via the Libby App. 

The audiobook is read by Karen Chilton who is incredibly good.  She gives each character their own voices with just the right accents.  If you are deciding between reading the book and listening to the audio, in this case, do yourself a favor and listen to this book.  

Reading this book, I'm amazing at how Alyssa Cole is so skilled at taking the tropes of fairy tales and regency romance and updating it so that it is grounded in the 21st century.  This book starts off with Naledi Smith getting emails she thinks are spam telling her she is supposed to marry an African Prince!  It's like someone said to Alyssa Cole, I bet you couldn't write a story based on an email scam and she said, watch me! 

In this story, we have Naledi Smith who was raised in the foster care system and doesn't know her roots. She is studying epidemiology as a graduate student.  Along comes Prince Thabiso who plans to swoop in and tell Naledi he is her Prince, and that they have been betrothed since they were practically babies. But then there is a misunderstanding and now the Prince is some guy named Jamal who is a server.  Sparks begin to fly, Prince Thabiso has to keep up his pretense and we know the stage is set for a great romance with comical elements and smart, smart people. 

It's so delightful and I am glad that I decided to read this series in a month!  Alyssa Cole writes intelligent,  environmentally-responsible characters who fall into steamy romances and she doesn't forget to add some humor along the way.  Go ahead and read this one and next week I'll be reviewing A Duke By Default the second book in the series featuring Naledi's BFF!

4.5 Stars to A Princess in Theory! 

The Sunday Post! Marching into March!

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.  See rules here: Sunday Post Meme

How was your week? The weather here was very nice for early March and finally, the sidewalks are about 96% free of snow!  Even better, we are supposed to have highs in the 60s Monday - Wednesday. I will have my windows wide open to let in that fresh air! It will also be a great time to grill out for the first time in 2021. 

In case you missed it- this week
 I wrote about Magic for Liars,

Join the COYER Seasons Spring Challenge

and wrote about an obscure local holiday and a Cozy Series by Elizabeth Pantley

Upcoming this week I will be sharing reviews of: 

A Princess in Theory

Fairy Godmothers, Inc.

The Disappearance of Emily

As I've mentioned before I like seasonal decor and now that it is March, I have updated my coffee station for early spring:

Speaking of coffee, I am taking a MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) class this month and our current homework is to practice the techniques daily. Today I tried a coffee mindfulness meditation! 

I hope you have a great week planned!  What's going on in your neck of the woods? 

Two Challenges To Talk About!

 My local grocery store had a very good deal on Eye of Round Beef Roast, So I said challenge accepted, let me see if I can cook that.  I didn't know that eye of round roast is tricky to cook since it doesn't have that handy fat marbling that allows you to throw it in a slow cooker and forget it.  In other words, Eye of Round Roast isn't like Chuck Roast.

I did some Google searches and found this recipe from the A Family Feast blog which I followed. I did marinate the roast overnight before cooking it today.  I will say that my oven runs hot and I should have turned the heat down from the 500 the recipe used to 475. The fat cap on my roast was overdone. Otherwise, the roast turned out. For sides, I made roasted potatoes as well as cabbage, carrots, and cipollini onions. 

Here is how it looked going into the oven. I put it on a little rack in a roasting pan, but there wasn't much in the way of grease and I don't think the rack was essential. 

This is the plate of food I prepared and brought up to my husband to eat since he was on a work call. Isn't he lucky to have such a nice wife? 

The second challenge I want to talk about is a book series challenge that I'm going to participate in this March.  The challenge is called Can You Read A Series In A Month? My plan is to use this challenge as an opportunity to read the Reluctant Royals series by Alyssa Cole.  The series is a contemporary romance series of three books and two novellas. 

Join me! Let's read a series in March, and then when March is over it will be time for springtime!