Author: Helen Hoang Pages: 323 Overall: 5/5 Setting: 4/5 Characters: 5/5 Plot and Themes: 5/5 Cheers Factor: 4/5 Pairing: Panty Dropper This has no pun intended; it's a pomegranate margarita. It’s a panty dropper because any gal who knows tequila knows. IYKYK. This drink makes you want to read this little book. Ingredients 1 ½ ounces tequila ¾ ounce lime juice ¼ ounce pomegranate juice ½ ounce triple sec Agave to taste Ice Salt Instructions -dip the rim of a margarita glass in a plate with water -salt the rim -combine all remaining ingredients in a shaker -shake, strain and enjoy Take a Shot: (18+ for sexual content) Stella Lane is so incredibly smart and loves her work as an econometrician, but she is also very clearly aware of how her autism affects her life and is dearly wanting to make her family happy and fulfill her life by finding a boyfriend and later a husband. However, she believes she needs more help so she hires Michael, a male escort, to teach her how to be a better lover and to overcome some of her impediments when it comes to men and the bedroom. I want to give this a preface though that Hoang does a magnificent job of ensuring that Stella’s autism is not the defining characteristic of her essence and that her disability is not seen as a disability, but more a facet of who she truly is.
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Author: Adam Silvera Pages: 389 Overall: 3.5/5 Setting: 3/5 Characters: 5/5 Plot and Themes: 4/5 Cheers Factor: 3/5 Pairing: Virgin Lemon Drop Martini I recently found this fun mocktail account that’s inspiring me so here is a mocktail for this book because any alcohol would have made me cry more while reading it. "I wasted all those yesterdays and am completely out of tomorrows." Ingredients -2 oz lemon concentrate -2oz water -1 oz simple syrup -dash of bitters -lemon zest -sugar -ice Instructions -Grate a lemon peel for zest -combine with sugar -dip martini glass in a plate with water so the rim is wet -combine all liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake -strain into glass and enjoy “You definitely don’t need the same blood to lose a part of yourself when someone dies.” Take a Shot: In this fantasy of the real world a service by the name of Death Cast exists. Death Cast is a service that calls people on the day of their death. On this fateful day strangers Rufus and Mateo both receive their calls. Determined to live out their last day by going out with a bang Rufus and Mateo find each other on Last Friend an app for Deckers (people who are set to die) and those who wish to spend their last days with them.
Author: Chloe Gong Pages: 449 Overall: 4.5/5 Setting: 5/5 Characters: 4/5 Plot and Themes: 5/5 Cheers Factor: 5/5 Pairing: Mary Pickford This is a fun drink that comes from the 1920’s which is when our R&J retelling takes place. Ingredients -2oz gold rum (Bacardi) -1 ½ oz pineapple juice -⅙ oz maraschino liqueur (Luxardo) -⅙ oz grenadine syrup -ice Instructions -Combine all ingredients in a shaker -Shake and strain into a glass -Enjoy “Memories were beastly little creatures, after all - they rose with the faintest whiff of nourishment.” Take a Shot: We all know Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliette, but we’ve never known them to be from warring gangs in 1920’s Shanghai where a suspicious monster is spreading madness that makes those infected rip out their own throats is killing gangsters and common folks alike. When Roma Montagov and Juliette Cai have to work together to extinguish the madness that threatens their very lives and way of life, memories of their past love resurface and become increasingly hard to ignore. Author: Sarah J. Maas Pages: 626 Overall: 5/5 Setting: 5/5 Characters: 5/5 Plot and Themes: 5/5 Cheers Factor: 5/5 Pairing: Starfall Empress Gin has a stunning color. For this drink there is no substitution on the liquor merely for the color. The light purple you get with this drink reminds me of starfall and the colors that our characters see in the sky. It’s such a hopeful time and it’s truly a wonderful moment for Feyre. I think it’s when she truly begins to forgive herself and I love that a very light drink can represent that. Ingredients -2oz Empress Gin -1oz fresh lemon juice -¾ ounce egg white -ice Instructions -Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice -Shake and strain to remove ice -Shake again without ice -Fine strain into glass “Love- love was a balm as much as it was a poison.”
Take a Shot: After surviving the harrowing events of Under the Mountain Feyre and Tamlin are trying to forget the horrors they both suffered. However, forgetting might not happen as easily as either of them assumed. With their upcoming nuptials Feyre is feeling scared and still so broken from surviving Amarantha’s trials while also adjusting to her new life as a High Fae. Then she has to remember her bargain with Rhys and when he conveniently calls upon their bargain during her wedding day events begin to unfold that will put Feyre on a path that maybe she was meant to be on all along. Author: Leigh Bardugo Pages: 459 Overall: 3/5 Setting: 4/5 Characters: 3/5 Plot and Themes: 2/5 Cheers Factor: 3/5 Pairing: Cherry Crypt Cider by True Brewing This choice comes more from an aesthetic point. It’s super tasty as well, but I just love the dark can and the ominous name. It feels very fitting for a book with dark organizations that are cult like and ritual based using tombs and their own kinds of crypts. "I let you die. To save myself, I let you die." Take a Shot: Galaxy (Alex) Stern is a new student at Yale and the newest member of Leith House. She comes from a troubled past and she found out she was going to Yale when she awoke in a hospital bed after an almost fentanyl overdose and a murder scene that would make any detective squeamish. She is absconded of guilt seeing as the murderer was left handed, she’s right handed and she was nearly dead of an overdose. However, her superior Darlington is missing and she’s been limping along in hopes of eventually bringing him back from wherever he is in the universe after being sucked into a black hole. "A lie isn't a lie until someone believes it."
Author: Sarah J. Maas Pages: 432 Overall: 4/5 Setting: 5/5 Characters: 4/5 Plot and Themes: 4/5 Cheers Factor: 4/5 Pairing: Faerie Wine This is what I imagine the wine Feyre drinks at the Summer Solstice would taste like. Slight warning it uses the whole bottle of champagne so you can share with friends...or not I’m not here to judge you. Ingredients -1 bottle of Champagne chilled (I used Lamarca Prosecco it achieves the same purpose and just depends on which type of sparkling wine you prefer) -1 bottle of ginger ale (2 liter) -2 10oz bags of frozen strawberries Instructions -Combine ingredients in pitcher or punch bowl serve and enjoy "Be glad of your human heart, Feyre. Pity those who don't feel anything at all." Take a Shot: In this Beauty and the Beast retelling follow Feyre as she is taken North of the wall into Prythian, the faerie realm, to pay a debt where no human has gone and come back from. Watch as the secrets of what is happening in this foreign land entangle themselves with Feyre’s life and she finds herself as the one who could potentially save the man she loves and his entire species.
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout Pages: 637 Overall: 5/5 Setting: 5/5 Characters: 5/5 Plot and Themes: 4.5/5 Cheers Factor: 5/5 Pairing: Honeydew This cocktail is a different take on the traditional Bellini instead it’s a Honeydew Melon Bellini. The reason for the twist is well… read the book and then let me know about why it’s honeydew. For this one instead of using prosecco or champagne I suggest using a cava. They are all virtually the same, but they differ in region of origin. Cava comes from Spain and its vineyards and I personally fell in love with it while studying abroad there and highly recommend it to anyone wanting to use a sparkling wine. Ingredients (This recipe is for using a whole bottle. I find it is easiest to use an entire bottle of sparkling wine then try to save it. Plus that means you get to invite friends over to drink it with you.) -5 cups of diced honeydew melon (about half of a large melon) -2 tablespoons lime juice -Sugar to taste based on sweetness of the melon -1 bottle of Cava (for a relatively affordable option I love Freixenet Brut in the blacked out bottle) Instructions
"Sometimes the heartbreak that comes with loving is worth it, even if loving that person means eventually saying goodbye to them."
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout Pages: 634 Overall: 4.5/5 Setting: 4/5 Characters: 5/5 Plot and Themes: 4.5/5 Cheers Factor: 5/5 Pairing: Sippin’ Pretty Tequila Mule I love, love, love Sippin’ Prettys so very much. I recently discovered this fun twist on them and I have not gone back. It is a very quirky and aggressive take on a classic mule and it reminds me of Poppy and her personality. Ingredients -1 ¼ oz Silver Tequila -2 parts Sippin’ Pretty -1 part ginger beer -A lime wedge -Ice Instructions Step one: Measure out all ingredients Step two: Mix all ingredients in a shaker and shake Step three: Pour into a glass or Copper Mule Mug Take a Shot: (18+ for sexual content) Poppy is the Maiden. As the Maiden she is not allowed to speak with anyone, show her face, have close relationships or even be touched. Her entire life she has been sequestered and guarded. Her closest companions are her assigned lady Tawny and Viktor her guard. However, events have been set into motion for some time that will change the course of her life and they start when she ends up in a tavern room alone with the new sexy guard Hawke Flynn. If you love Sarah J. Maas and Game of Thrones this is the book for you. I have seen this book for months on TikTok and I hate to admit that TikTok made me do it, but this book was awesome so I’m not that mad. I saw it on many TikToks for spicy books and boy did it deliver. I don’t want to get too much into it, but it’s great like actually great. The sexual tension could be cut with a knife and I read this one in a day and a half because I was so ready to read what was going to happen to our sweet Poppy. The characters in this title are amazing. Poppy is written to be naive in her lack of awareness because of the seclusion of her position in the world and Hawke is seductive and experienced and is a great counter and adds a good balance. I also really like Poppy’s inability to wrestle her aggressive side into submission. She’s spicy in all the right ways that make it perfect for her not to conform to the role that she is supposed to do. The only problem that I had was with the plot and the setting. They weren’t bad, but there were many moments where I was confused as to what was even happening and why she was the maiden. A lot is explained at the end of the book, but as a forewarning it can be confusing to read a book when you don’t know what is happening and you are purposefully being left in the dark like in this book. That’s the only issue I took with the book, but that’s also typical of 1st books in series and now I feel like I’m prepared to keep reading the series because I’m informed from the first one. Overall though I feel like my new book boyfriend is Hawke and it definitely was worth raising a glass to. It’s a great fantasy world with a good amount of spice that makes it a great read for those who are wanting to get their YA fix with adult themes. Definitely don’t recommend it to your mom...or do I’m not gonna tell you what to do. Take this as a much needed lesson Penallaphe. Some truths do nothing but destroy and decay what they do not obliterate. Truths do not always set one free. Only a fool who has spent their entire life being fed lies believes that.”
Author: Sheryl Sandberg Pages: 217 Overall: 4.5/5 Takeaways: 4/5 Cheers Factor: 4.5/5 Pairing: Twinnings Buttermint Tea This is my pairing because you want to be sharp when you read this one. This tea is a great herbal tea to drink when reading at night which is exactly how I read this title. It’s great to curl up with a soft blanket and drink your tea and read your book. Author: Kim Scott Pages: 246 Overall: 3.5/5 Takeaways: 3.5/5 Cheers Factor: 3/5 Pairing: Canned Peach Bellini by Infinite Monkey Theorem This fun little canned cocktail is great for this book because it’s light and airy, but also makes you feel like a bad mamajamma. Plus the color of this can match the color of the book jacket which believe it or not is hard to do with those colors of orange. https://theinfinitemonkeytheorem.com/wine-shop/peach-bellini-can-4-pack Scott was a faculty member at Apple University and worked at Google for AdSense so she has experience working with teams. She also worked very closely with Sheryl Sandberg who wrote Lean In which I have reviewed on this site and will link down below. I really enjoyed reading this title even though a lot of it’s not necessarily applicable to my life right now. A lot of the focus of the book is about how to better work in a professional setting as a leader and some of the advice is to the employees as well. One of the parts I found incredibly interesting is when Scott quotes the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire starring Tom Cruise. There’s a line in the movie where Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character says to Tom Cruise’s character, “you think we’re fighting, I think we’re finally talking”. I felt this resonated with my own experiences of working with a team. I spent a year in 2019 on my sorority’s executive council and before you make any assumptions about it, I will be the first to say yes it was a sorority, but it was also real work. I ran the finances for the organization and handled a 6 figure budget while also handling a department as well as managing the house and working with general members. It was no small feat that taught me a lot personally about what it means to work with people that have different leadership styles, thoughts and opinions than you may have. In this section of her novel Scott writes about how the Jerry Maquire quote resonated with her when she was working at Google. It’s very accurate in my own experience too. I am best friends with the woman who served as our president while I ran finances and we fought fairly consistently throughout the entirety of our term. I preface this by saying that friend Ashlyn and Sarah were not fighting just exec Ashlyn and Sarah because there is a difference and separating friendship from before with our work relationship definitely helped us to remain friends after. Anyway, but my point to that is we spent a lot of time not talking about important aspects of our jobs until we were fighting about them. We spent hours talking in person and on the phone about all of these issues it became all consuming. Although the fighting felt, at times, aggressive we were actually making decisions and resolving our problems. We were able to disagree and “fight” about it in order to resolve the problems that we needed to fix. Again I’m not saying fight it out to the death for your opinions at the expense of others, but also stand up for your opinions and fight for what you believe is best. However, more importantly concede and compromise when you are wrong or see a better option. I felt it was important to share this story because it’s crucial to know where your relationships start and end and how to separate them whether that’s a work relationship to a friendship or a love driven relationship to a partnership because there is a difference. Sarah and I fought like a married couple that’s house was going into foreclosure, but I never loved her any less because friend Ashlyn and Sarah would still go to each other's rooms right after fighting and ask to grab dinner together. Not all fights have to be true fights and they shouldn’t be, they can be talking and you can come out stronger at the end with a clear path to start down. “Blaming people’s external essence rather than their external behavior leaves no room for change.”
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Cheers FactorEach book here at Cheers&Chapters is rated based off of certain categories that are genre specific, however every book will get a Cheers Factor. The Cheers Factor is how much we wanted to raise our glass while reading it. So get your glasses ready and cheers! Archives
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