TMST

 

 

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the question and answer it on your blog. Feel free to leave your links in the comments if you are participating,

4/28/2026 What is your favorite sports team?

Nope, nope, sport is boring. Especially team sports,. Sorry 

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the question and answer it on your blog. Feel free to leave your links in the comments if you are participating.

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Carole´s Monday: Marriage by Arrangement

 

Author: Sophia Singh Sasson

Narrator: Sharmila Devar
Title: Marriage by Arrangement

Series: (Nights at the Mahal, Book 1)

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Format: Audiobook
Published:  August 1, 2020
Where I Got It: My shelf (Audible) 

Summary: 

When a business proposal turns

very personal…

Rule #1: Don’t fall for the client.

Because he’ll rock your world…

Architect Rani Gupta will never let a man compromise her career or freedom again. Which is a problem now that her newest client is irresistible hotelier Arjun Singh—aka the sexiest bachelor in India. A little fling with this gorgeous man would be scandal enough. But a fake engagement might just be more trouble than they bargained for—especially if Arjun has a prior arrangement!

Review:

Randomly stumbled upon this while looking for something else. Yayyyyy! And it fits a challenge? Even better. 

Here we have Rani and Arjun. Rani is an architect, and Arjun needs a firm to help build his newest hotel. There are sparks immediately, but that can never be. Rani will never let a man and his family compromise her career or freedom EVER again. Arjun is supposed to marry a childhood friend, but neither of them wants it, and neither of them can find the courage to tell their families. Nothing can happen between them....nothing at all, but the universe has other plans. 

This was a lot of fun. I liked Rani and Arjun a lot. I loved watching them get to know each other and eventually fall into lust and then love. It was sweet. I did hate that Arjun didn't tell her of his engagement, BUT 1) Arjun and his "fiancé" made a pact they can date whomever and eventually they'll break it off or delay it for as long as they can, and 2) it was just a fling. He should've mentioned it, though, but I get why he didn't. 

I hated their families. Yes, yes, traditional values and etc, but GAH. I wanted to hit them all. They all eventually see the errors of their ways, but man, it killed me seeing Rani and Arjun treated like that. :/ I was very annoyed that there wasn't more resolution and more time for them to try and make it up to them. There needed to be more apologies and more conversation. It didn't sit well with me how quickly that was wrapped up and put to the side. 

The narration was lovely. Great voices and accents. 

All-in-all, I did like this one. It was not your A-typical boy-meets-girls and etc. It had a lot of differences and depth. Lots of twists and turns. 4 stars from me. 

 

Reading Challenges

- Audiobook #15

- Reading Romance Challenge #12 (Office romance)

Audio: This Kingdom will not kill me by Ilona Andrews

By: Ilona Andrews

Narrated by: Kristen Sieh

Series: Maggie the Undying, Book 1

Length: 21 hrs and 33 mins

Release date: 03-31-26

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Fantasy/own

Why did I not write this review at once! Arghhh. I am over a week late, all the feels are disappearing!

This was just awesome and I could not put it down!

Maggie has a favorite fantasy series that she has read several times, but it is unfinished and suddenly she wakes up naked and filthy in that kingdom. Like what the hell?! And she also discovers in a most unpleasant way that she can not die! And it hurts, like so much.

But she knows this world, these people. She finds money, sanctuary, and plans gets set into motion. This kingdom is heading towards disaster. Maybe she can change some things to have people survive. But she needs help. A knight to do the work she can not. Some people that needs somewhere to go. She has allies, friends.

But she gets in trouble a lot trying to make her plans work. And dying really sucks.

Ohhh and that end, wtf?! Do not end it like that, i need more. Like now.

Awsome narrating too. Perfect in audio

When Maggie wakes up cold, filthy, and naked in a gutter, it doesn't take her long to recognize Kair Toren, a city she knows intimately from the pages of the famously unfinished dark fantasy series she's been obsessively reading and re-reading while waiting years for the final novel.

Her only tools for navigating this gritty world of rival warlords, magic, and mayhem? Her encyclopedic knowledge of the plot, the setting, and the characters' ambitions and fates. But while she quickly discovers she cannot be killed (though many will try!), the same cannot be said for the living, breathing characters she's coming to love—a motley band that includes a former lady’s maid, a deadly assassin, various outrageous magical creatures, and a dangerously appealing soldier. Soon, instead of trying to get home, she finds herself enmeshed in the schemes—and attentions—of dueling princes, dukes, and villains, all while trying to save them and the kingdom of Rellas from the way she knows their stories will in a cataclysmic war.

The blacktongue thief by Christopher Buehlman

Series: Blacktongue (#1)

Format: 416 pages, Paperback

Published: May 27, 2021 by Orion Publishing

Fantasy/own

Well I am glad I read it first now cos I see it from 2020? and book 2 is coming first now! Good for me.

This felt very fantasy formula in a good way, I loved that. Kinch, a thief is told to follow a warrior, or that is convince her to let him follow. And when he does reach the city he will be told what to do.

Galva and Kinch sets out on an adventure. It is a continent ravaged by Goblins. There are rumours of giants. Galva is looking for a missing queen and Kinch is trying to stay ahead of his guild. They get another companion , and even meet a cat.

I enjoyed this. I love a good journey, friendship, lurking danger and more. Now I want the prequel too about Galva fighting in the goblin war. And book 2 as the stakes are high.

Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief, which includes (but is not limited to) lock-picking, knife-fighting, wall-scaling, fall-breaking, lie-weaving, trap-making, plus a few small magics. His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveler that crosses his path.

But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark.

Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and handmaiden of the goddess of death. She is searching for her queen, missing since a distant northern city fell to giants.

Unsuccessful in his robbery and lucky to escape with his life, Kinch now finds his fate entangled with Galva's. Common enemies and uncommon dangers force thief and knight on an epic journey where goblins hunger for human flesh, krakens hunt in dark waters, and honor is a luxury few can afford.