No Good Deed (The Scarsdale Fosters #6) by B.E. Baker

  

No Good Deed (The Scarsdale Fosters #6) by B.E. Baker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance
Content: Clean

 

Her entire life, Ardath has wanted to do one save people in a way no one managed to save her mother. After growing up without any real family, she wants to spare others from the same fate. She’s come up with a brilliant plan to save even more lives, if only she can fund it.

Albert Devonshire the fourth—whose friends call him Ace—founded a successful gaming company that he loved running. . .until his dad got sick. When he takes over management of the family-owned chain of hospitals, he discovers his Dad’s been struggling with dementia for a while. The business is in shambles, and his mother’s spending isn’t helping anything.

When a young, beautiful doctor asks for funding to launch a program she’s clearly passionate about, he hates turning her down, but he has no choice. They’re one do-gooder program away from shutting down.

Ardath doesn’t take his refusal very well, and the more time Ace spends around Ardath, the more he hates being her enemy, but he can’t let the family empire collapse over yet another crush. Can Ardath and Ace make peace, or will their duties to their families set them irrevocably at odds. . .forever?

  

I enjoyed reading about Ardath. She's an interesting personality and the way her relationship evolved with Ace was fun to read. I liked that there was a nerd aspect to this book with the D&D and the gaming company, something I didn't expect. I wish we had gotten more of the D&D nights in the book, and more interactions between that group of friends. 

I thought Ardath was a little harsh with Trey after she found out something that I won't spoil here. For a minute there I almost wanted her to end up with him, especially after Ace was rude to him. I liked Ace but sometimes I thought he came off a little rude and full of himself. He improved as the book progressed though, and in the end I was rooting for them. 

Parts of this reminded me of Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez but only slightly. It was the whole hospital thing and the doctors. I found it refreshing that at one point where there could have been a third act break up, there wasn't. 

Thanks to the author or providing me with an ARC of this book.

 

 

 

 

 

How to Walk Away by Katherine Center

  

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance
Content: Strong Language

 

Margaret Jacobsen has a bright future ahead of her: a fiancé she adores, her dream job, and the promise of a picture-perfect life just around the corner. Then, suddenly, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, everything she worked for is taken away in one tumultuous moment.

In the hospital and forced to face the possibility that nothing will ever be the same again, Margaret must figure out how to move forward on her own terms while facing long-held family secrets, devastating heartbreak, and the idea that love might find her in the last place she would ever expect. 

 

I enjoyed reading Margaret's journey throughout this book. The things she overcame, the things she learned to live with and without, and her perseverance had me glued to this. I empathized with her and triumphed with her. I loved that Margaret's sister was there for her and supported her through it all. I liked that everything made sense in this story and there were none of those annoying non-communication tropes. There were times when Margaret's family, and fiance would say things and I just couldn't believe anyone would be so insensitive, but I know people are so, I couldn't fault the author for that.

I actually prefer it when I get male and female points of view in romances. Katherine Center's books are just the female point of view, but it doesn't seem to matter when I'm reading her books. I enjoy them so much; the writing style, the characters, everything. I'm looking forward to reading another one of her books.

 

Part of Your World Trilogy by Abby Jimenez (Part of Your World, Yours Truly, and Just for the Summer) by Abby Jimenez

  

Part of Your World (Part of Your World #2) by Abby Jimenez

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction
Content: Strong Language, Moderately descriptive sex

 
After a wild bet, gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich, and cuddle with a baby goat, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The cause: Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s ten years younger than her and as casual as they come—the complete opposite of sophisticated city-girl Alexis. And yet their chemistry is undeniable.

While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere” ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people.

Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet she can’t just give up the joy she’s found with him either. With so many differences between them, how can Alexis possibly choose between her world and his? 

 

This was the first book I've read by this author and I loved it. I was so glued to this book!  I haven't found a contemporary romance author that I like this much since I started reading Katherine Center's books. I loved these characters and how they end up falling in love. I love how Alexis learns to trust Daniel and the whole evolution of her character. I loved how Daniel was there for his family and I loved how everything gets resolved. 

 

 “I was a mosaic of someone else’s design where none of the fragments were put in the right place. And now I had finally put myself together and I recognized myself for the very first time.”

 

I also loved that this book made me laugh out loud a few times. A lot of rom-coms aren't nearly as funny as they should be. I love that the author added some very serious topics into this book that made it more than just a romance. The topic of emotional abuse was handled well. This and Katherine Center's Hello Stranger are my top two reads so far this year. I also want to mention that I hated cartoon looking covers on romance books, and for the most part I still do, but this one I like and I also love the one for Just For the Summer. 

 

“I think my soul recognized hers the second I laid eyes on her.”

 

 

 

 

 

Yours Truly (Part of Your World #2) by Abby Jimenez 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction
Content: Strong Language, Moderately descriptive sex

 

Dr. Briana Ortiz’s life is seriously flatlining. Her divorce is just about finalized, her brother’s running out of time to find a kidney donor, and that promotion she wants? Oh, that’s probably going to the new man-doctor who’s already registering eighty-friggin’-seven on Briana’s “pain in my ass” scale. But just when all systems are set to hate, Dr. Jacob Maddox completely flips the game . . . by sending Briana a letter.

And it’s a really good letter. Like the kind that proves that Jacob isn’t actually Satan. Worse, he might be this fantastically funny and subversively likeable guy who’s terrible at first impressions. Because suddenly he and Bri are exchanging letters, sharing lunch dates in her “sob closet,” and discussing the merits of freakishly tiny horses. But when Jacob decides to give Briana the best gift imaginable—a kidney for her brother—she wonders just how she can resist this quietly sexy new doctor . . . especially when he calls in a favor she can’t refuse.

  

After reading Part of Your World I was looking forward to this book. This one features Briana, best friend of Alexis from Part of Your World. I liked it in general but the third act break-up, the assumptions, and non-communications almost ruined this whole book for me. Luckily there was enough about this that I loved to lift my rating to 3.5 stars. What I loved were the characters. Briana and Jacob were great characters and I loved the way their relationship forms through letters and notes to each other. As a person that has dealt with social anxiety for years, I could relate to Jacob. I may not have it to the extent that he does in the book but there were several times when something felt very familiar. I loved how Briana was able to see Jacob and knew how to support him and help him through situations. 

 

“It’s like I always say,” Mom said, wiping under her eyes. “Love shows up. That’s how you know when it’s real.”

  

That being said, I did not love some of the things Briana did in the last part of the book. For most of the book I thought Briana and Jacob communicated with each other pretty well, and it was nice and refreshing, but at some point in the last quarter of the book the characters stopped communicating their concerns with each other and went on assumptions alone, especially Briana. This leads up to the third act break-up that trauma also played a part in. I felt so let down by this book at that point. 

I don't personally think a third act break-up is necessary for every romance book. This is something that got discussed recently in an author's reading group on FB that I follow. She writes a lot of romance and was saying that she didn't want to include that kind of a break-up in her book because it didn't fit. I really respect that she's going to write her book the way she feels will work best, instead of adhering to some formula. I wish that this one had been written a little differently but I still loved a lot about it.

The break-up in this book felt forced to me. I get that the character had trauma to deal with, but it didn't make sense to me that there was such a huge inability to trust at this point. On top of that, the trauma was brought on by something that we didn't get a lot of inner monologue about by the character, so it felt like it almost came out of nowhere. I also thought it was ridiculous that two doctors weren't smart enough to keep themselves out of this predicament to begin with. One of their mother's even pointed that out in the book. 

 

“We’re all a little broken, Briana. We are a mosaic. We’re made up of all those we’ve met and all the things we’ve been through. There are parts of us that are colorful and dark and jagged and beautiful. And I love every piece of you. Even the ones you wish didn’t exist.”

 

Even after things get resolved, I just didn't like the way certain things happened, and that resulted in me not liking most of the last part of this book. Despite that I'm still really invested in this series and want to read more from this author. I love her writing style and I thought the other two things I read by her were really good.  

 

 

 

 

 

Just For the Summer (Part of Your World #3) by Abby Jimenez

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction
Content: Strong Language, Moderately descriptive sex

 

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it's now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They'll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work.

Emma hadn't planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

It's supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma's toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they're suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected--including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together? 

I didn't think Abby Jimenez would be able to top Part of Your World, but for me, Just For the Summer ended up being a half star higher at a 5. This book did what I think the author was trying to do in Yours Truly with its third act breakup; show how trauma can affect a person at a very deep level. Only it was done so much better here, and really did feel believable, and didn't almost ruin the story for me. It made sense for the story, and didn't feel like it came out of nowhere. We were privy to a lot of thoughts that led up to the decision and that helped a lot. 

 

“Unhealed trauma is a crack. And all the little hard things that trickle into it that would have rolled off someone else, settle. Then when life gets cold, that crack gets bigger, longer, deeper. It makes new breaks."

 

This book really hit me in the feels, especially towards the end. Emma's mom and the things that happened throughout Emma's life because of the way her mom was, left me so emotional. I love that these books are more than just fluff, but include people who are dealing with trauma and actually show them dealing with it. I'm glad I read these books in order because I liked the way this last book was tied to the others, in particular the first book, and how the characters are intertwined. 

 

“You are not what happened to you. You are what you do next.”   

 

There were some really funny parts in this book that had me laughing out loud too. That goes for everything I've read by this author so far. One of my main complaints about rom-coms is that they usually aren't all that funny, but this author knows how to make things funny. I particularly like the pet names she gives in her books. The Toilet King thing was pretty darn funny, and if Abby Jimenez didn't sell Toilet King t-shirts on her website, she should have! I'm looking forward to reading more Abby Jimenez books.

 

“The love stories sold us the wrong thing. The best kind of love doesn’t happen on moonlit walks and romantic vacations. It happens in between the folds of everyday life. It’s not grand gestures that show how you feel, it’s all the little secret things you do to make her life better that you never tell her about."

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Shippers by Katherine Center

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance
Content: 

 

After a whole lifetime of being bad at love, JoJo Burton decides to solve her intimacy issues once and for all at her sister’s destination wedding on a cruise ship. With the help of a little pop psychology, she diagnoses herself with a fixation on the neighborhood guy who was her her first crush and first kiss (and who just happens to be a newly-divorced wedding guest ), and she decides to woo him during the cruise for some long-delayed closure. Only problem is, her sister’s a little busy being a bride at the moment—so JoJo ropes in her childhood bestie, Cooper Watts, to be her wing man. Cooper: who RSVPed no, but then showed up, anyway. Cooper: who left town without a word four years earlier and moved to London. Cooper: who was, if she’s honest, the worst heartbreak of JoJo’s life. It’s bliss for her to see him again, and it’s agony, too—and the more they team up for Project Conquest, the more she obsesses over questions she can’t bring herself to ask.

Shipboard antics ensue in this witty, heart-tugging, childhood-friends-to-lovers romance—as JoJo and Cooper fake flirt, slow dance, share a cabin, sing duets, treat sunburns, get jealous, rescue each other over and over, and finally, at last, figure it all out in the most blissful, swoony, romantic way.
 

  

I enjoyed the heck out of this book even though I had some issues with it. The main character, JoJo was very self-centered and oblivious a lot of them time, and she could have ruined the whole thing for me, but there were times where I saw her better qualities peek out. Like when she saw her dad for who he really was and helped him learn how to be a better person. She gave her dad a lot of grace; more than most of us would and it's what saved him. Of course that was just a subplot of the book. 

I enjoyed the main plot despite Jojo being immature and blind to things that were staring her right in the face. I felt that she should have been able to figure out why Cooper left for four years and didn't talk to her, among other things. But somehow despite that this book worked for me. 

I enjoyed the dynamic between the characters and the friends to lovers aspect of the story. Cooper was easy to fall in love with, which made we wonder why JoJo was so clueless about him. Some people do pick the wrong kind of people to date, fall for, and marry. Some people are smart academically and professionally but lack sense in their personal lives. JoJo was like that.

As usual for romance, there were some miscommunications and twists. The miscommunications were annoying, but at least some of the time the characters tried to communicate things, They just wouldn't always listen to each other. I pretty much saw every little twist in this book coming, so there were no surprises, but I enjoyed it anyway. Overall, I enjoy Katherine Center's writing style. It always pulls me right in and I get really engrossed in the story until the end. 

 

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an ARC of this book.

 

 

 

 

  

The Shabby Old Cottage (The Irish Escape #3) by B. E. Baker

   

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Romance, Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction 
Content: Clean

Three old friends in Ireland. Two months and change running their new hotel. One big holiday season in a strange place. How could a shabby old cottage ever shine like new?

Natalie’s move to Ireland was supposed to be uncomplicated. Her priorities were to turn an old estate into a hotel and help her kids integrate into school across the globe. But when surprise visitors change her plans and her feelings for a helpful friend turn into more, she struggles to focus on what really matters.

Samantha always longed for children, but when that never happened for her, she chose to pursue her other great horses. Now that her whole job revolves around riding, she expects to be happier than ever. Only, dreams are hard to shake, and now her love-life makes it hard to appreciate the joy that’s in reach.

Vanessa spent the past few years putting herself back together after losing her husband Jason. Her kids are thriving in Ireland, but she’s finding it difficult to find her place in a new culture. She’s also discovering with her beloved mother-in-law that there’s such a thing as too close.

Can these three women find a way to survive the busy holiday season in a new (old) place where everything feels strange? Or will the stress of family demands, disappointed dreams, and unwanted surprises turn shabby into downright depressing? 

  

Just like the two previous books in the series, this one kept me flipping the pages. The thing I liked most about it was Samantha's story arc. Some of it surprised me. I do wish that her love interest wouldn't have pushed for things to happen so quickly. She just started dating him and things moved way too fast. This and the thing Sam was hiding led to a surprising outcome. I liked that things didn't go the way I thought they would.

I continue to enjoy the friendship between the three women in the series and how they love and support each other through all the unexpected things that come up. I hope that both Natalie and Vanessa stop ruminating over their hesitations when it comes to dating the men they care about in the next book. I could relate to Vanessa's insecurities in quite a few ways though. Most of them had nothing to do with her dating Jack but the way she felt about herself in general. I did feel like Vanessa had a big reason to hesitate when it came to Jack's mom. Natalie's concerns were valid as well but I thought she overreacted at one point. I'm looking forward to seeing how these problems are navigated in the rest of the series, and how they each build love and trust with the new men in their lives. 

Thanks to the author for providing me with a copy of this book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello Stranger by Katherine Center

  

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Romance
Content: Strong language, Some making out but nothing too explicit.

 

Love isn’t blind, it’s just a little blurry.

Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life—placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition—the next, she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with a “probably temporary” condition known as face blindness. She can see, but every face she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. Imagine trying to read a book upside down and in another language. This is Sadie’s new reality with every face she sees.

But, as she struggles to cope, hang on to her artistic dream, work through major family issues, and take care of her beloved dog, Peanut, she falls into—love? Lust? A temporary obsession to distract from the real problems in her life?—with not one man but two very different ones. The timing couldn’t be worse.

If only her life were a little more in focus, Sadie might be able to find her way. But perceiving anything clearly right now seems impossible. Even though there are things we can only find when we aren’t looking. And there are people who show up when we least expect them. And there are always, always other ways of seeing. 

I loved this book so much! I loved these characters and the way they meet and interact with each other. There were some twists that I suspected as I read but couldn't quite figure out how it would work that way until all was revealed. I will say that it feels a little far-fetched that these two people wouldn't have said some things to each other that would have clued them in, but I'm not going to pick it apart. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. 

Going into this I had no idea there was a thing called face blindness and that many people actually have it. After reading the afterward I can tell the author did her research on the subject. It's early in the year, but I feel like this is going to stay as one of my top romance reads for this year. So far I'm 3 for 3 with Katherine Center's books and I'm looking forward to reading more of them. I would recommend starting with Happiness for Beginners if you've never read any of them.

 

 

 

  

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

 

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Romance, Women's Fiction
Content: Strong Language; Multiple love scenes all rather descriptive

 

Nora Stephens’ life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.

Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away—with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.

If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.

  

I'm sure this is going to be a very unpopular opinion but I was really disappointed in this book. It's the first Emily Henry book I've read, and I've heard so many good things about her books. Maybe this wasn't the best one to start with, I don't know, but I had a hard time relating to the characters in this book. The romance was ok, I liked the characters together but the love interest, Charlie was kind of bland in some ways. However, I liked him better than I liked Nora. I enjoyed the banter they had through emails but I feel like the time jump between their first meeting and the next contact between them was too large. It almost felt like something was missing. 

For the most part this felt more like women's fiction than romance. The romance was there but there was a lot of sibling stuff added into the book, so much so that it almost overshadowed the romance for me. There was a weird dynamic between the sisters that was unhealthy, and for most of the book I didn't think it would be addressed. In the end it was, and I think that was the best part of the whole book. Nora treated her sister like she was her child. She acted like an overprotective mother to her, and I had a hard time with her because of it. She thought she had to protect her sister from everything and sacrifice everything for her sister. For most of the book it seemed like her sister was oblivious and ungrateful. At times in the book, the sister did some things that I felt were unacceptable. I understood where she was coming from, but I didn't think she went about things in the right way. I like the way things played out regarding this in the end, but I didn't enjoy reading up to that point. 

I have one other Emily Henry book on my to-read list, and I might give it a try since so many people love this author, but I'm going to wait a while. 

 

 

 

 

 

The Creaky Old Barn (The Irish Escape #2) by B. E. Baker

  

The Creaky Old Barn (The Irish Escape #2) by B.E. Baker

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Romance, Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction 
Content: Clean

 

Three failing families. Two different continents. And one creaky old barn that heals them.

With her marriage over and her kids (mostly) excited about moving to another continent, Natalie’s finally en route to Ireland. There’s a lovely and expansive estate waiting for them in southern Ireland.

Samantha’s bags are packed (again) and she’s ready to jet across the pond as well. She’s said all her goodbyes, and she’s ready to fall in love with new horses in Lismore.

But when they discover that their dear friend Vanessa’s struggling, they reconfigure their plans to rally behind her, because that’s what friends do.

In the meantime, creaky old barns and crumbling old estates don’t just maintain themselves. Can these three best friends patch up the leaks and fix up the creaks in their lives (and their hearts) and find a way forward. . .together?

 

I read this back in December and I meant to write a review for this but life got busy around the holidays and I didn't. So here I am now finally writing my review of this wonderful book. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, and I would say this one was just as good. One thing I'm really loving about this series is the friendship between the three women, and how they're there for each other. I'm also enjoying the love interests that have been introduced. There were a couple of surprises in this one that I didn't see coming. One involves the ex-husbands of two of the women, and the brother-in-law of the third one. Oh boy, let's just say I can't stand them. The other thing that surprised me involved a switch-up, but that's all I'll say, except that I liked how it ended up. I'm looking forward to book three!

Thanks to the author for providing me with an ARC of this book. 

 

 

 

Love Comes Again, and Love Comes Quietly by Laura Ann

I've read three books in this series. Books one, three, and four. I read book one, Love Comes Again back in February and I liked it ok but didn't love it. See what I had to say about that one here. I skipped book two because I wasn't as interested in it, with the thought that I could go back and read it later if I changed my mind. 

 

 

Love Comes Quietly (Loves Comes #3) by Laura Ann

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Romance
Content: Clean

 

Elyse grew up with her nose in a book and her head in the clouds. For years, she dreamed of her happy ever after, but real life brought real problems and her dreams were crushed at the hands of a man who proved to be far from a prince charming.
Now a librarian, she still spends her time reading stories, but her life outside the library walls is lonely and practical. She no longer believes romance is for her...even if her dreams refuse to let a certain, brooding handyman go.

Theodore has been watching the shy, quiet Elyse from a far for what seems like years. He's all too aware that his grumpy demeanor is a terrible match for the sweet librarian, even if his heart wants to believe otherwise. His military past and bachelor lifestyle would never be able to give Elyse what she deserves and Theo plans to stay as far away as possible.

However, when Elyse comes into the hardware store looking for help in a renovation...Theo can't help but offer his services. It's the neighborly thing to do, after all. Everything goes fine until she turns that brilliant smile and kindness in his direction and suddenly Theo can't help but have a hard time keeping his heart...and his hands...to himself.

He's never been good with words, and both are convinced their chance at happiness has passed them by...but sometimes, love doesn't need eloquent words or forced optimism. Sometimes all it takes is two quiet souls finding comfort in each other and unexpectedly becoming whole.  

 

The main reason I decided to read this book is because it fit the criteria for a reading challenge I was doing. So I read this one despite not having read book two. It's a companion series so it doesn't really matter all that much because the stories stand on their own. I ended up liking this one better than book one, and despite its flaws, I could relate to the main character to an extent. She was a quiet introvert with a calm and steady presence. The male love interest in this one was Charlotte's brother Theodore from book one. I ended up really liking him and could sympathize with what he went through losing his best friend and helping and supporting his sister in the first book. 

One of the main things I disliked about this book is that the main female character acts a little too childlike at times. There are several times in the book that she blurts something out that she didn't mean to say out loud, is embarrassed by it, and covers her mouth with her hands. She's 30. What 30 year old woman does this? Another thing that I found ridiculous is the total mess she makes while trying to paint a wall. Painting a wall isn't as hard as this book makes it out to be. There is also the issue of typos and inconsistencies in the character descriptions. Elyse is described in the beginning as having light brown hair and dark eyes. Later she's described as blonde with blue eyes. Then yet again, later her hair is back to light brown but her eyes are still blue for the rest of the book. It's like the author decided to change her appearance but forgot to go back and change it in the earlier parts of the book. A good proof reader or two would be very beneficial.  

I did enjoy the way the romance came about in this book with the characters being acquainted with each other from a distance, and attracted to each other but not acting on it at first because of past experiences. I do think these tropes get overwrought at times and it was the same for this book. 

There's a point in this book when one of Elyse's sisters comes to stay with her and I was so annoyed by this character. I wanted Elyse to say something to her from the minute she showed up but Elyse was far too nice to her. I was however, pleasantly surprised when she finally does speak up for herself, and that this sister begins to see where she is wrong and tries to make some changes. The end of this one has me very interested in the next book, and I never thought I would want to read a book with this annoying sister as the main character.

 

 I

Love Comes Swiftly (Loves Comes #4) by Laura Ann 

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Romance
Content: Clean

  

She's supposed to hate him, instead she becomes his personal assistant.

Calliope Michaels tends to be headstrong, flighty and utterly stubborn when she wants to be. But when her sister is almost killed in a car accident...everything changes. The man behind the wheel of the other car is now paralyzed and is desperately searching for a personal assistant to help with his day to day chores.

Full of morbid curiosity, Calliope answers the call. Her original determination to keep her distance quickly wanes when she realizes Rowan Nicholas is hurt more on the inside, than he is on the outside...and Calliope wants to be the one to see him through.

Rowan hasn't needed anyone's help in a very, very long time. He's strong and independent and likes it that way. But when he has an allergic reaction to a new medication and nearly kills another person, he's forced to humble himself in more ways than one.

Bound to a wheelchair, Rowan is determined to get the use of his legs back, but in the meantime, he needs someone to help him around the house. Sometime quiet and biddable, who will obey without complaining or attracting attention.
Calliope Michaels is none of those things. Unfortunately, she's also the only assistant Rowan has had stick around for more then two days.

His whole goal is to get back to life the way it was before that medication robbed him of his independence...but the longer he's in Calliope's company, the more Rowan begins to realize that what he had before might not have been as wonderful as he'd previously thought.

  

I met the main female character, Calliope in the previous book in the series. She immediately annoyed me, and if anyone had told me I would want to read a book with her as the main character I would have said no way! However, Calliope learns a thing or two by the end of it. Then there is the accident, and I knew going into this book that the main love interest was going to be the driver of the car that caused the accident. I was intrigued. 

Unfortunately, this could have been so much better. It could have been a deeply emotional read with a lot more meaning if we had been allowed to read about Rowan's struggle and triumphs with learning to walk again and saving his company, but we get none of the details. I was hoping this was going to be about Calliope helping him through all those struggles, with the reader getting to witness them falling in love and making a connection through that. What we end up with is the beginnings of that with a lot of drama that I could have done without, and then the book skips the actual hard stuff. Most of the book takes place in just two weeks and there was a lack of any real reason for them to have connected so quickly other than he's handsome, she's beautiful, and he finds her personality different and uplifting despite the fact that she's really obnoxious in the beginning, and is basically trespassing into his home. I know the title of the book is Love Comes Swiftly, but falling in love in a week was way too swift for me. If the story had been set over several months time, and if Calliope hadn't barged her way in at the beginning of things, I would have liked this more. 

There were also a few times in this book that I said to myself, what is going on? Because some of the character actions and reactions didn't make much sense. What I mean by that is, there were really overblown reactions by more than one character to things that didn't seem all that big of a deal. One of the best examples of this is Calliope's best friend, Flora's reactions to Rowan's best friend, Darcy. It didn't make sense to me that she was having such strong negative reactions to the things he said. The things he said weren't really that big of a deal. She's attracted to him one minute and then flaming mad at him the next and it was overblown. And then he reacts to her anger with his own. It all just felt forced. ***Minor spoiler here*** I figured out really fast that this was a setup for the next book that was definitely going to be an enemy to lovers trope but to me, it was nonsensical.

Add on top of these things the fact that every one of the books in this series needs a good proof reading to fix multiple typos and character inconsistencies, like character's hair and eye color changing, (in this one Flora started out with brown eyes and then at the end of the book they are blue) I think I'm going to abandon the rest of this series. Book one and three were sweet and I enjoyed the characters in those despite these things but this one just didn't work for me at all.

 

 

 

 

 

We Met Like This by Kasie West

  

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Romance, Contemporary Romance
Content: Strong Language, several descriptive sex and make out scenes

 

Can a swipe right turn into swept away?

Margot Hart is a hopeless romantic. That’s why she wants to be a literary agent—to help bring romance books to the world. It’s also why she hates dating apps with all her romance loving soul. She wants her own love story to be just as much fun as the books she reads—a mixed up coffee order, a mistaken identity. She’s not going to tell the story that she swiped right on future husband’s shirtless pic for the rest of her life.

The problem is that her most consistent relationship over the last several years is with Oliver, a guy she keeps rematching with on the apps. They’ve only been on one date and it was a disaster…well, until the make out session in the car before parting ways. But, she keeps reminding herself, a make out session does not a relationship make. And so there will not be a date two regardless of how witty their app banter is.

When Margot gets fired from her job on the same day she meets Oliver again, her life becomes a veritable shit show. Her dream career is dying right before her eyes, and Oliver thinks she’s interested in only a repeat of the hot make out session they had three years ago so she can get him out of her system. And maybe that is all she wants from him, because she and Oliver are definitely not compatible—he doesn’t hit the snooze button, he runs five miles every morning, he reads nonfiction, and worst of all, she didn’t meet him in a cute way! But in her scramble to keep her dream career alive, by opening her own agency, Oliver is there with his golden retriever energy, more steady and helpful than any man she’s ever dated. Just when she thinks she’s overcome her app bias, she realizes that maybe it’s not her who’s holding back, but him. And his reasons are more than she bargained for.
 

 

I've read and liked some of Kasie West's YA books, so I was thrilled to find out she was writing an adult romance book. Because her YA books are sweet romance, I automatically assumed this would be sweet romance as well. Needless to say, when I read the opening paragraph I realized that wasn't the case. This book is spicy, and it's spicy from the very beginning. I was really wanting to read a sweet romance written for adults because that's what I like, but I stuck with this and read the whole thing anyway. It ended up growing on me. 

My biggest complaint about this book is the main character, Margot. She comes off as desperate and horny. I had a hard time liking her, especially when she lets her boss use her the way she does. Even after she knows it, she still ends up having to talk herself out of letting him. She did eventually grow on me but I wish she had been written differently. 

I really liked the main male character, Oliver a lot. He's the reason I'm rating this book three stars instead of two. I liked that despite the spicy beginning between these two characters, the book actually ended up taking the slow burn route before it got spicy again. I liked the banter of the messages between them and the way the relationship evolved.

 

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with and ARC of this book. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filthy Rich (The Scarsdale Fosters #5) by B. E. Baker

  

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Romance, Contemporary Romance
Content: Clean

Jake Priest learned at an early age to take anything he could get and never look back. With the help of his foster sister Bea, and the catchy song she wrote, he finally gets a stroke of luck and becomes the hottest new entertainer in the industry. He’s always felt a little guilty for using Bea’s song as his ticket to fame, but after years of hiding her talent, Bea’s finally crafting musical masterpieces again. Jake credits one woman with inspiring her to do it.

When that woman, Octavia Rothschild, shoved Beatrice Cipriani into the limelight, she really had no idea that Bea would try and drag her on stage too. Octavia's finding the attention uncomfortable. Ever since an accident that left prominent burns on one side of her face, Octavia has attracted too much attention, none of it good.

And now the studio’s insisting that Octavia perform one of Bea's songs with Jake Priest. The label’s wild for the kind of publicity a duet would create, even if Jake’s famously impossible to deal with. Only, the more time Jake spends with Octavia, the more he's drawn to her voice and her unique beauty.

But Jake’s shady past was only contained, not erased.

When Jake’s father finally walks out of prison, the first person he wants to see is his newly rich and famous son. And good old dad has some demands—and some secrets—that may just change everything. Can Jake and Octavia heal from past trauma in time to deal with everything the world’s about to throw at them?

 

I think the best thing about this book was the character Octavia. I liked Octavia a lot in the last book, and I was happy that she got her own book. I enjoyed reading her backstory and felt for her with all the horrible people she had to deal with in her life. I know people with disfigurements or deformities have to deal with some people making hurtful comments to or about them. I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around how anyone could be so mean to another person, especially for something they can't help. Octavia goes through quite a lot of that in this book. I appreciated that the author mentioned that Octavia's character was inspired by her cousin, who was also disfigured by a burn. I think it's great that she was able to get input from her cousin on what it was like, and what she dealt with. 

The character Jake grew on me. He wasn't a favorite from the previous book, but I liked that we got to understand where he was coming from. I liked his growth as a character. I'm not usually a fan of stories where the main character or the love interest is a famous person, be they actors or musicians, or whatever, so that part of the book was a harder sell for me. Because of that, this wasn't one of my favorites in the series but that's just a taste preference and it doesn't reflect on the story itself. This was a nice, sweet love story, and I was rooting for Octavia and Jake. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series. 

 

Thanks to the author for providing me with a copy of this book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not Quite by the Book by Julie Hatcher

  

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Romance, Contemporary Romance
Content: Strong Language

 

A bookstore owner discovers that life as a recluse isn’t for everyone in this sharp yet sweet novel about how sometimes you need to abandon the quest for love to find your true passion.

Emma Rini is in a rut so deep she could shelve books there. While her sister awaits her first baby, and her parents kick off retirement with vow renewals and travel, Emma stays put among the stacks of the family bookshop.

In fact, she can’t remember the last time she took a vacation. Or had a romance that hovered above disappointing. When her parents assume she’ll take over the shop for them without a break, she realizes she needs to get away—back to the nineteenth century. Channeling her favorite poet recluse, Emily Dickinson, Emma rents a crumbling manor house outside Amherst where she can learn how to be quietly, blissfully alone.

But becoming a world-weary spinster isn’t easy. She can’t start a fire or reason with the bunnies that are destroying the garden. She finds herself sparring constantly with the grumpy-hot architect who is renovating the manor. And then there’s the secret admirer who keeps sending her complicated floral messages…

No matter what she does, the outside world keeps knocking, and Emma starts to dream about the future. Will she forgo love for the family legacy? And will she shrink away or become the sort of bold person fortune favors?

 

Every time I come across a book that includes a book store or books in general I have high hopes that it's going to be great. More often than not I end up being disappointed. This one was ok in the beginning but before I got even halfway through it started to drag. The main character, Emma had this obsession with Emily Dickinson that got old fast. I got really tired of reading what Emily did, or wrote, or might have thought. I wanted to know what Emma thought, but Emma wouldn't trust herself. I get that she was in a rut in her life and was unhappy, but I thought that Emma was ridiculous to mistake the love of an author's works with having anything in common with the author. She quickly learns that she doesn't but still keeps trying to turn herself into Emily Dickinson anyway. 

It would have been much more logical for Emma to have booked a vacation somewhere far away to just relax and recharge. Instead she's only 40 miles from home trying to live the life of someone from the past for 6 weeks. And speaking of 40 miles, why do some people in this book act like it's a huge distance? It irritated me that her family acted like she was going to be on the other side of the world. But then, a lot of things irritated me about both Emma and her family. That being said, I liked the growth Emma experienced in the book in regards to herself and her family. I especially liked some of the realizations she came to about the other people in her family after she learned their perspectives on things. 

Now for my biggest gripe, and that would be how the romance was handled. What could have been a sweet romance ended up being incredibly frustrating, so much so that I felt like throwing the book at the wall a few times. There was so much needless secrecy and drama in this book. Just talk to each other for gosh sakes! It didn't make sense that Davis withheld the things from her that he withheld. For me, there was never a good enough reason given for why he went about things the way he did. Add on top of that the fact that Emma was so obtuse. There were some very obvious clues staring her in the face throughout the book but she couldn't see them. Overall, I didn't think Emma and Davis behaved the way real people would have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The View from Coral Cove by Amy Clipston

  

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Romance, Contemporary Romance
Content: Clean

When a jilted romance novelist escapes to a small beach town, the last thing she expected to find was the start of an even better love story.

In the wake of a broken engagement and the death of her last surviving family member, romance novelist Maya Reynolds moves to the haven of Coral Cove, North Carolina, to take over her great-aunt’s toy store. Some of her grief is immediately eased by imaginative eight-year-old Ashlyn Tanner, who talks her into adopting a kitten and inspires Maya to create a princess tea-party room in the store.

Ashlyn’s dad, local veterinarian Brody Tanner, is quickly smitten by the newest resident of his hometown. As a single parent, he sacrifices a lot in order to give Ashlyn the world, so a romantic entanglement with Maya is not a distraction he is looking for.

As the three develop a deepening bond in the seaside town where Maya experienced some of her happiest childhood memories, clouds cast a shadow over Maya’s hope for the future: an impossible deadline looms over her next novel, a long-held secret by her late mother about Maya’s absent father comes to light, and Brody’s resolve to avoid romance seems unbreakable.

But together, they just might discover that sometimes happy endings happen outside the pages of Maya’s novels too.

 

This is the first Amy Clipston book I've read. I've been wanting to try one of her books, especially since she's a local author to me. I always enjoy it when a book has places in it that I'm familiar with, and since the author is local there was an abundance of that. 

I liked the characters Maya, Brody, and Ashlyn, and I liked the side story of Maya finding her dad. However, the writing was simplistic and the characters spoke a bit too formal. In particular, I thought the 8 year old in the book spoke too formal for an 8 year old. I also didn't feel like there was enough depth to the story. There was too much telling and not enough showing. I want to be able to feel what the characters are feeling through the author's descriptions and I didn't get much of that. 

I was set to give this 3 stars until the book went stupid. Minor spoiler here- If Maya's ex Kyle coming back had been left out I probably would have given it three stars, but I just couldn't believe Maya's actions after this point. Brody's reaction to Maya at one point was also unbelievable considering how much she had proven herself to him.

Although this book was a disappointment for me, I do plan on trying another one of this author's books.

 

 

 

 

 

The Start of Us (A Change in Plans #1) by Rachel John

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Romance
Content: Clean

 

When Corrie Windsor's roommate dies in a car accident, she leaves behind her four-year-old daughter, Ella. Corrie loves the little girl and hopes to adopt her, but instead, she’ll have to stand by while Ella’s uncle steps in to take custody. If things aren’t awkward enough, there’s a chemistry between them that neither wants to acknowledge.

Preston Ford can’t imagine instant parenthood, especially considering he just chickened out of proposing to his girlfriend. However, once he meets Ella, there’s no other choice. The time he spends with her and Corrie solidifies an alliance between the three of them, a plan to give Ella the stability she needs. But reality can sometimes turn the best of plans upside down.

With more than one heart hanging in the balance, how long can their platonic teamwork really last? Romance has never been this complicated.

 

(This book is also titled An Unlikely Alliance) I've read quite a few romances over the last few months and this one is probably my favorite of them all. I loved the characters Corrie, Preston, and Ella. I loved the way Corrie was willing to uproot her life in order to put the child, Ella's needs first. I loved their relationship. I loved that Preston also put Ella's needs first. It was nice that they didn't make it about themselves the way lots of people would. I loved the progression of the relationship between Corrie and Preston and how it played out. Mostly. The drama with the girlfriend/fiance Nicole was frustrating at times, as well as the conclusions Preston jumped to about needing to get married to her, even though he wasn't really that into the idea. Overall, though, this was a heartwarmingly sweet romance, and I definitely want to read more of this series.

The Crumbly Old Castle (The Irish Escape #1) by B.E. Baker

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Women's Fiction
Content: Clean

 

Three best friends. Two crumbling estates. And one trip that changes everything.

When three barn besties escape for a girls’ trip to Ireland, they expect a lot of fun. They don’t expect to want to stay… forever.

Natalie was always the responsible one, the organized one, the together one. But when she inadvertently leaves one day early for their vacation and comes home pink-cheeked with embarrassment, the last thing she expects to find is her husband. . .in their bed with another woman. Luckily, they don’t notice her, and she takes the trip as a time-out to figure out what to do.

Samantha’s marriage has never been full of fireworks and trips to Cabo, but they were making it work. At least, she thought they were. When an unreasonable ultimatum sends her into a tailspin just before the trip, she takes the time to reevaluate what matters and what she wants out of life and love.

Vanessa’s husband passed a few years before, and she’s been soldiering on. Moments away from her job and responsibilities as a mother of three have been rare, but she has no plans of uprooting their life in Colorado. At least, not until someone she trusts betrays her in a big way. That wound makes her question everything about her own value and her family’s future.

Can these three friends help each other find firm ground in a world that seems to be unsafe, unsteady, and unhappy? And can found family really be what they all need when the going gets tough?

 

I've really enjoyed all of B.E. Baker's women's fiction, so of course I was excited to read this new series, and of course I ended up loving this book! All three of the women in this book were so likable and relatable in many ways. I have to say that I feel like I identify most with Vanessa's personality. The thing I appreciated most about this book is the way the three women supported and helped each other through the hard times and changes they were each going through. It had me thinking about my bestie often and the many ways she's been helpful and supportive in my life. I hope that I've been just as supportive of her.

 "People aren't objects, and that means we're all in a constant state of flux. We all know it, but then we act terribly surprised when other people change."

I love that quote. It's so true. We often view the people around us as always staying the same, even though they don't. Sometimes that change is for the better and some times it isn't. It can be hard when it isn't, and that's what happens in this book. 

I really liked the Irish setting in this book. I've never been to Ireland, but I felt like I was there visiting along with these characters. The author did a lot of research for this book, especially about the locations that are visited in it, and I particularly liked the photos of the real places that were included in the book. I also enjoyed the different people the ladies meet in the book, particularly a few of the men. There isn't really any romance in this book, as it wouldn't have made sense for there to be at this point in the series. However, there is some set up in it for future relationships that I'm looking forward to exploring in the rest of the series. 

If you've never read anything by this author, I think this book would be a good place to start, or her Birch Creek Ranch series.

Thanks to the author for providing me with an ARC of this book.

 

January 2025 Book Club: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Magical Realism, General Fiction
Content: Strong Language

 

After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn't dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors--until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova's son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it's too late.

Shelby Van Pelt's debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

 

This isn't my usual type of book, so I'm really surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I loved Marcellus and Tova. An octopus nearing the end of his life, and a woman in her twilight years befriending each other sounds like a very weird type of book, but it worked. This was such a charming and heartwarming story, that had me tearing up near the end. It hit me in the feels in certain ways because of the subject matter of an older person losing a spouse and having to make choices about where to go from there. There were some coincidences in this that could possibly be a problem for some readers, but I just enjoyed the story anyway.

For book club I made a couple of octopus themed refreshments and served shrimp which was a big part of Marcellus's diet in the book.