My Three Most Recent Reads: A Review of "The Kitchen Front", "If You Ask Me (Like That)", and "A Court of Miracles"

I recently finished reading three books that I am excited to share with you. As usual, I have a strong opinion on each book, and I'd like to dive into the details of why I loved them.

First up is "The Kitchen Front" by Agnes Bolton. This book was an absolute surprise hit for me. It received only two out of five stars from me because while it wasn't my favorite, it was still a very enjoyable read. The author did a great job of creating a unique and engaging storyline that kept me hooked from start to finish. I loved the fact that there were different recipes in the book, which added an extra layer of fun to the story. The way all the elements came together at the end was just perfect, and I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a light and delicious read. Although I haven't heard anybody talk about it, I would definitely recommend it because it is adorable and has everything that makes a great novel.

Another book I recently finished reading is "If You Ask Me (Like That)" by Meredith Meline. This was my favorite of the three books I've been discussing so far. It's an adult romance with a Cinderella retelling, which made me extremely excited to dive into it. As someone who loves plus-sized women myself, it's always great to see representation in literature, and this book delivered in spades. The story follows Cindy, a plus-sized woman who gets an opportunity to go on "Before Midnight", aka the Bachelor, show. She's also a talented shoe designer who wants to prove that plus-sized women can find love too. I loved how the author handled the romance between Cindy and Henry, the bachelor. It was adorable and sweet, and I appreciated the fact that it wasn't over-the-top or unrealistic. The book also had a lovely message about self-acceptance and being worthy of love, regardless of your size.

Speaking of "Before Midnight", this is Julie Murphy's first book in a new series called "Meant to Be". While I didn't know what the rest of the books were going to be like until after finishing the first one, I was delighted by the Cinderella retelling. The author did a great job of putting her own spin on the classic fairy tale, making it feel fresh and exciting again. I also appreciated the fact that Cindy's stepmother and sisters weren't evil villains, but rather kind and caring people who wanted the best for their daughter.

I was reminded of another book I read last year, "One to Watch" by Kate Stayman London, when reading this one. It's similar in concept to a reality TV show like The Bachelorette, and I appreciated how close to the original it stayed. However, I did find that the romance between Cindy and Henry was slightly less developed than I would have liked. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially since it featured a plus-sized woman as the main character, which is always awesome.

In conclusion, my favorite of these three books was probably "The Kitchen Front", but I also thoroughly enjoyed all three. Each one had its own unique charm and strengths that made me love them in different ways. If you're looking for a light and fun read, especially with reality TV themes, then this book series is definitely worth checking out.

While the last book, "A Court of Miracles", was an ebook titled "If the Shoe Fits" by Julie Murphy, I still enjoyed it immensely. As the first book in a new series, it's hard to say what the rest will be like, but I'm excited to dive into the next one nonetheless.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello everyone today i'm here to do another recent read so i feel like i haven't done one all month but here we are and they're all three completely different genres so what these videos are are just three recent reads that i've read um i tell you what the book is about what i liked about it what i didn't like about it and what i rated it they're all non-spoilers spoiler free i guess you could say so it's just to help you figure out if you want to read the book or not so the three books i will be talking about today are finley finlay finley i keep wanting finley finley donave is killing it by el casmano this is a mystery thriller then we have the kitchen front by jennifer ryan which is a historical novel and then we have if the shoe fits by julie murphy which is an adult romance there will be timestamps down below as well as in the cards so if you want to hear about one particular book you can go to that particular book let's get into it so the first book like i said is finley donave is killing it um this is an adult mystery filler very satirey very funny it's been exploding here on booktube so that's why i decided to read it and it definitely didn't disappoint so this whole book follows the character you guessed the name finlay who she is an author she writes a lot of mystery like steamy mysteries like erotic mysteries i guess you could say mystery swords that have some adult times in them i shall say so that's what her job is she's also a mom to two young kids and she is divorced so she is struggling at the beginning of this book she doesn't know really how she can afford payments on her house things like that things are estranged with her ex-husband who she divorced because he cheated on her and she's just trying to figure out like what to do she's also trying to figure out what her next book is about because if you're an author you're on deadlines a lot you can meet with your agent and things like that she is behind so basically the whole book starts with her going to meet her agent at panera and she's kind of pitching her idea to her agent of her book of like this murder and things like that and how this woman will cover up and another woman that's in the panera overhears her and suddenly thinks that finley is like a contract killer so she leaves her a note with like her number and like the guy she once killed and like all this stuff and family's like um you know like what's going on like i am i'm not i'm not a killer i'm just an author i write about killings i don't actually do them but it's for a good chunk of money so she's like maybe i should check this out and then that's how the book kind of goes so like i said it's very satirey very funny it's all about her being a single mom trying to juggle this with like trying to make money and also being like mistaken for a contract killer you know that's everyday stuff right but i really enjoyed it i gave it a four out of five it's funny it's going to be a series this the book leaves definitely off on a cliffhanger which i didn't mind at all um and i will definitely continue off the series it was just a fun time if you like mystery fillers that maybe aren't if you don't want ones that are too scary and too like gory and things like that if you want one that's got a little bit of humor with it i think this would be a great book for you to read um and maybe if you're just tired of like kind of the gore and things like that you just want a funnier one again this is a great book it's kind of like a breath of fresh air when it comes to mystery fillers there you know it's kind of it was kind of like a cozy mystery but not quite i guess you could say i thoroughly enjoyed it i had a good time i laughed several times i understood her trials and tribulations with motherhood i loved how she got in this business of being a contract killer and like you know deciding to do this and how she fell into it and just how insane it got this book definitely is a book that like there's very unrealistic scenarios that you're just like no there's there's just no way but it was a fun time if you just want a fun satari like mystery thriller this is a great book to pick up thoroughly enjoyed it i could see why there are so many people that really love it next up is my historical book and that is the kitchen front by jennifer ryan so i picked this up mainly because the cover the cover is beautiful and when i read the synopsis i was like i really want to read this i'm not a big historical reader i'm i'm really not i say that and my favorite book of all time is a historical mouthful so i'm kind of contradicting myself here but i just don't read a ton of them they don't really i'm not really drawn to them a ton but sometimes i am much like the case with this one so this book takes place in world war ii in england and basically in this book we follow four women and it is during the time in the war where a lot of food is rationed like everything is rationed like even at the beginning of this book it tells you the rations for like a particular week here um and it just yes for one adult for a week per week and so basically these women have to figure out what to do with their rations because they're small like i'm talking about like this is for one person um eight tablespoons of butter i don't know four tablespoons of butter and eight tablespoons of margarine like that's how much they can have every single week and you know it's just it's rough because of the war and things like that so the whole book is about these four women that are going through these rations and there's this radio program called the kitchen front that is designed to help women to cook with their rations to figure out like how to make the best with your rations and there's this contest they decide to come up with um where four women will enter and whoever wins will get to be the first ever female host of the kitchen front which obviously is a very big deal because it's during world war ii so a lot of women aren't working that has not entered like you know the field yet so like i said we follow four different women that are totally different that are competing in this competition they have to cook like a whole meal they have to cook like an appetizer an entree and a dessert all within the rations and so yeah that's what the book is about i loved it it is an underrated book that i haven't heard like anybody talk about it i saw it on um i think it was desi's channel when i first saw this book and i was like oh that looks so interesting so i haven't heard anybody talk about this but i think if you love historical books number one this is a great one to read and if you love books about like cooking and baking both of those because they do a fair amount of cooking and they do a fair amount of baking this is a great one also if you just love a good book about friendship sisterhood this is great because these women are so different in fact some of them have very much animosity towards each other but they come together in the most beautiful ways and like rally behind one another and rally with each other and just try to make the best of it because one of the woman is has us has three kids and her husband has died of war another woman is pregnant and she's trying to hide because it's um she's not married another woman's not suff not doing well in a marriage it's just all these women come from such different walks of life but all have one common unity of trying to do better for themselves and also trying to just survive this war and it was just a very easy read because i know sometimes historical books can be a little muddled down in my opinion with historical things and all that stuff i'm just i just like i said i'm not like i don't dislike historical books at all i'm just not insanely drawn to them as much as other people are but i thoroughly love this one four and a half out of five it might make my favorites of the year because of just how much i loved it and how there was different recipes in them and how it all came together at the end like i said i haven't heard anybody talk about it but would highly recommend i thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed it it was adorable and all of those things and the last book is an ebook and that is if the shoe fits by julie murphy this is her first book in a new series it's called meant to be and this first book i don't know if they're all going to be retellings but the first book was a cinderella retelling so this is an adult romance and we follow main character cindy who is a plus-sized woman which i am always a fan of because i'm a plus-sized woman myself and basically she gets an opportunity to go on this show called before midnight aka the bachelor you can get it um and so she is a contestant with like 30 other women trying to win the heart of this guy named henry but the only problem is she actually has already met henry before she met henry on the plane ride before this all began and there was an immediate attraction and she's like and then she figures out that he's the before midnight like bachelor and she's like oh man i think i might actually really like this guy and so she goes on the show to like kind of prove you know she wants to be a shoe designer she also wants to prove that plus-sized women can find love too which is always awesome and that's kind of what the book is about so this one really reminded me of another book i read last year called one to watch by kate stayman london which is that was kind of like based on the bachelorette this one's kind of the bachelor so i'd say if you're a big fan of like books about like reality show especially reality dating shows this one is a great one to read i will say i did like one to watch more that's just my personal opinion but i still did really enjoy this one i love the fact that it was a very loosely based cinderella retelling and i also love the fact that the stepmother and the stepsisters weren't horrible people because you know cinderella the stepmom and the sisters are just like you just you hate them you hate them so so much but in this book her stepmom and sisters are actually really kind they love her they care about her they want the best for her they have a good relationship which was just so refreshing to read in a retelling that i was like i love this so i really enjoyed that i also really enjoyed cindy as the main character she was a woman that knew what she wanted she loved her fashion and she loved designing stuff she was amazing at it and she knew that she was worthy of love as every woman is and it was just a really cute novel i gave it a three and a half out of five it wasn't fully there for me but i would say if you just want like a cutesy book to read by the beach because this does come out in august i should have said that it's coming out next month so we're we're close we're good we're good this is a great one to do that you'll fly through it you'll be addicted of who's gonna get sent home each week who henry's favorite is i just wish the relationship between henry and cindy was a little bit more fleshed out like it wasn't fully there for me a hundred percent it was almost there but i wanted kind of more umph from it if you i'm saying but like i said this is a super cute book and it's going to be a series i don't know if the next book is going to be like sleeping beauty retelling or like a snow white retelling i don't know i could guess it could probably go that way but i will definitely continue off this series because i love the representation of plus-sized women and it was just fun like i do as much as like i love reading reality tv like books like dating books but i don't watch the bachelor bachelorette i have no desire to watch them so the fact that i like reading about them is very very interesting but nevertheless i still enjoyed it so there you have my thoughts feelings on my three most recent reads i would say my favorite of these three is probably the kitchen front because i just wasn't expecting to love it as much as i did but i thoroughly loved it honestly but all of them are great in their own ways i would love to know if you've read any of these did i inspire you to read any of them and yeah let me know your thoughts and opinions thank you guys so much for watching and i will see you in my next video byehello everyone today i'm here to do another recent read so i feel like i haven't done one all month but here we are and they're all three completely different genres so what these videos are are just three recent reads that i've read um i tell you what the book is about what i liked about it what i didn't like about it and what i rated it they're all non-spoilers spoiler free i guess you could say so it's just to help you figure out if you want to read the book or not so the three books i will be talking about today are finley finlay finley i keep wanting finley finley donave is killing it by el casmano this is a mystery thriller then we have the kitchen front by jennifer ryan which is a historical novel and then we have if the shoe fits by julie murphy which is an adult romance there will be timestamps down below as well as in the cards so if you want to hear about one particular book you can go to that particular book let's get into it so the first book like i said is finley donave is killing it um this is an adult mystery filler very satirey very funny it's been exploding here on booktube so that's why i decided to read it and it definitely didn't disappoint so this whole book follows the character you guessed the name finlay who she is an author she writes a lot of mystery like steamy mysteries like erotic mysteries i guess you could say mystery swords that have some adult times in them i shall say so that's what her job is she's also a mom to two young kids and she is divorced so she is struggling at the beginning of this book she doesn't know really how she can afford payments on her house things like that things are estranged with her ex-husband who she divorced because he cheated on her and she's just trying to figure out like what to do she's also trying to figure out what her next book is about because if you're an author you're on deadlines a lot you can meet with your agent and things like that she is behind so basically the whole book starts with her going to meet her agent at panera and she's kind of pitching her idea to her agent of her book of like this murder and things like that and how this woman will cover up and another woman that's in the panera overhears her and suddenly thinks that finley is like a contract killer so she leaves her a note with like her number and like the guy she once killed and like all this stuff and family's like um you know like what's going on like i am i'm not i'm not a killer i'm just an author i write about killings i don't actually do them but it's for a good chunk of money so she's like maybe i should check this out and then that's how the book kind of goes so like i said it's very satirey very funny it's all about her being a single mom trying to juggle this with like trying to make money and also being like mistaken for a contract killer you know that's everyday stuff right but i really enjoyed it i gave it a four out of five it's funny it's going to be a series this the book leaves definitely off on a cliffhanger which i didn't mind at all um and i will definitely continue off the series it was just a fun time if you like mystery fillers that maybe aren't if you don't want ones that are too scary and too like gory and things like that if you want one that's got a little bit of humor with it i think this would be a great book for you to read um and maybe if you're just tired of like kind of the gore and things like that you just want a funnier one again this is a great book it's kind of like a breath of fresh air when it comes to mystery fillers there you know it's kind of it was kind of like a cozy mystery but not quite i guess you could say i thoroughly enjoyed it i had a good time i laughed several times i understood her trials and tribulations with motherhood i loved how she got in this business of being a contract killer and like you know deciding to do this and how she fell into it and just how insane it got this book definitely is a book that like there's very unrealistic scenarios that you're just like no there's there's just no way but it was a fun time if you just want a fun satari like mystery thriller this is a great book to pick up thoroughly enjoyed it i could see why there are so many people that really love it next up is my historical book and that is the kitchen front by jennifer ryan so i picked this up mainly because the cover the cover is beautiful and when i read the synopsis i was like i really want to read this i'm not a big historical reader i'm i'm really not i say that and my favorite book of all time is a historical mouthful so i'm kind of contradicting myself here but i just don't read a ton of them they don't really i'm not really drawn to them a ton but sometimes i am much like the case with this one so this book takes place in world war ii in england and basically in this book we follow four women and it is during the time in the war where a lot of food is rationed like everything is rationed like even at the beginning of this book it tells you the rations for like a particular week here um and it just yes for one adult for a week per week and so basically these women have to figure out what to do with their rations because they're small like i'm talking about like this is for one person um eight tablespoons of butter i don't know four tablespoons of butter and eight tablespoons of margarine like that's how much they can have every single week and you know it's just it's rough because of the war and things like that so the whole book is about these four women that are going through these rations and there's this radio program called the kitchen front that is designed to help women to cook with their rations to figure out like how to make the best with your rations and there's this contest they decide to come up with um where four women will enter and whoever wins will get to be the first ever female host of the kitchen front which obviously is a very big deal because it's during world war ii so a lot of women aren't working that has not entered like you know the field yet so like i said we follow four different women that are totally different that are competing in this competition they have to cook like a whole meal they have to cook like an appetizer an entree and a dessert all within the rations and so yeah that's what the book is about i loved it it is an underrated book that i haven't heard like anybody talk about it i saw it on um i think it was desi's channel when i first saw this book and i was like oh that looks so interesting so i haven't heard anybody talk about this but i think if you love historical books number one this is a great one to read and if you love books about like cooking and baking both of those because they do a fair amount of cooking and they do a fair amount of baking this is a great one also if you just love a good book about friendship sisterhood this is great because these women are so different in fact some of them have very much animosity towards each other but they come together in the most beautiful ways and like rally behind one another and rally with each other and just try to make the best of it because one of the woman is has us has three kids and her husband has died of war another woman is pregnant and she's trying to hide because it's um she's not married another woman's not suff not doing well in a marriage it's just all these women come from such different walks of life but all have one common unity of trying to do better for themselves and also trying to just survive this war and it was just a very easy read because i know sometimes historical books can be a little muddled down in my opinion with historical things and all that stuff i'm just i just like i said i'm not like i don't dislike historical books at all i'm just not insanely drawn to them as much as other people are but i thoroughly love this one four and a half out of five it might make my favorites of the year because of just how much i loved it and how there was different recipes in them and how it all came together at the end like i said i haven't heard anybody talk about it but would highly recommend i thoroughly thoroughly enjoyed it it was adorable and all of those things and the last book is an ebook and that is if the shoe fits by julie murphy this is her first book in a new series it's called meant to be and this first book i don't know if they're all going to be retellings but the first book was a cinderella retelling so this is an adult romance and we follow main character cindy who is a plus-sized woman which i am always a fan of because i'm a plus-sized woman myself and basically she gets an opportunity to go on this show called before midnight aka the bachelor you can get it um and so she is a contestant with like 30 other women trying to win the heart of this guy named henry but the only problem is she actually has already met henry before she met henry on the plane ride before this all began and there was an immediate attraction and she's like and then she figures out that he's the before midnight like bachelor and she's like oh man i think i might actually really like this guy and so she goes on the show to like kind of prove you know she wants to be a shoe designer she also wants to prove that plus-sized women can find love too which is always awesome and that's kind of what the book is about so this one really reminded me of another book i read last year called one to watch by kate stayman london which is that was kind of like based on the bachelorette this one's kind of the bachelor so i'd say if you're a big fan of like books about like reality show especially reality dating shows this one is a great one to read i will say i did like one to watch more that's just my personal opinion but i still did really enjoy this one i love the fact that it was a very loosely based cinderella retelling and i also love the fact that the stepmother and the stepsisters weren't horrible people because you know cinderella the stepmom and the sisters are just like you just you hate them you hate them so so much but in this book her stepmom and sisters are actually really kind they love her they care about her they want the best for her they have a good relationship which was just so refreshing to read in a retelling that i was like i love this so i really enjoyed that i also really enjoyed cindy as the main character she was a woman that knew what she wanted she loved her fashion and she loved designing stuff she was amazing at it and she knew that she was worthy of love as every woman is and it was just a really cute novel i gave it a three and a half out of five it wasn't fully there for me but i would say if you just want like a cutesy book to read by the beach because this does come out in august i should have said that it's coming out next month so we're we're close we're good we're good this is a great one to do that you'll fly through it you'll be addicted of who's gonna get sent home each week who henry's favorite is i just wish the relationship between henry and cindy was a little bit more fleshed out like it wasn't fully there for me a hundred percent it was almost there but i wanted kind of more umph from it if you i'm saying but like i said this is a super cute book and it's going to be a series i don't know if the next book is going to be like sleeping beauty retelling or like a snow white retelling i don't know i could guess it could probably go that way but i will definitely continue off this series because i love the representation of plus-sized women and it was just fun like i do as much as like i love reading reality tv like books like dating books but i don't watch the bachelor bachelorette i have no desire to watch them so the fact that i like reading about them is very very interesting but nevertheless i still enjoyed it so there you have my thoughts feelings on my three most recent reads i would say my favorite of these three is probably the kitchen front because i just wasn't expecting to love it as much as i did but i thoroughly loved it honestly but all of them are great in their own ways i would love to know if you've read any of these did i inspire you to read any of them and yeah let me know your thoughts and opinions thank you guys so much for watching and i will see you in my next video bye\n"