 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.In prep for reading my ARC of Namesake I re-read Fable & I was struck again by how lush & gorgeous it is. It’s a thrilling adventure. Namesake picks back up with Fable, West, the rest of the Marigold crew, Saint, et al. & it’s another wonder-ful offering from a prodigious talent. I’m so excited by Adrienne Young’s writing—what stories she’s already put into the world & what will come—but Namesake doesn’t quite live up to Fable in my heart & imagination. Hopefully I won't spoil too much of Namesake’s plot in this review but it feels more circuitous to me—as does Fable & West’s romance, which is tested by the same mistakes they make over & over again. While Fable often questions West’s decision-making in this book—she considers how far he’s gone, how far he’s willing to go—there’s a moment where I feel like he goes too far & Fable kinda drops it. He crosses too big of a line for me. Like Fable, Namesake has beautiful, evocative language & moving storylines about family & place in the world. I love its moments of tenderness & Young’s writing can stop me in my tracks. But overall I have some issues with Namesake that leave me having enjoyed it but not falling in love as I did with the first book. 4⭐️. Namesake is available 03/16.
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 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Q: did you watch GOT? Love it, like it, dislike it? I’ve seen Kristen Callihan share that her latest release Make it Sweet is a “healing” book & that felt right as I read. If you need something tender & protective & SEXY, with a grunting chef & a confident, kind former star of a GOT-like show, then read away, my friends, you will love it. Luc Osmond is a retired hockey player of great renown who was diagnosed with Concussion Syndrome & left the sport to save his own life. But he’s grieving something that’s so important to him, that he feels was stolen from him without warning, & it’s a huge huge loss. Emma Maron is gorgeous, talented, & vibrant, & she’s recovering at the same estate as Luc after being unexpectedly killed off her show. & cheated on. They’re both at career & personal impasses, both smarting a little from bad ends to their last relationships. But the attraction between them blazes pretty much immediately, despite the fact that they’re both aware of how it could screw everything up. The sizzling attraction between Luc & Emma is a little too insta-love-y for me; it feels a little too tender (for me) almost off the bat. But wow, it’s hard to argue with smoking hot characters wanting to kiss one another, make each other happy, & care for one another—desires the book references time & time again. The amount of care in this book feels so good & the sex scenes are at holy smokes! levels. The pool scene. Oh my. The bottom line is that Kristen Callihan is a fantastic writer & she knows exactly what I want: sensuality & tenderness, emotion, complicated characters who feel so much, kindness. 4.5 ⭐️. Make it Sweet is available today. Thanks to Avon Publishing & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.️Q: childhood best friends to eventual lovers stories—love them, indifferent to them, dislike them? Joanna Shupe’s The Devil of Downtown was one of my fave releases last year & she’s rapidly become one of the authors I can depend on for a meltingly hot scene or two. But sadly The Heiress Hunt just doesn’t work so much for me. Harrison Archer overhears his BFF Maddie Webster say that she thinks of him like a brother...on the night he plans on telling her he’s in love with her. Crushed, he heads to Paris for three years, dropping contact with her entirely, sowing his wild oats, & working on making a name & livelihood for himself—a necessary thing since his horrible, wealthy family disowned him. Now, back in the US, he learns that Maddie is still not married but maybe almost engaged to a Duke, & he decides to ask her for help finding a spouse as part of a plan to take down his horrible family & to spend more time with her in Newport. I’ll be honest: I didn’t entirely warm to either lead in this one. As Maddie notes, Harrison is ruthless in pursuing his agenda (*this time around*) but it was never a kind of ruthlessness that warmed my heart, for whatever reason. Maybe because she isn't asking for a lot & he keeps ignoring her wishes time & time again. There are some things I love about how Maddie is portrayed. A tennis superstar who works hard at her dream?! Yes! How she takes charge during their first sex scene, re-calibrating some power dynamics?! Yes double yes!! But I just don't see a lot of depth to either character & don't really see a deliberate moment of change/agency on her part—outside of tennis—until the end. The big issue in their relationship is how Harrison takes control & doesn’t see her as a partner & that’s reflected in the story itself; unfortunately—despite the things I love about her characterization—Maddie often fades into the background for me. The Heiress Hunt has some super sexy scenes, a hero who is utterly devoted to the heroine, a heroine who is ready to take on the world of competitive tennis—so many good things. However, it sadly falls flat for me. Look for me to be one of the first ones screaming with excitement about Joanna Shupe’s next book, though. I am a major fan. 3.5 ⭐️. The Heiress Hunt is out on 03/09. Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Q: did you ever go to a camp? I went to a church camp once when I was a kid & got stitches on my chin after trying to show off for a boy on the see saw. He was not impressed 🥴. I thought Emma Lord’s Tweet Cute was adorable & I couldn’t *wait* to get my hands on You Have a Match. Featuring Abby Day, a grieving 16 year old who’s also trying to recover from the humiliation of having feelings for the best friend who doesn’t have feelings for her, You Have a Match takes it one step further on the emotional scale by having Abby learn her family’s biggest secret after taking a DNA test: she has an older, biological sister named Savvy. Abby & Savvy make plans to get together at the same summer camp where they’ll try to figure out what happened: how their parents know each other & why they haven’t known anything about the other sister until after the test. At camp, Abby will also try to put the Big Embarrassing Incident—when she tried to kiss her best friend Leo—behind her, a feat made more difficult by the fact that he is in fact at camp with her. This is a heart-stirring & emotional YA contemporary that takes place in the charming locale of a summer camp. Seeing Abby make new friends while getting into hijinx, form a strong bond with her seemingly total opposite sister, figure out what’s going on with Leo, & take charge of her photographer dreams is really sweet. It just is. My only real quibble with this one is that the situation with the parents after they find out what their kids know feels so big & I wasn’t entirely satisfied by how it plays out on the page. Not that it wasn’t well done; I just wanted something more—especially with Savvy—because there’s so much emotion there. Lord has a deft way of writing stories that pull me in & make me invested, & while Tweet Cute is still my number 1, You Have a Match cements Lord as one of my fave YA contemporary authors. 4.5 ⭐️. YHAM is out now. 🧬 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.After a bad day single mom & freelance statistician Jessica Davis sends in a sample to GeneticAlly, a matchmaking service that uses DNA to determine “biological compatibility” between users. To her shock & horror Jess is *very highly* compatible with Dr. River Peña, the hot man—& also a geneticist-founder of the aforementioned matchmaking company—she’s had a couple of negative run-ins with. She thinks he’s an asshole & his opinion of her isn’t favorable either. But River’s worked so hard & put his reputation on the line to create this innovative matchmaking tech, so how can he ignore this result? & after skeptical Jess loses a big job, GeneticAlly’s offer of a monthly payment for “research” encourages her to spend more time with him. Will their time together reveal that they’re actually soulmates? The Soulmate Equation has so many moments that call to my heart. ☑️ A single mom who has a mommy meltdown & day to day worries & insecurities. ☑️ A hero who comes across as a jerk & isn’t the most forthcoming conversationalist who later reveals himself to be sweet & kind & lovely. ☑️ Funny one-liners that put a smile on my face. ☑️ Our heroine refers to taking antidepressants—I love that rep! ☑️ freaking amazing chemistry! While there’s so much to love here I did have a bit of a trouble with what I’m smartly calling the “science talk.” Also the “statistician talk.” On one hand it does a lot establishing the characters’s work & interests & the plot itself; on the other, it’s just difficult for me to understand . Numbers 🥴. There’s also a plot element I kinda questioned. But I really enjoyed this one. The enemies ⚔️ to (reluctant) maybe there’s something more to this person to lovers, the sweetness, the STEM leads, the kissing. Yes yes yes. 4 ⭐️. The Soulmate Equation is out 05/18. Hi & welcome to my stop on the Best Laid Plans blog tour! Thanks to Carina Press for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Sometimes (often, for me ;) ) you fall in love with a secondary character in a romance & you can’t wait for them to get their HEA. That happened to me with Charlie Matheson, one of the leads in Best Laid Plans. Brawny but with a gentle soul, Charlie became the caretaker of his younger brother Jack at 17 when their parents died. He carried a huge load on his back for years & now, at 36, he kinda wakes up when he meets Rye Janssen, a *very* grumpy Seattle transplant. Rye moved to Garnet Run after inheriting a house from his grandfather. Formerly evicted & with no home, Rye has no idea what to do with the falling down abode before him...except to fix up as much as he can with his reduced funds. But then Charlie—who’s the owner of the hardware & lumber store & possesses a hero complex—offers to help & surly Rye accepts. As they work & spend more time together feelings grow & spark into flame. Roan Parrish’s books are so emotional & I love it. In addition to being steamy they offer the tenderest of feelings: acceptance & affection & love. I could eat it up. Charlie’s spent so much of his time taking care of others that it’s a real treat seeing him being taken care of & even defended. I love seeing him discover what he wants & seeing Rye do everything he can to give it to him. Their earnest & loving convos are lovely. While I love their dynamic & the mental health rep here (see CW), I couldn’t quite get behind all of the plot. Charlie co-signs for Rye pretty early in their relationship, a decision that seems precipitous to me & that later becomes a point of contention between them. As much as I love a helping hand, that plot element doesn’t work 100% for me, especially as the relationship between them changes & things—like being involved loosely on a financial level, living together, being romantic— grow more tangled. Though I have quibbles about Best Laid Plans on a plot level, emotionally it gets me right where I want it. This is another heart-grabbing read. CW: Charlie has intrusive thoughts but has been to therapy & learned strategies for dealing with them. Rye is alienated from his family. 4⭐️. Best Laid Plans is out on 02/23. Thanks for joining me at my stop on the Blog Tour! I hope you'll stop by again!
 Thanks to Sourcebooks Casa for the complimentary finished copy. All opinions are my own.Q: Do you have a fave farm animal? The older I get the more I appreciate women who say what they think & share what they want. Especially when they’re calling men out on their shit ;). Aja Everett, a curvy, 39 year old former attorney-turned-ranch owner isn’t afraid to speak her mind in LaQuette’s Jackson & I was there for it every single time. After losing her sister Aja relocated to Texas to take over the farm that’s been in her family since her ancestor was freed during the Civil War & bought it from the person who once enslaved him. She’s trying to turn Restoration Ranch into a soothing vacation getaway but her plans are being foiled by a series of vandalism attempts that turn dangerous. Is someone trying to harm her & who? Jackson Dean is the hot Texas Ranger assigned to figure that out & keep her safe. Sparks fly between Aja & Jackson immediately & this book doesn’t skimp on the steam. Their forthright convos about consent & wants are fantastic, & Aja made me want to cheer every time she’s open with Jackson about respecting the boundaries *he* set. There are no games. Crafting a romance that’s strong from a physical & emotional perspective, LaQuette makes me feel the heat & the respect between Aja & Jackson. I did have a couple of quibbles though, including how little time Jackson seems to debate how his relationship with Aja might conflict with his job—I feel like more needed to be done there—& how Jackson & the villain engage with each other—& how others view that dynamic after the big villain reveal—, but all things considered I really enjoyed my time on Restoration Ranch. 3.5 ⭐️. Jackson is out on 02/23. Thanks to Forever Pub & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Q: what’s your fave beach? I’m well aware that I use the word “love” a lot but something I really really love is when a hero makes little, secret gestures that reveal his feelings. That’s *especially* true when those gestures are all about said hero trying to make the heroine who’s been his mutual enemy for years happier. If you’ve been reading Jenny Holiday’s Matchmaker Bay series you knew the Maya Mehta-Benjamin Lawson pairing was coming. In her upcoming release Sandcastle Beach they’re often rude to each other, dismissive, just all around antagonistic, & their romantic relationship eventually jumps off—and thrives on—that spicy dynamic🏻. The fact that fighting with each other brings a special flush to their cheeks is fortunate considering that their mutual acrimony is kicked up a notch in this book by their competition to win town monies to fund their respective professional plans. For Maya, money for her almost closed-down theatre, & for Law, a restaurant. I love how ambitious both leads of SB are, how they find a section of common ground amidst their battlefield, & how the matchmaking seniors of Moonflower Bay bring them together. Cheers to sex scenes that are hot & funny, a compelling round of secondary characters, & a romance that kinda covers all the bases for me. It’s thoughtful, it’s steamy, and it’s got the inevitable fall of both leads without them totally losing that spicy, dancing-with-(conversational) danger spark that draws them together in the first place. 4.5 ⭐️. Sandcastle Beach is out 3/9. Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.I have so many Katie Reus books on my Kindle because they have so much of what I love: the heroes are utterly devoted to the heroines, there’s quality steam, & the engaging storylines have plenty of thrills. Unfortunately, I just didn’t warm to this novella. In Falling for Irish Kathryn appears at her ex Daniel’s work building so she can pretend to be a potential client of a wedding planner working out of his building. In actuality, she plans on hacking into his network to assess its security, a contract job she was hired to do unbeknownst to Daniel. He just sees her with a ring on her finger, months after she dumped him for no apparent reason, & he’s doubly upset—though in a stoic way ;). So he wants to convince her to give them another shot. Part of her wants that too, although she's also still angry about the reason why she broke things off. There’s also the matter of recent attacks against her. There’s so much happening in this novella and the plot often feels rushed. I don't understand why some plot points are even necessary. In the end I enjoy Daniel’s clear strong feelings for Kathryn, her STEM job & confidence, & the heat, but unfortunately this novella just doesn't feel tight enough to me. 2.5 ⭐️. Falling for Irish is out on 02/23. Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Q: which kind of anti-hero are you more drawn to: the charming, rogue type or the terrifying, mostly silent type? Kerrigan Byrne’s Dancing with Danger has a lot of the KB trademarks. ✅ a hero on the wrong side of the law. ✅ a heroine who comes across as “innocent” but not so sheltered that she can’t handle the drama associated with him. ✅ some darkness & violence. ✅ but a once in a lifetime love can offer some kind of hope & redemption. Wealthy and privileged Mercy Goode puts the skills she’s learned as a member of the Detective Eddard Sharpe Society of Homicidal Mystery Analysis to work after the unfortunate death of a friend. Whom does she discover at her friend’s murder scene but the charming ne’er-do-well, Raphael Sauvageau, smuggler, gangster, & lord of the Fauves? Assuming Raphael to have been the murdered woman’s lover, Mercy agrees to exchange info with him in an effort to find her killer. But the more Mercy & Raphael are around each other, the more their chemistry becomes apparent until Raphael issues a daring proposition 🤭. The explosive chemistry between Raphael & Mercy is complemented by the sweetness of how much Raphael delights in Mercy’s somewhat unorthodox personality. She’s saucy & he loves it. You can tell he has feelings for his chaton, as he calls her, from the beginning & an antihero having tender feelings that most people don’t pick up on (because they seem impervious to softer emotion ) is one of my fave things. While I read Dancing with Danger quickly & enjoyed it thoroughly, the plot also often feels rushed to me. The connection between the leads is intense but things between them progress so quickly that it feels a bit shallow. I think the somewhat short length of the book might be a factor here too. But with that being said Dancing with Danger is a sexy, fast read with enough of those things I love about KB’s writing to bring a sparkle to a reader’s eyes. I waffled a little on the rating but I’m going with 3.5⭐️. Dancing with Danger is out on 02/09/21. |
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