Mariana Zapata Read-a-thon: Wait for It starting March 27th

[Jennifer]

I am not a re-reader. I loved McBride's and Mackenzie's. up for Kingdom of Dreams or Highland Guard. maybe we need a rom com. something so funny we cant put it down? I dunno. I'm the novice book nerd here.

[Nikitha]

Courtney wrote: "I wouldn't mind getting back into the MacKenzie and McBrides again. The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie was fantastic the first time I read it. I wonder if it'll hold up on a second reading 🤔.
"

I remember reading this series a while ago but I didn't enjoy it too much 😕

[Nikitha]

We can read Protecting What's Mine? I remember Aiswrya suggesting it a while ago. I've never read it though, so not sure what kind of a book it is!

[Nikitha]

Courtney wrote: "A Kingdom of Dreams definitely qualifies, but I don't think I could handle reading it again. The heroine just hurts me to read. I just wanted to smack her on the head whenever she mad..."

I don't remember much about Kingdom of Dreams except that I really enjoyed it the first time. I'm curious to see what I'll think of it now

[Aiswrya]

I loved both these books! I vote for kingdom of dreams though since protecting what’s mine is a slow burn again

[Courtney]

Nikitha wrote: "I don't remember much about Kingdom of Dreams except that I really enjoyed it the first time. I'm curious to see what I'll think of it now"

Yeah, I totally loved the book when I read it, but it was also really emotional painful at the same. I'm really glad I read it, but I don't know if I can go through it again 🤣🤣🤣

[Courtney]

I have Protecting What's Mine on my TBR, too, but it looks like it's the 3rd book in the series. Is it OK to just go straight into it?

[Aiswrya]

Courtney wrote: "I have Protecting What's Mine on my TBR, too, but it looks like it's the 3rd book in the series. Is it OK to just go straight into it?"

I think so! I didn't read the first two books either. I think the couples from the first two books were mentioned, but I wasn't lost or anything

[Courtney]

Ok cool.

[Courtney]

Oh, I thought of a comedy one I wanted to read Shacking Up. Not sure if anyone else is a Hunting fan or not. I loved her Pucked series, so I've been meaning to get to this one for a while.

[Nikitha]

Courtney wrote: "Oh, I thought of a comedy one I wanted to read Shacking Up. Not sure if anyone else is a Hunting fan or not. I loved her Pucked series, so I've been meaning to get t..."

Oh I've read this one before!! It was pre-goodreads and I had forgotten all about it. I can't remember if I liked it or not either, so I don't mind reading it again

[Jennifer]

oh! anything adjacent to Pucked I'll read. That series was hilarious. I think I only read the MC's story line and skipped some of the other players but it was funny!

[Courtney]

I just checked, and I was up to Pucked Off. I'm actually cool reading any of those again or Shacking Up.

[Aiswrya]

I think I’m going to sit this book out. How about you three read it and I’ll check back in after?

[Nikitha]

I'm finally finished with Wait for It! When do you guys want to start Shacking Up?

[Jennifer]

any time is a good time. finished heart of hounded. slowly tackling Serena Akeroyd universe in between BRs.

[Nikitha]

I'm good to start today! Let's wait for Courtney

[Courtney]

Yeah, I'm good to go. I might not start it til tonight, though, because I'm hoping it'll double up with my next amazing race call!

[Jennifer]

Shacking Up, Hooking Up and I Flipping Love You locked and loaded. Will start tonight unless I get a lunch break today.

[Courtney]

👍I'm starting now!

[Jennifer]

First chapter, first paragraph.... I love this character. Oh the yummy horderves in the purse lol!

[Courtney]

I'm just through Chapter 4. It's definitely not as funny as Pucked, but there are a few good bits. I'm just not sure if I'm buying everything right now. It seems odd that Amie is also a trust fund baby, but her apartment is so small that Ruby can't stay there. And if Ruby's dad is the kind of guy who cheats on his wife and marries his secretary, I doubt he'd also care about his daughter working for and getting to know that new step-mom 🤷‍♀️. Maybe this is just moving kind of slow, so I'm nit-picking more 🤣. I think I'm not a fan of the "poor little rich girl" thing in this one, especially since she's rebelling just so she can become an actress, which seems like a profession perfectly suited to people with money, time, and connections 🤔.

[Jennifer]

I agree. not so funny. poor little rich girl confused me when I figured out she didnt even have a part time job. her dad was also confusing. support her but not support her. if he has so much money what does he care, not like she's being extravagant.

[Nikitha]

I had the same thought about Amie's house but then I figured maybe she lives in an expensive area or it's one of those houses that look very fancy but don't serve the purpose of comfort?
Also she keeps calling her stepmother a whore/slut which just annoys me because she's said it about 10 times now and I'm only in ch 3 or 4, I can't remember exactly

[Courtney]

It's getting a bit better now that Ruby has moved in. At least a bit of flirting, and I really like the kooky pet stuff and Bancroft's POV sections.

But this thing is just kind of cringy tone-deaf. Like, how Ruby thinks about how hard it's been not living in luxury for five years, and even when she visits home, she has to treat it like a short stint at a fancy hotel and not her real life.



Like, seriously, 5 years living in a tiny apartment is supposed to be something special?

Even Bancroft is all impressed that she managed these five years living in that space, but her dad was still paying for it! I think the author expected this to show a lot more character than it actually does. Not to mention how Bancroft's all excited that she doesn't have a pedicure, which he takes to mean she must not be high maintenance. It's called poverty, dude. When you can't afford a place to live, and you've been eating ramen noodles for 3 weeks, you generally don't splurge on a pedicure. 🤣

[Courtney]

Nikitha wrote: "Also she keeps calling her stepmother a whore/slut which just annoys me because she's said it about 10 times now and I'm only in ch 3 or 4, I can't remember exactly"

Yeah, there's a lot of calling every other woman slut or whore in here. It feels really overdone.

[Courtney]

Ok, I'm liking it so much more with all the long-distance flirting going on although (view spoiler)[I think Ruby totally overreacts when Bane tells her not to date Wainscot or whatever that jerky guy's name is (hide spoiler)]

The whore-mother comments are starting to really drive me nuts now. Her dad was the married guy who cheated on his wife, why is she blaming the secretary for him being a douche?

[Nikitha]

I'm upto chapter 12. The pace has picked up and the dialogue is definitely witty. Ruby and Bane are both nice but I don't find anything special about either of them yet. There's chemistry between them for sure though
The animals sound cute especially Fransecsa but I can't imagine having a pet ferret, it would be so weird

[Jennifer]

Ferrets do stink. I haven't sniffed a de-glanded one but I want to puke thinking Franny's in his bedroom. it's MUSK like ANIMAL MUSK yuck. Only better than a studding rutting goat.

Manhattan is ridiculously expensive. Amie's 1 bedroom condo in that area was at least $2-5M. A cheap tiny Manhattan studio is $1m.

So weird Armstrong doesn't like sleepovers - hello obvious suspicious behavior. And I want Lexington's story but I don't see his name in the other series books.

[Courtney]

Yeah, I haven't looked ahead, but I imagine one of the books is about Amalie finding out he's a cheater and leaving his ass.

Did you see the comment he made about Amsterdam? (view spoiler)[ That he wouldn't be cheating on Amalie if he saw a prostitute because it's a different zip code? (hide spoiler)] Total yuck!

I finished up this morning. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it nearly as much as I've liked other Hunting books. I think Ruby made way too big a deal about not wanting to be "kept" when she's essentially been taken care of her entire life. Living on your own in an apartment in Manhatten while your father foots the bill, even if it's a tiny apartment, is not living on your own two feet.

There wasn't really enough good chemistry between the two either. I actually think their long-distance chatting and flirting was way better than their face-to-face interactions 🤷🏼‍♀️

[Nikitha]

Yup the Amsterdam comment was gross- Armstrong and every other male in this book is disgusting. It's like Ruby, Bane and Amie are the only characters worth reading about but Amie hasn't been mentioned all that much so its just Ruby and Bane. I'm more than halfway through and still they're in the will-they-won't-they stage! Ugh

Also I thought Ruby trying to make Bane think that he dreamt her up in the night was so stupid. Atleast Bane knows that he wants to hook up with her for sure but Ruby is sending mixed signals all over the place and she won't even give him the time of day to talk about!

[Courtney]

Yeah, I thought that was really weird, too. I really don't get why they just didn't go at it as soon as he got back. Like Ruby was making issues when there weren't any for no reason. I didn't get any of hesitation about wanting to try for the relationship. Especially with every other guy she meets being totally awful. Probably why I didn't end up liking the couple so much. There was good relationship building during the long-distance phase, and then nothing as soon as they could actually be together. It just felt weird.

[Aiswrya]

Sounds like I didn’t miss much! Sorry you all disliked the book though :/

[Nikitha]

Finished!
Definitely just a 3 star for me too. The end drama was just a big misunderstanding- Ruby could have waited to clarify what Bane meant especially because he left her money the last time too for her expenses. It was so dumb that she just took off.
I liked the long distance bit better too and for how much of a villain Ruby made her dad out to be, the way it wrapped up was quite anti climactic.

Ready to move on to the next book! Are we reading Protecting What's Mine?

[Jennifer]

Hmmm... I haven't read book 1-2 Pretend You're Mine or Finally Mine. Anyone else? If I'm the only one proceed without me. It'll take me a week to read 932 pages.

[Nikitha]

I haven't either but I think its a standalone! Let's wait for Aiswrya to confirm

[Aiswrya]

Hey guys! Yeah, I read it as a stand-alone. I wasn’t lost or anything. I’m good to read that!

[Courtney]

Nikitha wrote: "Finished!
Definitely just a 3 star for me too. The end drama was just a big misunderstanding- Ruby could have waited to clarify what Bane meant especially because he left her money the last time too for her expenses. It was so dumb that she just took off.
I liked the long distance bit better too and for how much of a villain Ruby made her dad out to be, the way it wrapped up was quite anti climactic. "

I thought that was so weird too! She totally went crazy with her conclusions. How on Earth do you go from he might be dating to Brittany to he's paying me for sex? So bizarre.

And I think her Dad totally ended up being a nice guy. Besides paying for all her crap for the past five years, he shows up to her first show and is super proud of her! What a monster /s 🙄. I think Ruby is a nutjob.

[Courtney]

I have to finish up my next Amazing Race call, but it's short, so I might be able to start in a day or so....Since its so close to the PTP call, too, I might just wait to see if I can double up with it before I start. You guys don't need to wait for me, though.

[Nikitha]

Courtney wrote: "How on Earth do you go from he might be dating to Brittany to he's paying me for sex? So bizarre."
Right? And Bancroft ends up apologising for everything even though he's done nothing but take care of her!

[Nikitha]

I'm good to start as early as tomorrow (tonight if you're from the US, not very sure where you all live). Let me know what works!

[Courtney]

Nikitha wrote: "Right? And Bancroft ends up apologising for everything even though he's done nothing but take care of her!."

Ugh! I know! So annoying!

[Aiswrya]

Nikitha wrote: "I'm good to start as early as tomorrow (tonight if you're from the US, not very sure where you all live). Let me know what works!"

I can start on Saturday, if that works? I'm going to have to juggle a couple books at the same time otherwise.

[Aiswrya]

Also Jennifer, if you'd like to finish books 1 and 2, I don't mind waiting at all!

[Nikitha]

Yes, same here! Anything is okay with me. I have a couple of other books lined up that I've been meaning to read for a while so I can get started on that

[Jennifer]

Start Monday-ish then? You catchup on the other reads. I catch up on first two books. My bff read this series and knows I'll get all crazy not knowing the beginning. I would literally read 5 tangent series to get to the beginning to understand the end. I'm nuts. Or thorough. Or stubborn. Diligent?

[Aiswrya]

Haha! I’m the exact opposite! I randomly picks books from a series that sound interesting. If I end up getting curious about another couple mentioned in the book, I go back and read that book. I think I even read LOTR out of order but I wasn’t lost since I watched the movies 😂

[Courtney]

You read LOTR out of order 😳. That would drive me nuts 🤣

[Nikitha]

Aiswrya wrote: "Haha! I’m the exact opposite! I randomly picks books from a series that sound interesting. If I end up getting curious about another couple mentioned in the book, I go back and read that book. I th..."

Aiswrya wrote: "Haha! I’m the exact opposite! I randomly picks books from a series that sound interesting. If I end up getting curious about another couple mentioned in the book, I go back and read that book. I th..."

Same! I read whichever book sounds interesting because most of the time not all the books in a series are worth reading and I'd rather read the good ones than be put off by the others (provided they are standalone ofcourse)

I read Harry Potter out of order 🙈🙈🙈

[Jennifer]

Your "skip to the good book" logic is sound. Pretend You're Mine is as smart as a pair of 15 year olds sneaking around their first time. But he's 30 years old instead. I will appreciate it more like a research digest in preparation for book3.