 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. This blog post includes affiliate links.In the post-asteroid-collision world of Claire Kent’s Kindled series, people who probably wouldn’t have been paired before the end of life as they knew it find each other in the direst, loneliest of circumstances & fall in love. In Homestead, Chloe’s recently lost her sole surviving family member, her grandfather, & is taken in by a newly discovered community. She makes an arrangement with Jimmy, the man who rescued her, to be partners. Over a period of time, Chloe & Jimmy’s relationship turns into something more as they battle the myriad of external threats facing the life they’ve made for themselves. The chemistry between these leads is satisfyingly developed, as are Chloe’s feelings of vulnerability. She’s very aware of her tenuous place in this community & the benefits of being in a relationship with Jimmy, something that adds poignancy to her story but that also made me unable to fully relax into the partnership they are building. Chloe’s feelings regarding the power imbalance are eventually brought to light, but I wish they’d been explored earlier. With that being said, I’m a big fan of this series in general. There’s something about each book & the overarching themes that captivate, & something very hopeful about people chasing survival & finding love & happiness in the midst of it all, that I really love. 4⭐️. Out 05/17.CWs are numerous & include: murder, violence, attempted sexual assault, references to loss of loved ones, etc.
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 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. This blog post includes affiliate links.The historical details surrounding American heiresses marrying British titles is so interesting to me, so I was excited by the premise of The Stranger I Wed by Harper St. George. Cora Dove has a bit of a scandalous background that she keeps a secret from her new husband, Devon, an impoverished Earl who—like her—also happens to be progressive & passionate about social issues (yay!). They enter into a marriage of convenience that—despite the initial boundaries they set—turns into something more. Their attraction, & their mutual admiration of each other’s appearances, propels things forward, as does that aforementioned mutual interest in social causes. While I’m all about leads digging each other’s looks, in this case it kind of just seemed emblematic of the overall superficial feel of their romance. Did I believe they were attracted to each other & respected each other & liked each other? Yes, yes, & yes. Did I feel a burning love between them? No. Sadly, while the book is good, it also didn’t overall wow me. On the whole, my experience reading Harper St. George’s historicals has been a bit uneven. I’ve read three now, & two were good but didn’t rock my socks off, while I thought the last—with Jacob Thorne & his duchess Camille—was really great. I definitely recommend that one--The Duchess Takes a Husband—if you’re looking for a book to read by the author! 3.5⭐️. Out 04/23.Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.
 Hi and welcome to my blog tour stop for Bride by Ali Hazelwood! I adored this one. Pure fun--marriage of convenience in a sexy PNR kinda way.  [ID: Jess, a white woman wearing sunglasses & a pizza sweatshirt, holds the ebook & sits in front of a lake.]Summary.A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance. Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again... Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was…. Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she's ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.  My review.This book is such a delight. IMO it’s not perfect. But the vibes are close to it. If that doesn’t make sense, maybe my review will clarify. In Bride, vampyre Misery agrees to a marriage of convenience with an alpha shifter so that she can find out more info about her missing sister. Vampyres & weres have been long-standing, often violent foes & to make matters more complicated for Misery, she’s never been fully embraced by Vampyres either. Misery & Lowe’s meeting doesn’t go well in her opinion, but the reader can sense something else going on (PNR readers where you at ). This book gets a lot of mileage from undercurrents & from significant moments in shifter / vampyre dynamics: marking, knotting, feeding OH MY. This book is quite hot & really delivered for me in all of those moments (still not quite sure I understand knotting though ). Added to those tensions & heat are some humor & compassion & found family elements. I adored it. Are there some things about the plot that I did not adore? Yes. But I didn’t hate them & in a way, they did some work for the vibes too. So the end, this is just a fun, relatively low angst (despite all of the threats of violence & acts of violence in the story) shifter tale that satisfies on basically all levels. Gimme more. 4.5⭐️. Out tomorrow!Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.Are you a shifter romance fan? Is this release on your TBR? Let me know and thanks for stopping by!   Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC and the publisher for the complimentary hard copy. All opinions provided are my own. Unfortunately, Yours has: golden retriever & cat energy an MC defending another MC him panicking over the possibility of her being in present danger or past Some steam Comfort After not loving Secretly Yours, Tessa Bailey’s upcoming novel UNFORTUNATELY, YOURS out tomorrow, feels like a return to the hotness & the infatuation & the pure goodness of a TB dirty sex, he-will-love-her-to-the-end-of-time story. I adore August Cates. Like in a way as big as the man himself. I love his golden retriever energy, which gives me Brent from Asking for Trouble vibes. I love when Natalie gets pissy with him, how she calls him bonehead, & how he’s basically like “I know but you want me so what does that make you” in return. I love that you just know they will be in each other’s corners forever, defending the other from anyone else. It’s opposites attract, class difference, marriage of convenience, dislike-ish to love, and total wish fulfillment for someone who just wants a fast, low angst, ticks all the boxes, hot read. 4.5⭐️. Out now!CW: Heavy alcohol use. Reference to rehab, which her parents made her go to when she was younger.
 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. I kept putting To Swoon & To Spar by Martha Waters off because I wasn’t in the “right mood”—I finally read it the other day & it was adorable & funny & heartwarming & naturally I was like why didn’t I read this sooner. If you haven’t read Martha Waters’ books yet, I would compare them to Tessa Dare or India Holton. Maybe a mash-up of the two actually. In this book, viscount Peter Bourne agrees to marry Jane Spencer because she’s part of the deal that will get him his ancestral home back. But Jane is very tired of being at the mercy of men in her life, who have basically been neglectful or dismissive of her (in short: uncaring), & she decides to carry on with a ruse she started with Peter’s deplorable uncle months ago: she & the servants perform a series of tricks designed to make Peter think the house is haunted so he will leave & she can live in solitary bliss. Only, Peter is different than she thinks. & for Peter, Jane is more than the prickliness that meets the eye. Marriage of convenience + fake haunting + slowly falling in love with people who are secretly nicer than they seem = happiness to me. The dynamic between Jane & Peter’s sister is amazingly antagonistic (watch two strong, opinionated women clash ), it’s so cute watching Peter insist that he doesn’t need spectacles, & Jane is such a grump but in a great nuanced way that’s appreciated by Peter. Also Peter is a hero who knows how to apologize & I am here for that . This book is so much fun & I love how the Martha Waters’ books I’ve read so far (2) merge humor with sensitivity. 4.5⭐️. Out now!Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs:
 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Talk about serendipitous…Tansy Adams’ lie about having a fake girlfriend for the last 6 months could blow up in front of her face. Instead, the very woman she’s been pretending to date—Gemma West, a romance novel cover model—walks into the wedding reception & agrees with Tansy‘s story. But Gemma also wants to take their unexpected ruse even farther. She wants a marriage of convenience with Tansy so that she can satisfy the terms of her grandmother’s will & take over his media company. So now it’s a marriage of convenience between two women with some unexpectedly similar trauma from their childhoods, some similar ambitions when it comes to saving their family legacies, & some similar attraction for their “fake” partner turned real the more they spend time together. Alexandria Bellefleur’s The Fiancée Farce is really cute & the things that work for me really work for me. Like the mental health rep—this might be the only book I’ve read where the book talks about mixing mental health meds & alcohol? And though the relationship in this book moves really quickly at the beginning, by the middle & end I felt caught up & more settled in the feelings I could see were growing. Adorable text message exchanges & words + actions giving proof to how protective they are of each other really won me over. What works less for me are how some things feels glossed over or jumped over a bit, including the aforementioned beginning & a family bit at the end, & a truly unsettling villain who as far as I’m concerned deserved a far worse fate than what he got. I kind of wavered a bit on the ranking because the beginning is more like a 4 for me, & the middle toward end is more like 4.5. So how about 4.25? ;). Either way, this one is really sweet, but not too sweet (let’s not forget the dirty talk), with a lovely story of people finding out a marriage of convenience that turns into more is possible in & out of romance novels. 4.25⭐️. Out 04/18.CWs: Previous death of father. References to familial loneliness and scenes of familial antagonism. A lead is called a “whore.” In high school, Tansy was seduced and intimate photographs of her were shared with classmates, leading to harassment; the same person who did this is a secondary character who continues to appear in this book, often “leering” & making crude comments.
 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.This or That: Historical Romance 18th century or 19th century Marriage of convenience or class difference I hate everyone but you MMC or dutiful, uptight MMC Wow, let’s give a round of applause for Finn Ransome, his sweetest soft secret heart & his basically 12 pack 😆. He was the standout of Eva Leigh’s How the Wallflower Was Won for me. Unfortunately some other parts of the book—including the heroine and conflict—don’t work for me as much. That could probably be my review in its entirety but I’m going to add more 😆 . This is a marriage of convenience tale with a cerebral wallflower heroine & a bold & studly gambler hero who is secretly very self-conscious about his intelligence, particularly when it comes to reading. From the beginning of their marriage these two burn up the sheets but the emotional intimacy is a long time coming, especially for our very smart heroine Miss Tabitha Seaton. Tabitha has big ambitions & she wants to use her brain & her drive to help others. All of that is admirable, & I loved seeing gambler Finn appreciate those aspects of her over & over again. But the conflict made me have bad feelings 😆, especially how Tabitha handles it all. Setting that frustrating moment of the plot, on paper this book has so much going for it. But while there are some moments that had me feeling the swoons (like the steam—Tabitha seems to have a lot of climaxes —), overall this one left me a little cold. 3⭐️. Out 09/27.CWs: Finn’s father makes insulting comments about his intelligence. Finn is self conscious and anxious about intelligence, especially when it comes to reading & books. Misogyny against women & Tabitha specifically when she tries to join a special club for learned people. This list isn’t exhaustive.
 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Bethany Bennett’s lovely debut Any Rogue Will Do had me so excited about this new voice in historical romance. While West End Earl falls somewhat flat for me, I’m really looking forward to seeing what Bennett writes next. Adam Hardwick has worked as a land steward for Lord Calvin Carlyle for two years. They’ve developed a close friendship, Cal even referring to his amiable, red-haired friend as Puppy. But after Adam is attacked, Cal realizes that Adam is a woman, Phee, who has assumed her brother’s identity & the dress & mannerisms associated with men during the time so she can hide from her nefarious uncle & guardian. Cal’s there for her, even as this development causes him to develop romantic feelings for his employee/friend. There are lots of things standing between them but can they make it work? Kudos to Bennett for writing a sweet, beta hero who’s a good friend, a bold heroine, & an unconventional story. On balance I think Bennett writes with grace & sensitivity, & as I mentioned before, I think more great things are in our romance-reading future. But I was disconcerted by Cal’s rapid transition in thinking regarding Phee. As Adam, Phee garners none of Cal’s romantic interest; Cal even muses on how unattractive a sister of Adam’s would have been. But basically as soon as Phee reveals she’s a woman, soon after Cal’s aforementioned musing, she becomes attractive to him. The turnaround is very quick & it just feels odd to me. The story also goes in a very unexpected direction & while it eventually gets smoothed away, some of those vaguely rough edges took me out of the story somewhat. I love the sweet friendship between Cal and Phee & that the story (& Bennett) are willing to be daring, but sadly West End Earl doesn’t always work for me. 3.5 ⭐️. Release date: 06/29 I was really excited to talk about Stacy Reid’s When the Earl Met His Match because my response to it’s so complicated. My initial impression was that I didn’t gel well with the writing style or the plot itself & then, before I knew it, I was fascinated by the story & couldn’t wait to see what happened next. I’ll be honest: on the technical front this one falls kinda flat for me. But also, this romance ended up being a fun reading experience for me (🤷🏻♀️ at myself). Lady Phoebe Maitland finds herself with quite the dilemma when the “unsuitable” man she’s fallen for takes her parents up on their bribe & walks away from their relationship. Unbeknownst to anyone, Phoebe is pregnant. Determined to do the best she can for her baby, she proposes to a cynical man she had been secretly corresponding with, Viscount Hugh Winthrop. Hugh accepts her offer for reasons of his own but he vows to never develop feelings for Phoebe because loving women = bad, something he saw in his childhood. When the Earl Met His Match is emotional & dramatic (sometimes overly so for my taste), steamy, & heartwarming. The way that Hugh warms to Phoebe’s pregnancy gave me some good feelings. I love how bold Phoebe is & how she learns to communicate with Hugh, who is mute. Despite their conflict, they take such care of each other. But speaking of the conflict, that’s one aspect of the book that doesn’t seem executed as well as it ought. At around 30% I noted that I couldn’t find a sense of it, though it does become apparent again soon after. Overall, though, it seems that why Hugh agrees to the marriage & their conflict could have been foregrounded more strongly & precisely. In terms of the writing style, it’s still not one that I “click with” wholeheartedly. But Reid knows how to tell a really sweet story & I really wanted Hugh to wise up so they could get their HEA. 3⭐️. Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. 4.5 ⭐️ |
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