 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Roni Loren’s Say Everything series is one that’s going on my fave contemporary romance series list—you can put that blurb right on the cover 😆. The latest installment, For You & No One Else, out now, warmed every cockle of my heart. I really loved this friends with benefits romance where they really are *friends* & lovers & eventually make an adorable and unfairly hot partnership. Therapist & mental health influencer Eliza hasn’t won over office-mate Beckham & that’s fine. But they strike up a friendship while unexpectedly shopping for a dog together *cue the soft, happy tears* & as a hacker & friend he’s there for her when a horrible date tries to publicly shame & bully her by posting a video of her without her consent rightfully going off on him (check out the CWs for more on this!). Gradually they move into something steamier, but there are big complications standing in the way including Beckham’s past & their different relationship wants. This age gap, forced proximity, workplace-ish romance is written so beautifully & captures how romance underlaid with a strong friendship can be so strong & heartwarming. The speeches that each makes about friendship, & later about love, really got to me in the best of ways. & the Epilogue. I didn’t need to see it go there, & it didn’t have to for the characters, but I absolutely loved seeing them sooo happy. Furthermore, seeing the other characters from past books—all of them one big, happy, extended family—was particularly welcome given the crappy news we’re dealing with in the Real World. This book & this whole series is fantastic. If I want sensitive romance with steam & compelling relationships with attraction & tenderness & respect & gentle challenges I’m rec’ing this one! Check it out if you haven’t already—you won’t regret it! 5 ⭐️. Out now!
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   SummaryA disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston. Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead. When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father. For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it. Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is. Romance is most certainly dead . . . but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.  My ReviewWow, Ashley Poston’s The Dead Romantics blew me away & had me freaking crying before taking my kids to gymnastics the other morning 😆. This book engaged me emotionally on every level—it kind of has a Book Lovers effect in that way. The story weaves in happiness & grief, joy & sadness, laughter & tears in a most affirming way—as the book makes us aware time & time again, that weaving is life itself. The sour sometimes but always the sweet too. At the beginning of the book ghostwriter Florence Day asks to write the last book on her contract as a non-romance bc according to her, “romance is dead.” (Ok, Florence, check back in with me later 🙄🤣). The editor Benji Andor, a hottie who clearly turns cold by her ask, says no. Shortly thereafter, Florence’s beloved dad passes & Benji Andor, her editor, arrives at her family’s funeral home as a ghost. Good thing that Florence can communicate with them—even if that actually made her infamous in her small town. This book obviously deals with some tough topics, including the loss of Florence’s dad, but it handles them so lovingly, so eager to see the possible beauty left in the world even through tears & wrenching sadness. I missed Florence’s dad even though he was only alive on page for a short portion of the book. Just as I was happy for her happy memories & the moments she shares with Benji—because Florence’s narration reeled me in & I could feel the fullness of her, of her family too, as a person. Quirky, funny, loving, hopeful, this book hits every note & I loved living in it for a while. Every character in The Dead Romantics feels special & precious. More books like this one, please. 5 ⭐️. Release date: 06/28.
 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. 📖 Q: do you have a favorite royal couple? I’m team Harry + Meghan all the way! The stunning cover of American Royalty—& the premise, of a white future prince of England & current duke falling in love with a Black American rapper named Duchess—had me pressing request on this one really fast. While the basic premise is great (with a nod to Harry & Meghan), the book’s celebration of a female rapper also trying to amp up her skincare line is something worth cheering for, & there are some 🔥 sex scenes (including 🍑 action!), I also feel like things between the leads moved quickly & the hero sometimes comes across as judgmental & uptight (& not in a way that I appreciate). Rapper & businesswoman Dani “Duchess” is in England to perform at a memorial concert for the King. Pretty much immediately Duke Jameson acts like a jerk, mainly because he judged her based on her music videos & because he’s secretly so attracted to her. Forced proximity fans might rejoice when they realize they’re going to be spending so much time together on Jameson’s estate… I noted what does & doesn’t work me earlier but on the whole this book just feels uneven to me. On one hand Jameson can be an awkwardly adorable & cerebral beta hero; on the other, he makes weird, sexist judgments about how much cursing he might expect from Dani based on how she’s dressed (like women might be expected to curse more or less just because of how they’re dressed), as an example. The couple doesn’t meet until 27% in which feels late to me, then they get physical a little too fast for me, & then there just isn’t enough emotional intimacy to have me falling in love. But this was a fast read for me, largely because I found Tracey Livesay’s writing to be entertaining & enjoyable to consume & I had a lot of fun meeting Dani. In the end this wasn’t an unqualified win for me but I’ll definitely try Livesay’s writing again! 3.5 ⭐️. Release date: 06/28
 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. There are some books that just feel effortless & that’s Mia Sosa’s The Wedding Crasher. You all, this book is funny, sharp, FUN, family-centered & as sexy as forearms. Featuring a hot but semi-awkward hero, a heroine who isn’t afraid to tell the truth even when the truth puts her between a rock & a hard place, & a fake dating situation that turns into something that could change their lives forever. Solange is Lina’s—from The Worst Best Man—cousin. Dean is Max’s—from the same aforementioned book—BFF. They’re brought together when Solange helps encourage Dean’s fiancée to be honest about her heart after Solange catches said fiancée in an intimate moment with someone else before the ceremony. The chemistry between these two is played up beautifully—these two CARE—as is their conflict, which is thoughtful and well done. Their sex scenes had me internally clapping, including moments like him sliding down the wall bc he’s so overwhelmed by the hotness of it all. Me too, Dean, me too. This is such a good book & a stellar example of a fantastic rom com that activates emotions on *all* levels. 5 ⭐️. Out tomorrow!
 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. I jumped into Sonali Dev’s The Rajes series with the final book, The Emma Project, a retelling of—you’ve prob guessed it—Jane Austen’s Emma. Brimming with passion & vitality & with characters who feel layered, this is an interesting read that I’m still trying to pin down. I could definitely tell that this was the final book. It has the air of things boiling up & coming to fruition over a period of time & unfortunately I do think I would have appreciated some of the pacing & structural elements more had I read earlier books. But with that being said I found lots to appreciate about The Emma Project, newby to the series that I was. Starting with the complex characters—even the secondary characters assert themselves & contribute to the story, whether the leads want entirely want them to or not 😉. The family dynamics are sometimes loving, sometimes frustrating, & it’s really cool how past main characters aren’t perfect in this book just because of their once-vaunted MC status. The Emma Project features childhood friends to lovers, 12 year age gap (she’s older), once fake-engaged to your brother, workplace romance. The sex scenes are mostly fade to black but there’s a lot of emotional intimacy here; it’s really sweet seeing how much Vansh knows Naina & vice versa—their understanding goes bone deep. There are a lot of challenging family undercurrents in this read, including an abusive father (see my CWs) & I would have liked possibly some more time just on the development of Vansh & Naina as a couple, outside of their families. Those loom pretty large. But this is a rich story told in a lovely, happy, & haunting voice & I would imagine a great conclusion to the series. 4 ⭐️. Release date: 05/17
 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Alexandria Bellefleur’s Hang the Moon elicits one warm fuzzy after another. Brendon Lowell, Darcy’s well-meaning, matchmaking, dating app founding brother in Written in the Stars, is a blushing ginger romantic who enjoys watching proposal videos & crying. When the woman he used to have a crush on as a teen, his sister’s best friend Annie Kyriakos, visits Seattle, he ends up showing her around, determined to change her skepticism regarding romance to something more positive. It doesn’t take long before he realizes he wants to see where their very real feelings can go but his wishes are stymied by Annie’s announcement that she’s relocating to London for work. Hang the Moon is a straightforward, pretty low angst romance that feels warm & lovely. The hero is a blushing prince w/ a talent for oral, the heroine is not going to rush into anything & I stan a woman who needs some time. I really like Annie but in case I haven’t made it clear Brendon is the standout for me—he’s so freaking sweet & his tattoo is everything🥺. Outside of these great leads I absolutely love the poignant story Bellefleur tells about friendships, too. About what happens when your best friend has fallen in love but you haven’t, & you’re no longer their “first” anymore. How the effort Annie makes in friendships—she’s always going the extra mile—has carried over into what she wants & doesn’t want romantically. If you haven’t read this series yet I strongly request that you do. It’s so so good & just a delight. 4.5 ⭐️. Release Date: 05/25 |
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