Member Reviews
I've been in a ginormous reading slump lately so I really just couldn't get into this one. Nothing against the book, it just didn't have that spark that made me want to continue reading.
bookscoffeebrews BOOK REVIEW: ALL SIGNS POINT
TO MALIBU
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Jennifer Snow
Publisher: Canary Street Press
A huge Thank You to @booksparks and
@jensnowauthor for the gifted copy of this adorable
book.
What a fun romance this was. Hailey is a Life Coach
who also happens to be able to see a bit of the future.
Her ex-Liam is getting married and she has a vision
of his unhappy future. She now needs to try to
sabotage the wedding. Liam’s best friend in Warren.
Warren and Hailey do not like each other after Hailey
ruined his career due to a vision. She is the maid of
honor at the wedding and Warren is the best man. She
tells Warren about the vision and reluctantly he agrees
to help her to stop the wedding. The banter between
Hailey and Warren is fabulous. These two start to
become closer as they work on this project. The
sexual tension is perfect and those antics they get into
is marvelous. I loved the them in this book that the
reader learns just as Hailey does that success doesn’t
always mean happiness.
I enjoyed how this book ended but it did seem like it
was a little rushed. What I did like is both main
characters are secure financally and this romance is no
based money but really on feelings.
I so enjoyed this book and look forward to reading
more from this author.
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good romance and loved how they found love and each other. They survived their trials and found their way back to each other. another great romance.
This is a no. It's not heinous but I don't like this FMC at all. She's so surface level that I cannot believe she has a charitable bone in her body. The supernatural element was an unwelcome shock as well, unnecessary.
All Signs Point to Malibu is a contemporary romance with a paranormal twist - as the FMC, Hailey, can see someone’s future when holding their hand. As expected, her gift causes shenanigans to ensue, and I thought this plot point was the highlight of the story. I loved how unique this take was and want to give kudos to the author for executing it in such a refreshing way. However, the chemistry between Warren and Hailey was supremely lacking and their relationship seemed to develop for no real reason? I would’ve liked more background on their relationship since they were supposedly friends in high school, but they actually currently despise one another until they suddenly don’t??? Why??? What interactions between them caused the sudden and seemingly random decision that actually, wow we have great chemistry so let’s maybe date? The writing style also wasn’t my favorite and made me cringe at times. The overall storytelling and plot just felt shallow and I was really disappointed when I felt like the premise had so much potential. If you’re looking for a low stakes romance that doesn’t require much thought to process, this is probably something you’ll enjoy.
Thank you to Harlequin Trade Press, NetGalley, and the author for sending me an early copy.
Malibu is such a dreamland, and this book definitely made it seem that way too! This was such a sweet romance!
What would you do if you could see someone’s future? In Jennifer Snow’s magic realism romance, All Signs Point to Malibu, you start a life coaching business. I had a lot of fun reading this novel and enjoyed the time I spent with it - even if it may not stick with me for long.
Here’s the book’s description:
Hailey Harris can’t stop messing with fate. A successful life coach, Hailey uses her ability to glimpse the future to guide her clients down the right path. But her gift has made her own life lonely. After all, having a real friend would mean asking someone to believe the unbelievable.
The one person she might have confided in—her ex, Liam Jensen—is newly engaged to a beautiful, sweet, thoughtful heiress. But when Hailey has a vision predicting a not-so-happy ending for the couple, her mission is clear: help Liam and his fiancée avoid the biggest mistake of their lives.
Stopping the wedding while planning Liam’s engagement party is no easy feat. And Warren Mitchell—Liam’s sexy, irritating best man and Hailey’s nemesis—is suspicious of Hailey’s motivations. Between sleeping with her frenemy and watching her careful plans spiral out of control, Hailey discovers the real cause of Liam’s future heartbreak. But now that she knows the truth, will Hailey keep on fighting fate or trust in the love she never saw coming?
I really enjoy magic realism novels. I don’t get into true fantasy books all that often but when there’s a hint of magic or something that can’t quite be explained in a novel? I’m into it. I thought Hailey was brilliant to use her gift to help others through life coaching. I think she was intelligent but I wish she trusted her own skills - apart from her gift - more. She flounders in one instance when she’s not able to touch the person she’s trying to work with and that felt disingenuous to her character. But I do like how Snow made up this magical element and was able to use it in a modern storyline.
Unfortunately, it was the main plot point - trying to break up the wedding - that just didn’t work for me. Maybe I didn’t understand Hailey’s glimpses enough or the importance of what she was seeing. It was so obvious that she wasn’t on board with the wedding (even though Sonia made her maid of honour? Like…what?) that Warren picked up on it. He then starts to realize that maybe it is a bad idea and he should check in with his friend (who he hasn’t really seen in years or kept in close touch with but he’s the best man?). It was all just so…ick.
There were some loose ends in the plot that I’m still scratching my head over. I don’t know why Liam’s father-in-law-to-be was so hellbent on getting Sonia and Liam married. And introducing Warren’s poker buddies didn’t really bring as much to the story as I feel Snow expected it to.
There was an attempt to talk about how fake social media can be and how what you see when you’re scrolling is the most polished version, the version the person wants you to see. Hailey didn’t really seem to realize how she was perpetuating that myth which kind of irked me. She was trying so hard to be perfect in her whole life and that’s just not sustainable.
All Signs Point to Malibu is a read for those who want something light and quick with a hint of magic realism. This isn’t Jennifer Snow’s best work but it kept me entertained from start to finish and sometimes that’s all you need from a romance novel.
*An egalley was provided by the publisher, HTP Books, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.
This book was cute, and I enjoyed the magical element and the character growth throughout the story. The romance was just okay for me—I think it could have been developed a bit more—but I did appreciate the tropes that were included. Overall, a fun and charming read!
This was an enjoyable read, and read almost like a movie screenplay. I can definitely see this being adapted for the screen in the future. It was almost like an early 2000s rom-com from that peak era. They just don’t seem to make movies like that anymore.
3.5⭐️ I’m a bit conflicted writing this review. I love the premise of this book - an enemies-to-lovers romance with a bit of magical realism - but struggled with the execution.
Things I loved:
- The magical realism component was central to the plot, but not outlandish.
- It had a very “current” feel with the FMC being a life coach with a big social media following.
- Banter between the main characters was entertaining.
Things that didn’t work for me:
- The story was told via dual POV (which I normally love), but the POV transitions were clumsy sometimes making it hard to tell which character was speaking.
- I didn’t sense ANY chemistry between Hailey and Liam and didn’t understand why she would want to break up his wedding.
Overall, this was an entertaining book that could have benefitted from cleaner transitions and a bit more depth to the relationships between characters.
Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the advance copy in exchange for my unbiased review.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.
This was an enjoyable romance -- with a twist. And I think the twist is why I enjoyed this book so much. I also think that this book makes you stop and consider what really matters in life and how beautiful life really is.
Many thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book.
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I loved the banter in this book!
I have to be in a specific mood for a romcom and this definitely hit the mark.
The characters are cute and it’s a great light hearted read.
Thank you for allowing me to read it!
I really enjoyed this summer rom-com! The witty banter, forced proximity, magical realism, enemies to lovers! Loved all of it. I am such a sucker for books with magical realism and its either hit or miss with it. I think Jennifer Snow was really able to nail it here with All Signs Point to Malibu. I think it was the perfect amount of whimsical aspect to the novel. There were some parts of the novel that did feel rushed to the story and didn't let the story just flow. Overall a great read and would make for a wonderful beach read!
Thanks to Netgalley and Canary Street Press for the digital arc!
This is a good book. The two main characters are Hailey and Warren. They have known each other for all their lives. Hailey ex boyfriend comes back to their hometown, with a fiance. Some how, she lands up as the maid of honor. Warrens is the best man to his best friend. There is an attraction. Hailey and Warren plan an engagement party for the couple. They help with the wedding plans. The groom gets cold feet. Hailey and Warren reveal their feelings for each other.
An enemies to lovers story with just a hint of the mystical.
Hailey is a successful influencer and life coach. She has a special gift giving her an edge in helping nudge her clients toward their success. Only, the gift fails her at a critical moment. When her life goes bottoms up, the only person willing to stand by her is the one man who’s been her nemesis since grade school.
I had a hard time getting into this story. It felt very superficial in the beginning. Both Hailey and Warren seemed to spend most of their time trying to figure out why their opinion of the other was suddenly changing. Only there was no emotion, no feeling behind any of their ponderings. It isn't until the critical moment in the store that I felt invested in what was going on and began to feel anything for or about the characters.
I have to admit, I may be a little older than the considered demographic for this story. That may affect my attitude toward the story. Over all, I think the story was well written and the idea behind it was creative, it just wasn't for me.
Hailey Harris uses her gift to see into the future to be a great life coach, and most of the time it works really well (and no one knows her secret). She has made one enemy though, her ex boyfriend's best friend Warren - she saw that he was going to be traumatically injured if he caught his flight and went to a football tryout so she stopped him (in an unconventional manner) and he has never forgiven her for ruining his career. Now her ex (Liam) is getting married and Hailey, through her gift, sees nothing but heartache for him and his new bride and feels that she needs to stop the wedding. She enlists Warren to help since she and Warren are best man and maid of honor and even though he hates her, the sparks may be flying between them in an enemies to lovers rom com.
This was cute but a little bit all over the place at the same time. In some ways this reminded me of Sarah Adam’s’ The Rule Book but with some magical realism thrown in and a bit of a more wandering plotline. While I liked the characters, some situations rang unrealistic to me and I think the story could have used a little more focus. On thing that was hard as a reader, while there were 2 POVs (Warren and Hailey's) there wasn't a great delineation in the book letting you know whose POV you were reading, so sometimes you didn't realize you were reading Hailey’s instead of Warren’s. But, the book was a great distraction and palate cleanser after some more serious books and for that I did enjoy it.
3.75 stars
Thank you to Canary Street Press, HTP Hive and NetGalley for the ARC to review
When I originally read the synopsis of this book, I was immediately reminded me of that scene in the movie Valentine's Day, when Ashton Kutcher is engaged to Jessica Alba's character, Marley, and she breaks up with him, He then goes on to try to stop Jennifer Garner, his best friend, from flying off to see Patrick Dempsey, the hunky heart surgeon she is in love with but who just so happens to be married. He says he wishes someone would have told him Marley wasn't right for him, and that he is trying to save her the same heartache because he knows Dempsey's character is a married man. This was a cute and romantic story that features some of my favorite tropes: enemies to lovers, second chance romance, and ex's best friend to name a few. I feel like my opinion of who Hailey should end up with changed from time to time, and I don't want to give anything away, but I feel like the story ended how it should have. These type of triangle love stories sometimes give me anxiety, which I think stems from the emotional turmoil I was put through by Dawson's Creek, and Joey's back and forth between Pacey and Dawson that entire show, but I digress... but I didn't really feel like that with this one. 4/5 stars, out now!
Although this was overall cute I felt that it was a little too far fetched for me. Between the premonitions of Hailey and then the fact that her exes fiancée would want her to be her maid of honor I found it more ridiculous than charming.
This fun, little book allowed me to squeeze in one last summery romcom before fall. It was a quick and light read, which I always appreciate. It is a good option if you enjoy a bit of mysticism, enemies-to-lovers, and forced proximity.
3.75⭐️
1🌶
-Enemies/Strong Dislike to Love
-Forced Proximity
-Great Banter
-Meddling Ex
-Magical Realism
I really didn't expect to like this as much as I did, but it was the first enemies to lovers I've read in a long while that felt like the MCs were actually enemies to start. Hailey and Warren had obvious chemistry, but that "thin line between love and hate" was so real between the two of them. And the progression to lust and love felt real and natural, instead of it feeling like just two people who didn't want to admit they actually liked each other already.
The story did fall a little flat for me with the plot line of Hailey trying to break up her ex's wedding, because I feel like we didn't get explanations to big parts of that rushed wedding timeline, specifically.
I liked how the sabotage plan all started as Hailey thinking she wanted to get back together with her ex, and then she realized she really just wanted to save her ex the heartbreak in regard to her vision of his future, but we never found out why his fiancee and her dad kept trying to rush the wedding and what it had to do with all the resorts they weren't telling him he had to design. That part just felt unfinished to me.
I also wish we'd gotten a little more from Warren about his brother's passing. He clearly still struggles with it, and with Hailey opening herself up to him about something so personal about herself and trusting him with that, it felt a little unbalanced that he didn't really open himself up as much especially knowing how much his brother was on his mind throughout the book.
There's also a little too much miscommunication/lack of communication for my taste throughout. A lot of their issues with each other could've been solved by talking instead of both of them just being in their heads all the time.
I enjoyed the element of Hailey's psychic abilities because it lent a little fun and whimsy to the story. I also liked how she struggled with the ethics of relying on it to coach her client's. It seems a little like cheating, and she was constantly struggling with that feeling throughout the book, but I liked how it was resolved in the end. The lesson was a good one by the time she got there.
There was really only 1 descriptive open door scene, and it wasn't too long. If you're looking for a very spicy book, this won't be it. However, as someone who loves open door romance, I still very much enjoyed this despite the lack of spicy times. And if you prefer closed door, I think you could easily skim that scene and still enjoy the rest of the story despite it.
Overall, if you enjoy a banter-filled, strong dislike-to-love story about a meddling ex and her psychic visions that sometimes get her into more trouble than they're worth, this book is definitely one to check out.
I received an advanced copy of this book and am leaving an honest review.