Welcome to another TTT, hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl! This week ended up being a FREEBIE, where we get to come up with our own topic. I decided to keep mine super basic because it will be what helps the most in the end. My TBR seems to be never-ending, as I'm sure is true for most of you, and I always need help culling its contents. When the new year came around, I promised myself that for every dozen or so books I added to it, I would read at least one immediately. So here are the latest books and maybe you can help me choose one to get started...

Thank you, Jade Marshall, for gifting me a copy of your novel to review!

Being hurt and alone is nothing new to Hadley. She's survived on her own for as long as she can remember, and no one will dictate the way she lives her life. With loss and pain dominating her memories, how can she put her faith in someone again?

Having no one to depend on besides his club has hardened Brandon to the outside world—and it's exactly how he prefers it. The moment he lets people get close they always find a way to backstab him. There's no room for love in his world.

Hadley and Brandon need a reason to let their walls down and let love in. Can two broken souls find a way to save each other?

In 2027 the deity known as NTG – short for New Testament God – retires after more than two thousand years of minding the store for his employer, Milky Way Galaxy, Inc. The new god, a planetary turnaround specialist, must decide whether Earth’s dominant species should or should not be included in his plan to bring the planet back into full compliance with Milky Way Galaxy, Inc.’s planetary operation standards.

Earth’s new God introduces himself to humanity by unexpectedly appearing on the Ram Forrester Hour talk show. Ram, an atheist, and co-host Brendali Santamaria, a devout Catholic, are stunned. God's interview, beamed worldwide, shocks and infuriates viewers. They learn that a sixty-day conference will take place in Los Angeles to determine whether humans are capable of helping him implement his planetary turnaround plan. All those attending must do to earn mankind a coveted spot in this God’s good graces is eliminate religious violence forever, without his heavenly help. Failure means extinction.

God designates Ram and Bren as the conference’s only authorized media reporters. This assignment, fraught with peril, ignites their romance. Not only must the harried couple attend the conference meetings by day and do their show at night, they must also outwit a group of religious fanatics bent on killing them. When conflicts within the conference intensify, it’s up to Ram and Bren to do whatever it takes to protect their budding romance and assure mankind’s survival.

Add it to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51530479-first-second-coming

Hayden Cole was good times dressed like bad news.

Dark hair falling over eyes that had seen too much.
Full lips curving into a smile that set my body on fire.
The way he disliked everything about my sheltered world, except me.

I spent years in love with the groundkeeper’s nephew.
In the darkness, in the silence, our hearts spoke the same language.
Until he left without a word and tore mine right out of my chest.

Ten years later he’s back from the Navy.
He’s every inch the rogue I remember—broken smiles and amber eyes. And he’s determined to fix the wounds of the past

Lily Marchand was everything I knew I could never have.

The golden child of my uncle’s rich employer. She has always been so painfully out of my reach.
I’d known it, and I reached for her anyway, and it led to disaster.

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words.

The three W’s stand for:

What did you recently finish reading?
What are you currently reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

This happened to be another slow reading week for me. I thought with the momentum I found last week, I could keep the speed reading train going... but no. However, something is better than nothing and I least I did get a chance to read something.

I've just finished the following books:

Crash Into Me by L.A. Fiore
It's a murder mystery sprinkled liberally with sexy romance. I'm a HUGE fan of Fiore and this book was one of her finest. She writes stories that are intense and attention-grabbing. I can't get enough of her words.

First Second Coming by Jeff Pollak - review to come
At its core, this story is about the theoretical Second Coming. God works for a corporation that rules the planets and Earth is slacking. He's a fixer and gives humans 60 days to end the violence that has spread in the name of religion. All religious leaders have to come together to formulate a plan to achieve peace or face human extinction. I received this book as an ARC and wasn't sure what to expect. It. Blew. Me. Away!!

It Was Always You by Ari Reavis
Reavis is one of those authors who writes incredibly beautiful and sexy stories, but is so underrated. How more people haven't read her books is a dang mystery to me. I love her writing so much that I've made it my mission to not only purchase everything she produces, but to get the word out there so more people can fall in love with the wonder that she creates. This particular story was about a man who knows who he wants for his forever (if only she'd get out of her own way) and a woman who is afraid to love based on pain from her childhood. Great story!

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I'm currently reading:

The Promised Neverland by Kaiu Shirai
I'm actually on the last story arc, so maybe about 20 more chapters. This story is so much better than I originally expected it to be and I can't even imagine how I'm going to review this in a way that will accurately describe all of my feelings.

Any Day Now by Lani Lynn Vale
I haven't found a story from this author that I haven't enjoyed yet. I've only read a fraction of her work, but everything I've gobbled up has been amazing and I expect no different from this story. I'm already in love with it and I'm not even halfway through.

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After last week's post, I left the decision for what I'll read next in the hands of fellow readers. The results were:

Heartless by Marissa Meyer - Long before she was the terror of Wonderland—the infamous Queen of Hearts—she was just a girl who wanted to fall in love.

The Diabolic by S.J. Kincaid - Red Queen meets The Hunger Games in this epic novel about what happens when a senator’s daughter is summoned to the galactic court as a hostage, but she’s really the galaxy’s most dangerous weapon in disguise.

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What are you reading right now? Tell me below or leave me a link so I can check out your post.

Happy Reading! xo

"I love a good murder mystery book wrapped up in an amazing love story. This book hit all my emotions and intrigue."

"Wow, what a story. This book had so many twists and turns. I couldn't put the book down once started."

- Reviewers

Welcome to another TTT, where the topic is 'Book Events/Festivals I’d Love to Go to Someday (Real or Fictional)'. As most of us know, the events calendar for bookish events and signings is off due to the pandemic and most (if not all) events have been cancelled. One day, we will be part of a world free from COVID and the events will be on again. A girl can dream about the places she'd go in the meantime, can't she?

So here's the deal... I actually haven't been to a book event before. Not in the grand scheme of things. I've been to individual author signings or have gone to a panel of authors where they would sign books at the end. But never to something of an exhibition, unless you count Toronto ComiCon or Fan Expo, both of which were cancelled this year. This week, I'm listing the places I would go if I could...

1. Book Expo
I think this one was a bit obvious, but really, which reader wouldn't want to go to one of the largest book exhibitions ever??? While it was cancelled this year (provided online), it will be back for Spring 2021.

2. R.A.R.E.
This always sounds incredible and has me wishing I lived somewhere in Europe so I could have easy access to it. This year it was in Scotland. I would have loved to go there again, visit my family. Shucks! Well, my sister should be living in Norway soon so maybe I'll have easy access to the next one. I hope one day they'll have it here in Toronto.

HAIL
Getting sworn in as a Hellbound Lover changed my life.
I was no longer alone.
No longer without a family.
No longer a goon for Frank Campesato and his Mafia.
I've moved on and never looked back,
But the past has a way of reaching out and not letting go.
And my past comes in the shape of a raven-haired beauty.
A fiery woman who has no idea she has my life in her hands.