Author: Sarah J Maas Pages: 757 Overall: 4.5/5 Setting: 4/5 Characters: 5/5 Plot and Themes: 4/5 Cheers Factor: 5/5 Pairing: Fire in My Veins If you’re heard anything about this book you know it sets something aflame. So this fun little drink is truly perfect not just in its coloring, but in the kick it brings. Ingredients 2oz silver tequila (I used Jose Cuervo) ¾ oz lime juice ¾ oz grenadine 4-5 dashes bitters Ice “She had the courage to tell me the truth.” Instructions
-Combine all ingredients in shaker with ice -Strain in glass with fresh ice -Garnish with lime wedge -Enjoy “And I have never hated you, Cassian.” Take a Shot: (18+ for sexual content and discussion around mental health) It’s been 18 months since the war and Nesta is on a downward spiral. Her sister doesn’t know what to do with her and no one not even Cassian or Amren can get through to her. So as a form of rehab she’s forced to start training and working in the library. Go along with Nesta as she heals wounds she never thought she could heal and starts to love those in her life and more importantly herself.
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Author: Sarah J Maas Pages: 700 Overall: 4.5/5 Setting: 4/5 Characters: 5/5 Plot and Themes: 4.5/5 Cheers Factor: 5/5 Pairing: The High Lady This is a really fun little drink that made me feel like a High Lady in all honesty. It’s pretty powerful and still packs a punch but is sweet and pretty to look at. Ingredients ½ oz Blue Curacao ½ oz Midori 2oz vodka (I used Kettle One) ½ oz simple syrup ¾ oz lemon juice Ice Instructions
-Add Blue Curacao to a martini glass -Gently layer the Midori on top using a spoon -Combine vodka, simple syrup, lemon juice and ice to a shaker and shake -Gently layer from shaker using a spoon -Enjoy “When do you come home to me?” Take a Shot: Feyre is in the Spring Court after being taken back by Tamlin so that she could save the Inner Circle and her sisters after Hybern nearly killed them all. Now they all must start preparing for a war that none of them feel all too equipped to fight given all the new wheels that are turning that are setting them behind in a way they weren’t in the previous war. Author: Emma Straub Pages: 356 Overall: 2.5/5 Setting: 3/5 Characters: 2/5 Plot and Themes: 2/5 Cheers Factor: 2/5 Pairing: Dirty Martini Because there isn’t something that seems more adult than basically drinking vodka straight with olive juice. Ingredients -2 ounces Grey Goose Vodka (any good quality works but I personally like Grey Goose the best) -1 ounce dry vermouth -½ ounce olive brine -2 olives -ice -toothpick Instructions -In a shaker combine the vodka, vermouth and olive brine together with ice -Stir together with a stirring spoon -Strain into chilled martini glass -skewer olives on toothpick and use for garnish -Enjoy Take a Shot: Astrid is a mother to her three grown children with budding families of their own experiences, a life changing event that has her questioning everything about the way she is living her life. In a weird series of events all of her children end up back in their hometown and confront the demons of growing up and the imperfections that life brings about and parenting.
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.
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: 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: 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: Molly Blume Pages: 272 Overall: 3/5 Takeaways: 3/5 Cheers Factor: ⅗ Pairing: Reese’s Cup I love drinking this as a nice strong sipping drink. Not only is it delicious, but it’s perfect for feeling like a badass, but it tastes great. Molly drinks whiskey a lot and talks about doing so. I’m also inspired by the way Jessica Chastain drank it in the movie so here it is. Ingredients 1.5 ounces Screwball Peanut Butter Whiskey ¼ cup chocolate chips ½ ounce Milk 1 Ice ball (cubes can work but a singular solid is better) Instructions Step one: Start freezing an ice ball at least a few hours before drinking Step two: Heat a pan on a stove on low and add chocolate chips and milk Step three: Stir often until melted consistency (add additional milk as needed) Step four: Add ice ball to a rocks glass Step five: After allowing the chocolate to cool, but not harden pour over the ice ball in the rocks glass. Just add enough to cover the ice ball Step six: Add whiskey to the glass and enjoy Molly Bloom, sister to Olympic skier Jeremy Bloom, ran one of the most exclusive poker games between LA and New York City. She herself was a skier and almost made it to the Olympics, but decided on a different path. Her players were celebrities, business tycoons, oligarchs and likely politicians. She had access to the exclusive on just about everything and had the ear of just about everyone who was an anyone. That is until she was indicted on mob charges and spent years trying to recover from the life she used to love so much. In this tell all book she takes readers behind the scenes to look at just what happened in her Oz while she was the Wizard. I read this book because I absolutely love the movie Molly’s Game. Jessica Chastain is absolutely incredible in that movie and she’s amazing. I think she is so damn talented and any movie she makes is great. However, obviously the movie version changes some events in order to spice things up that aren’t as Hollywood in the book. The movie takes place after the book was written and essentially explains how exactly she fell into becoming the Poker Princess. You essentially get a look into her lucky moments, her unlucky moments and the ones that you just can’t believe. She met the likes of Jake Gyllenhal, Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio and Ben Affleck. She got lucky with getting to take over what was just some guys playing poker and she turned it into an empire, but sadly it grew to be something she no longer could keep control of. Molly started taking a rake and that made her game illegal and she also had enough buzz that people wanted to exploit her multimillion dollar business and take advantage of her which led to some of her scary encounters. Overall, I thought the book was okay. It wasn’t really my cup of tea just because I don’t really read too many memoir type stories. I felt like, for me, watching the movie was better. Just give it a shot though if you like a life of glitz and glam and poker. “Although I had been told my whole life that money couldn’t buy you happiness, it was certainly clear to me that it could provide some desirable upgrades.”
Author: Lily Collins Pages: 228 Overall: 3.5/5 Takeaways: 4/5 Cheers Factor: 4/5 Cocktail Pairing: Effen On the Rocks Vodka, The Cosmopolitan I found this in my local liquor store and in true Carrie Bradshaw fashion had to try it. It comes in this totally cute bottle with a cork and all and I loved that it was pre-mixed. It was also petite and perfect for 1-2 people. This brand has a couple other options for types of drinks whether it’s Whiskey Sour or Margarita. Here is a link to ShopWine Direct where you can purchase it if you can’t find it in your local liquor store! https://www.shopwinedirect.com/on-the-rocks-effen-vodka-the-cosmopolitan-ready-to-drink-cocktail-375ml.html Mocktail Pairing: Non-Alcoholic Cosmopolitan This easy to make Cosmopolitan Mocktail is super yummy and can make you feel fancy too. Ingredients 3 ounces cranberry juice 1/2 ounce orange juice 2 ounces sparkling water 1/2 a lime ice Instructions Step One: Measure out cranberry juice and orange juice. Step Two: Combine cranberry juice, orange juice and lime juice in shaker with ice Step Three: Shake until cold and strain into glass Step Four: Top with sparkling water Take a Shot: In this book written by actress and producer Lily Collins she shares lessons and anecdotes from her own life on topics ranging from interpersonal violence to tattoos. It’s a quick read and can be done in a single day like I did. I already loved Collins, but this book just gave enough insight into her life thus far that was great. “I deserve to be loved just as I love others”
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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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