A taut murder mystery, a charmer hero who finds himself having unexpectedly serious thoughts about the heroine, a series of twists & some help-me-escape-stressful-reality for a little bit sexytimes…Laura Griffin’s Midnight Dunes was—as always—a great time.

Recently let go from her job Macey Burns is on Lost Beach pursuing a dream: making a tourism commercial, her first big job for her new production company.

But soon she’s on the fringes of a murder investigation that’s led by the completely hot detective, Owen Breda.

I had a guess about how this mystery would resolve itself & I was…wrong 😆. When I’m sucked into Griffin’s books I always have the sense that she knows what she’s talking about & it was fun seeing the characters work together to piece together what happened.

While the romance is open door & definitely enjoyable—especially when it comes to Owen—it ultimately falls a little short for me. I wanted more, especially at the ending 😅.

I was also surprised by how much focus was on a secondary character throughout the book.

But this is another solid romantic thriller from one of my favorites in the genre, & I definitely recommend this series to anyone looking for some scares & adrenaline-rushes with their kissing.

📖 Q: what are you closing out the weekend reading? I’m about 1/3 of the way through Spells & Sensibility, a MM romance with magic!

In Joanna Shupe’s The Bride Goes Rogue an ended betrothal (only it’s a little bit more complicated than that) is the catalyst for helping the pretty traditional Katherine Delafield embrace her can can-dancing, sexy nickname-adoring, secret-&-hot trysting wild side.

This book is hot hot hot & Shupe really captures Kat & Preston’s inability / lack of desire to stay away from each other & the physical demand that holds them both in thrall.

There’s an emotional connection there too, as both of them navigate difficult, huge feelings they don’t feel like sharing with anyone else.

Other reviewers have remarked on the grovel in this one & I just have to say YES! *plays trumpets with great fanfare.* He messes up & she stands up for herself & it’s so great. I stan a heroine who doesn’t make it easy on the hero to win her back & when Preston eventually has his A-Ha! moment it’s so sweet. He’s so sweet.

Another great, screamin hot read from this series & from Shupe & now I’m ready to watch a duke come undone in the next one.

📖 Q: are you a recipe collector? I usually save them on my phone & I’ve slowly started writing them down on pretty stationary & saving them in an old college binder 😆.

Ruby Barrett’s The Romance Recipe (out 06/28!) really wowed me.

It was a 5 ⭐️ read for me from beginning to end & I couldn’t wait to get this galley to add to my shelves (look at how cute & sensual the cover is!).

If mutual pining, foodie romance, grumpy + the sunshine (but also the sunshine runs her kitchen thankyouverymuch) sounds good, definitely check this one out!

Amy Chambers hired Sophie Brunet as head chef of her restaurant bc she was talented & semi-famous after being on a realty tv show—she’s also had feelings for her since seeing her on screen.

Unbeknownst to Amy, Sophie—who recently realized that she’s bisexual & even more recently broke up with her fiancé—has feelings for her too.

This is one of those books where everything just works together really well. From their mutual pining & appreciation to the moments when each reveals something hurtful, to the times when they cook together—& even including when they fight over the future of the business they both work at…everything made me feel like they were getting closer. Like it was a real emotional relationship each person is invested in.

& then when you add to that the outrageously satisfying steam it’s charismatic & fill-in-your-yummy-food-adjective-of-choice. One hook-up takes place in a car 🤩.

I’m so curious to see what Ruby Barrett writes next because this was a fantastic read.

In A Caribbean Heiress in Paris Adriana Herrera offers a compelling, passionate story about a gorgeous lioness, Luz Alana Heith-Benzan, newly arrived from Santo Domingo and absolutely determined to take the 1889 Exposition in Paris—& the rest of Europe—by storm with her rum, brand, & vision.

As part of that plan she marries a studly, fellow businessperson Earl named James Sinclair who is—unbeknownst to her—on a quest to bring down his dastardly duke father.

Of course there are also feelings involved & sparks fly in this marriage of convenience romance, with both leads floored by their physical connection & feelings of tenderness & possessiveness toward the other.

The setting & characters Herrera uses & creates are so winning. Herrera showcases the heroine’s strong friendship group & while the author shows the misogyny & racism amongst many of the (most of the ?) white Europeans again & again, she also highlights how POC—including the Black heroine, Luz Alana, are chasing their dreams & conquering them, attacking the challenges facing them.

While there’s a lot to appreciate in this romance I often found myself frustrated by how the leads communicated & the reconciliation feels rushed.

This book is dramatic, fierce, & unapologetic but the romance arc itself falls somewhat flat for me.

#SundayShelfie + Review

You know that thrill you get when someone’s writing is just really, really good? I had it often when reading Cat Sebastian’s The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes.

Sebastian is someone who’s writing I just *delight* in, to an extravagant amount. There are so many lines in this ARC that I wanted to share as evidence of how good it is—like one about cake & religious icons—so many moments when I felt a smile growing & also greedily thought, I *H A V E* to get a copy of this for my shelves.

This book picks up action-wise during and after The Queer Principles of Kit Webb, taking Marian Hayes and Rob Brooks as its focus. After shooting her duke bigamist-husband, Marian “kidnaps” the charming Rob Brooks (formerly a highwayman who has been presumed dead for a year) & they travel to visit her sick father & prepare for any fallout from the shooting.

TPCoMH is a rich & sexy cornucopia of tropes:
🖤 Road Trip
🖤 Some Epistolary
🖤 Forced Proximity
🖤 Oops I blackmailed you to lovers
🖤 A tiny bit of the forbidden (though that’s not really a big dissuasion bc our leads have big IDGAF energy)
🖤Some Deception Plot

& a dynamic between MCs that honestly makes my wings soar & my whole reading persona lusty: she is severe & uptight & authoritative & he LOVES IT & thinks she is PERFECT. When I tell you I loved how this became part of their intimate moments...

There’s so much to love about this romance: the humor (honestly I cracked up all the time), the care (from both of them), Marian’s fierceness & what this book says about motherhood & parenting in general, the found family this group makes 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺, & what it means to choose yourself.

I loved it & adored it.

Just a little bit of chaos in this shot as my daughter runs nearly out of frame with her raincoat fluttering on her back & I hold a tablet like it’s a stinky bit of laundry 😆. Only another day around here 🤪.

📖 Q: if you had to get rid of one of these three FOREVER—historical romance, contemporary romance, or fantasy romance / fantasy with romantic elements—which would it be?

I was really excited to get my hands on Hannah Whitten’s For the Throne, a daring follow-up book to For the Wolf that focuses on Red’s sister, Neve.

Neve, a former queen & now kinda villain who took herself to the Shadowlands (ie The Bad Place) & now finds herself in the company of a once-king & god named Solmir who is even more villainous.

But don’t worry: Solmir has a plan to take out the group of evil kings also inhabiting the Shadowlands & he must have Neve for the plan to work. If she can trust him that is.

If this sounds appealing to you:

🖤 Complicated characters (these two leads have made some mistakes! but I love it)

🖤 Steam & a big sense of the forbidden

🖤 Fantastic chemistry—he basically snarls a romantic declaration & my heart went pitter patter

🖤 Books that say over & over again how important sisters are

🖤 Solid worldbuilding with high stakes

🖤 Chunky books

You might really like this duology! Each book focuses on a different sister though we see the same characters populating each one.

For the Throne is just as cinematic at book 1 but on the romance front I wanted more (mostly because book 1 set such a precedent).

But this is another great fantasy & you can count me as a fan of Hannah Whitten’s work.

Ava Wilder’s How to Fake It in Hollywood has some pretty big problems for me from a romance-reading perspective but the chemistry & connection between leads & the author’s writing style kept me reading even as I was feeling unsettled by the state of their relationship itself.

The biggest issue for me is that lead Ethan Atkins is an alcoholic who doesn’t seek professional help until 90+% of the book. Of course his alcoholism has had a big effect on his relationship with fellow actor Grey Brooks, who has her own issues & behaviors to work through (& in my opinion, also could have benefited from therapy).

So much of their relationship is complicated/damaged/threatened by alcoholism & their own unique issues associated with it & I would have loved to have seen the characters do the necessary work earlier in the book, & on page. When the reconciliation comes I’m supposed to take on faith that things will be different & better without seeing them do the work.

I have doubts about the couple moving forward, particularly because Grey’s own heavy drinking isn’t addressed & how that might affect Ethan’s own sobriety.

But in terms of what I liked, the writing style is easy, the convos between leads (when Ethan feels up to it) are flirty & also sweet, & the portrayal of friendship feels sincere & real.

This could have been a great romance for me, I think—there’s potential there—but it doesn’t work for me to have such a crippling issue not handled until the closing pages & without having the benefit of “seeing” it for myself.

Fun(ish) fact about me: one of my worst movie memories is of being a kid watching Groundhog Day in theatres with my dad & stepmom & feeling such angst like WHY does this keep happening & WHY do I have to watch it 😆😆.

Groundhog day is the basic plot of Rachel Lynn Solomon’s See You Yesterday but I really enjoyed it in this iteration 😅: a freshman in college named Barrett Bloom finds herself reliving the same day over & over again—though the events in “each new day” differ drastically. She soon realizes that the guy who pissed her off her first day in physics might be able to relate to her problem…

This book made me feel lots of things, especially bc Barrett wants college to be so different from her horrible & traumatic high school experience. Solomon considers all of the emotions drudged up by the ways college is different, & the ways it can be similar, skillfully.

The relationship between Barrett & Miles is something that’s comforting, thrilling, & challenging for both of them, & not only is it really fun watching two different personalities work together for a cause (like, you know, getting themselves out of a time loop), it’s also lovely & engrossing watching them understand what they could gain (& possibly lose) by making it back to where they’re supposed to be.

See You Yesterday delivers on whimsy & imagination & emotion. It’s not my fave of Solomon’s books (that goes to Weather Girl or Today Tonight Tomorrow) but it kept me on my toes & it was very very sweet.

My feelings for Cat Wynn’s Partner Track are complex. There are some things I loved & then there are things that had me going what?! internally.

The book starts when attorney Perdie Stone scores a big victory against Ivy League grad, now defense attorney, & impossible hottie Carter Leplan.

A major snowstorm & not enough rooms at the hotel result in an only one bed situation which turns into—as these things often do in a romance—a steamy hook-up.

When Perdie returns home she soon realizes that Carter is a new partner at her firm, a fact that’s more than infuriating given how long she’s fought for a similar position.

But they can’t stay away from each other & things get heated between them again & again.

Other reviews mention the steam of this one & it’s true, it’s so hot 👏🏻. There’s one office scene involving red underwear that had me feeling all kinds of things. You can feel the heat coming off the pages & it is y u m.

The chemistry between them is explosive & it’s offered as a reason why the characters can’t resist each other, despite Perdie’s *numerous* attempts to break things off.

Speaking of Perdie, it was great finding an unlikeable heroine & seeing her ultimately pursuing the things that will fulfill her. I repeatedly got the sense that Perdie Stone doesn’t stay down for long. She’s in her late 30s & she’s assured & knows how to take her pleasure & I can only applaud her for all of those things.

Carter is beta hero heart eyes: he is extremely sexy, self-aware, & sensitive. Also a dirty talker.

But the romance arc is filled with frustrating & confusing mixed messages on Perdie’s end & often propelled forward by jealousy. In the end I didn’t feel super confident in the stability of their relationship though the last couple of chapters including the epilogue are cute & a nice touch.

The romance itself unfolds in a muddled, frustrating way for this reader but I really appreciated aspects of the characters & the scintillating passages that pepper its pages.

I had never read Vivienne Lorret before but I took the leap after a trusted friend’s recommendation. How to Steal a Scoundrel’s Heart has a lot to offer with a former rake hero who’s all **this is just temporary, of course it’s not love** energy, a heroine who really tries to wrangle control over her “ruin” fallout, & a sweet & sensual love story that delights.

In the eyes of (most of) Society Prudence Thorogood has been ruined. She approaches known rake, Leo, Marquess of Savage, & asks him to shortlist her as a possible mistress option. They’ve met before though, & unbeknownst to Prudence Leo is so smitten (I mean it’s only lust, nothing more 🤣) with her that he agrees immediately.

She moves in with him & basically the rest of the book is them navigating that arrangement & their unexpected emotions toward the other.

The basic interactions between Prudence & Leo give me everything I’m looking for. I stan a resourceful, determined heroine who’s willing to do what it takes to survive in a society that wants her to crumple, to stay down.

& I’m all heart eyes for a hero who is gone from the word go but fights it every step of the way.

The friendship rep in here made me happy & intrigued (looking at you, Sterling), the hero’s protective streak is 👏🏻, & I love some heisting.

What doesn’t work for me so much is how a weightier topic is handled, specifically Prudence’s lingering trauma over her first sexual experience, which was painful physically & emotionally. Honestly I even felt unsettled about Prudence & Leo’s basic arrangement given that fact & Prudence’s feelings about having sex with someone again. I think it’s a matter of how it’s executed for me.

Setting aside that aspect of the plot, as well as the random dog on the cover which @angelareadsromance mentioned in earlier Stories 🤣, overall this romance is a lot of fun & I’ll definitely think about picking up another Lorret book in the future.