Q: do you think the personality traits associated w/ your astrological sign are accurate?

You have to read this book! (I added an exclamation point to make the sentence seem less demanding 🤣.) But seriously, I love this book from the first page to the last.

Alexandria Bellefleur’s Written in the Stars has everything I want: steam, laughs, & just enough emotion to make me feel alive (; ) ) AND it has the uptight/reserved + charmer dynamic between leads that I love so hard.

Elle Jones & her BFF have made names for themselves as astrologers & they’re in the process of integrating their services into a popular dating app. The guy behind the dating app—now a friend to Elle—sets her up on a blind date with his sister Darcy.

Darcy Lowell is a beautiful actuary. She’s also sophisticated & reserved & doesn’t appreciate Elle’s job or when Elle spills wine on her dress.

But after the date, after Darcy has complained to someone about how it went (& after Elle overhears her ), Darcy finds herself telling her brother that she & Elle are dating so he’ll stop with the date suggestions. & then Elle goes along with Darcy’s lie for reasons, & soon Elle & Darcy are spending more time together because this has to be convincing dammit! & feelings start happening.

What a delightful ride this book is.

The back stories are developed well; each character has her own emotional baggage & it’s convincingly & thoughtfully related to their present. There are bursts of humor throughout—this is a funny one!—& there’s also a scene where one of the leads stands up for the other with family (which I know is catnip for some of us).

The female friendships are authentic & the pacing is 100—I just couldn’t wait to read more of this opposites attract, fake dating romance that is by turns hilarious & tender.

It gave me a million warm fuzzies to see how both leads feel free to be themselves with each other.

I wanted an epilogue . But over & over again this book is wonderful & happiness-inducing & I am a B I G fan.

 Q: what’s a fave vampire book of yours?

The ARC of Juliette Cross’s Don’t Hex and Drive arrived on my Kindle at the perfect time. The *only* problem is that I started reading it at 9 pm AND THEN I JUST COULDN’T STOP until it was 1 am and I remembered I have small kids who enjoy power games (aka waking me up whenever they want).

The chemistry between leads in this PNR is unreal & one of my fave dynamics is at play: the hero’s used to people tripping over themselves to please him & the heroine gives a big, fat Hell No & then goes about her day.

In this book the hero, a vampire & Bollywood actor named Devraj Kumar, literally hits the witch & healer heroine Isadora Savoie with his car. Despite his best efforts to win her over afterwards, she’s not interested.

But the attraction’s immediate & substantial on Dev’s part, despite the fact that as a Stygorn, a supernatural tracker of sorts, he’ll be leaving New Orleans soon. Isadora just does it for him—even when she barely gives him the time of day— which brings me to another layer of that catnip of mine & which I think I’ve seen illustrated on Twitter or somewhere recently: a hero who is captivated by the heroine over and over again & you can tell his wheels must be spinning because THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE. He’s never felt this way. When I encounter this in a romance I’m reminded of a cartoon figure with with stars over his head...after he’s been hit by a large object 🤣.

Plot-wise there are a couple of directions the book goes in that I question. But I told you about the satisfying dynamics going on, the chemistry, and now I’ll say that the steam is super satisfying. In a major way. Brava! And I love the rep of a socially awkward heroine.

Don’t Hex and Drive is a delightful, sexy beast of a book that I (mostly happily) lost sleep over.
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CW:
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Kidnapped human women who are used & abused for their blood.