 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. If you are a member of the Thick Books Love Club you might want to check out Lucy Score’s romances. She has a keen eye for voice, her secondary characters are often endearingly eccentric (Mrs. Tweedy ), the steam is gooood, & there’s a nice bit of sweetness to magnify that lusty spice. With that being said, Lucy Score’s recent release--Things We Hide From the Light, out now—is uneven for me. Likes—all of the things I mentioned earlier. Plus a badass heroine named Lina who’s basically a bouncer hunter + treasure seeker + adrenaline enjoyer & a hero—Nash Morgan— who’s a well-respected police chief with a great butt. Dislikes, or maybe it’s more accurate to say discomforts—this book reveals Nash’s depression after surviving being shot & losing the memory of what happened & the inclusion of mental health challenges is always something I respect & love. But I find myself uncomfortable with how Nash pressures Lina into actions & situations by using his emotional/mental state (even if his intentions aren’t malicious, even if she is also drawn to him). Not that Lina can’t be that important to him & to his happiness…it’s more of a concern for me that he hasn’t tried to find & regularly actively pursue other resources in addition to his relationship with Lina. This book is angsty if angst is your jam, it’s got plenty of tension between leads, & then there’s a nice payoff at the end with a double epilogue (!). The more I think about this one the less I know what to rate it. 3.5 stars️? Either way, the bottom line is: there are some things I really liked about it, some things I didn’t like, & I’m looking forward to the next one (second chance with Sloane and Lucian, anyone?!) 3.5⭐️. Out now!CWs: Depression. Shot in previous book. Op she was in charge of resulted in injury. Previous heart issues. Panic attack. Flippant reference to assault. Racist cop incident with another cop. Discussion of child with cancer. Assault, attempted sexual assault. Addict father.
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 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.I don’t even really know where to start with my review of Vivienne Lorret’s Never Seduce a Duke. After reading the previous book in the series I knew this was going to be an accidental pregnancy book but I didn’t anticipate where the plot would start & go & end & wowie, it was pretty bonkers. This book features a broken-hearted heroine who wants to have a passionate affair before real spinsterhood & a glasses-wearing duke hero determined to find a missing book heirloom that he believes she has stolen. Quirky & charming, Never Seduce a Duke has its share of awww moments, including just how enticed the Duke is by the woman so many others have ignored. But as previously mentioned, I just don’t love the overall premise or all of the places the plot goes—& it goes a lot—& there’s an aspect of the plot that feels rushed. So is this book entertaining & adorable in moments? Yes. Is it bewildering or unbelievable in moments? Yes. I think there’s potential here but it just didn’t work for me. 3⭐️. Out 02/21.CWs: Previous death of all of their parents—the hero’s were murdered.
 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.I can always count on Joanna Shupe to deliver the heat & the Gilded Age decadence & drama I’m looking for & The Duke Gets Even brought both of those…also an impoverished somewhat-uptight-but-not-really duke who *FINALLY* gets his happy ever after. The events at the beginning of this book overlap with some of the things we’ve seen in previous books in the series—namely how Duke Lockwood—Andrew Talbot—meets the beautiful, not-bound-by-convention Nellie Young & how she drives him a little bonkers with lust on the periphery of his various engagements/entanglements. This is a fast, lusty historical with another Shupe lead who is gone for the heroine. Nellie really shines for me as an unmarried woman pursuing her pleasure, no matter what society says. Though I wasn’t super enamored initially with the Duke—who annoyed me with what he was wanting to do with Nellie while also prepared to get engaged / be engaged to someone else—his desire for her was a welcome development. But while this book is sexy & fun & I really loved how Nellie’s dad just wants her to be happy & vice versa, I didn’t feel like Nellie’s change of heart regarding “conventional” HEAs is thoroughly set up & developed. Similarly, I wanted more set up for how their serious feelings develop so quickly—despite their antagonism for each other & how often he scandal-shames her. So this is another entertaining, hot read but also a bit superficial for me in terms of the relationship arc. 3.5⭐️. Out now!CWs: Heart defect. Previous one-time cocaine use. Death of mother. “Whore" remark. Sexual assault. Previous abortion.
 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. #OnWednesdaysWeReadPink Match the shoe to the stack (not my original challenge) & review a book! I never know quite what I’m going to get with an Alexis Hall book & I love it. Mortal Follies is a fantastic boy fantasy with romantic elements told in AH’s inimitable style, aka supremely witty & funny. From the first pages where we learn this story is being told by an exiled hobgoblin forced to support himself by writing & publishing a book *shudder,* this book had me hooked. Then we meet the leads, beautiful Miss Maelys Mitchelmore who is the victim of a series of magical attacks & Georgiana, the so-called Duke of Annadale, a believed murderess & Ice Queen who hides her heart down down down deep. I know I’ve already said this but Mortal Follies is so witty, funny, & sophisticated. The unreliable narrator is hilarious—& the subtle moments where said narrator is moved to some kind of compassion offer a striking contrast & are so well done. This book is swinging hard with I hate everyone but you vibes (& at times I wondered if Georgiana actually hated everyone, Maelys included ) & while I might typically want a bit more softness it actually worked for me here. With some steam & that distinctive voice that had me snort-laughing on the inside this was a really fun one. 4.5⭐️. Out 06/06.CW: Maelys is the target of a sexual obsession. Attempted murder. Murder.
 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Secret admirer letters usually have me waving a banner that says YES, I LOVE, but while there are aspects of Tessa Bailey’s Secretly Yours that I really enjoy, the letters & the lead combo just don’t totally work for me. Landscape artist and business owner Hallie Welch has had feelings for Julian Vos for years & his reappearance on his family vineyard makes them forefront in her mind. Julian is bewildered by his immediate attraction to Hallie, to everything about her (especially her breasts), except for her total spontaneity. He’s a big fan of schedules & planning. I don’t know what to say about how opposites attract functions in this book except just to say that I didn’t buy them as a couple. But with that being said, the physical chemistry between Hallie and Julian is hot and I responded very well to the body positivity . The plot is a bit muddled to me as well—the letters feel superfluous to me. If you’re a Tessa Bailey fan &/or you’re looking for a quick-ish read with heat & some heart, you might really enjoy this one. But for me it was a somewhat superficial reading experience. 3⭐️. Out now!CWs: Grief over grandmother. Reference to mental breakdown of colleague. Anxiety rep.
 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Second chance romance can be ruff, friends ;). Especially when the former couple has an acrimonious relationship layered on top of attraction & feelings. So I knew Falon Ballard’s Just My Type wouldn’t be an easy experience for me. In the end, I felt like Ballard is an undeniably talented writer, & even though some of FMC Lana Parker’s past & present decisions didn’t always have me cheering, I do love how Ballard writes women making mistakes. That feels empowering to me. The female friendships are strong & this book is very pro-therapy, which is always a plus for me. By the book’s conclusion, Lana—who has been frequently accused of relationship dependency + settling when it comes to partners—has learned a lot about herself & what her patterns are. But ultimately this book doesn’t go hard enough for me in terms of Lana breaking free of her habits. Setting aside the messy nature of this couple’s second chance romance—which I’ve already said can be ruff for me emotionally—I wasn’t sure that Lana fully gave herself a chance to be on her own for a while. She grows a lot but also everything moves so fast & ultimately she’s moving into another serious relationship quickly yet again. So I personally didn’t doubt the strength of Lana’s relationship with Seth—but I did wonder if it was ultimately a good idea for her. If the timing could actually be right. Despite my somewhat wavering endorsement of this second chance tale, I’m really looking forward to seeing what Falon Ballard writes next. 4⭐️. Out now!CWs: Lana came onto the hero Seth when she was in a long-term relationship with someone else. Emotionally negligent mom.
 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Jackie Lau’s Not Your Valentine delivered on the best of Valentine’s Day with so much of the good stuff: a grumpy heroine, a nice guy hero; some forearms lusting; a friends to lovers arc; steam that had me thinking in blush emojis. I ate this novella up! It’s fun & easy to jump into, even on a night when I didn’t feel like I could concentrate that well. There’s so much work an author has to do to make a convincing romance novella but Lau made it possible for me to how leads Helen & Taylor might change their relationship so quickly because of how she writes the care they have for one another as friends. There are some unexpected details thrown in too that I loved & might be new to me in a romance, including some labia insecurity and a 5’5” hero. Check this one out—it’s really great. 5⭐️. Out now!CWs: references to racism; reference to parental abandonment.
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