Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. This blog post includes affiliate links.I finished The Pairing by Casey McQuiston & was shocked TO MY MARROW that I wasn’t actually on a tour of France, Spain, & Italy. This book takes you on such a luscious tour of food, drink, & sights that I felt like I was on a sexy, sexy vacation (that wasn’t always super relaxing given the second chance events going on ). Second chance. You know how I feel about you. But The Pairing is hard to pin down when it comes down to an evaluation of how it’s carried out. The book is romantic & sexy & I adore how bone-deep supportive the leads are of each other. That kind of friendship is so special. & yet, there’s an element of their journey on this trip that I found immature, & as another reviewer wrote, Theo & Kit’s journey is “messy.” But underneath it all, & surrounding it all, is so much love & acceptance & adoration, not to mention such a well of appreciation for food, travel, & what humans have created, & all of it left me with this big feeling when I finished. So do I have quibbles about this one? Yes, a bit. But also, I will be thinking about this book for a while. Casey McQuiston really did it big. 5⭐️. Out 08/06.Please a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.
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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.I feel like anything I say about Tangled Up In You by Christina Lauren will sound derivative but this book is A D O R A B L E, an utterly charming Rapunzel retelling with so many smile-inducing adventures between the leads. Ren has had a very restricted upbringing so college is a new world for her. There, she meets golden guy Fitz, & after a less than auspicious beginning (that’s what we could call blackmail, right?) they go on a road trip together to uncover the mystery of Ren’s apparent birth father. This story follows the movie version pretty closely. One thing that’s bothered me about the movie version is how dark it actually is—I mean, the heartbreak of learning you were kidnapped & have been gaslit for years, etc. & how the movie—which, admittedly, is made for children—really glosses over the darkness even though it’s there in the premise anyway. This book delves into Ren’s feelings more, showing snippets of what her life would be like after such a shocking discovery. Tangled Up In You ended up being more swoonworthy than I expected & I was totally crushing on the story & the leads. Shout-out to Ren who holds Fitz accountable, who tells him she can’t conceive of falling in love with someone who doesn’t actually reveal more of himself, & shout-out to Fitz for opening himself up. Super cute, you all. 4.5⭐️. Out now![CWs: child kidnapping, emotional manipulation, gun violence, death.]
Thanks to the publisher, Netgalley, and Edelweiss for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Here We Go Again is one of those books that has a great romance & a hopeful story but also comes with a big trigger warning. The estranged best friends to lovers arc doesn’t have too much angst…but then you add in the sub-story of a former teacher/parental figure/best friend figure who is dying of cancer & of course everything gets much heavier & emotionally devastating. ~~ Logan doesn’t believe in commitments. She also doesn’t like her ex best friend and current coworker Rosemary Hale, although she spends a lot of time thinking about her. Despite their discord, they both have strong relationships with their former English teacher, who asks them to drive him across the country so he can die at his Maine home. Their relationship goes on a believable & wonderful path, I think, as they let down their guards, reconnect, & allow themselves to be vulnerable. With great anxiety and ADHD rep, this book is all about acceptance, love, & appreciation. But the impending loss of their teacher is a big storyline, & while some parts are heartwarming, hopeful, & funny, there are also some very sad moments, graphic scenes, etc. that might be difficult for readers, particularly those that have suffered a comparable loss. HWGA is a romance, but it’s also a story about losing a loved one to cancer. I think the book is really great, but it’s also a hard read in moments & even thinking about it now makes me—someone who lost a beloved family member to cancer—feel a bit of everything. 4.5⭐️. Out 04/02.CWs: Former teacher & mentor has cancer and dies during the book. Reference to alcoholism, parental abandonment, homophobia, toxic masculinity.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. A road trip romance with some let’s-snuggle-to-stay-warmer & mutual rescuing moments?!?! One Night in Hartswood by Emma Denny is a character-driven romance with some big moments at the end that really amp up the action & the dramatic gesture quotient for each lead. The book opens with Raff, the son of an Earl, traveling to the home of his sister’s intended, William, who is a nobleman she will soon marry to shore up an alliance between their families. But William leaves before the wedding, before Raff and his family even meet him, & when Raff is tasked with tracking William, he enters Hartswood Forest and finds only the servant Penn that he met in the forest a day or so before & kissed. Seeing that Penn needs assistance with his own escape from the keep, Raff says Penn can accompany him on his journey North & find another way home & employment on the way. So, in short, Raff & Penn are on a journey away from the keep together, both of them keeping secrets that will soon blow up in their faces. This book is soft, with several moments where the leads try to protect each other. Both leads are loyal, steadfast, & brave, and both show how they’re willing to face pain for the sake of the other. Moreover, there’s an emotional consideration to the protection too, as Raff worries about the social dynamics between him & Penn, the man he believes to be a servant. ONIH is a great historical romance & I adore how these two are able to make a happy, safe life together because they made it happen. 4.5⭐️. Out 11/07. CWs: Penn’s past abuse. Reference to death, family exile.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Want an intense fantasy from the word “go”? Try Hannah Kaner’s Godkiller, a multi-POV epic story featuring a god-killing bisexual heroine who has a prosthetic after her father sacrificed her leg to save her life the night her entire family was killed. Whew that’s a lot, right?! But like I said, this book is intense & compelling, with a reluctantly helpful heroine, a young orphaned charge who just happens to be connected to a small god, & a mysterious soldier-turned-baker who all make a journey to a war-torn city for different reasons. With standout queer rep & disabled rep, some steam, a multi-person POV, & a thrilling conclusion, this striking fantasy leaves the reader wanting more. 4.5⭐️. Out 09/12.CWs: 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. There’s been a real trend in my reading lately of emotional contemporary romances that deal with grief & general life uncertainty & it makes me happy & sad. Happy for all of us that we’re living in a time when these topics can be discussed with gravity & often humor & always understanding & that there can be so much joy interwoven in those stories too—the joy of falling in love. Sad because books about grief & loss are that too, of course, & Ashley Poston’s The Dead Romantics & Sarah Adler’s Mrs. Nash’s Ashes & now Jessica Joyce’s YOU, WITH A VIEW really make their departed characters come across the page—their hopes & dreams & most importantly, their love—even as those characters are no longer physically present within the book itself. YOU, WITH A VIEW is just a stellar book in general, merging a rivals to lovers story with an emotional epistolary-laden road trip with splashes of humor so well. Not only is the book about an ending—the loss of Noelle’s grandmother & best friend—it’s also about beginnings: giving life to professional hopes & dreams, making new friends, seeing more to a high school rival than you thought was there, seeing everything. What else can I say about this book except that I loved it, it’s beautiful & sad & hopeful & romantic, I loved the steam, I want to go on an adventure with someone who will kiss me in a hotel room (ie my husband), & you should read this book? 5⭐️. Out 07/11.[ID: Jess’s white hand holds the ebook in front of the ocean. In the background is her husband Daniel, a white man wearing a hat, a light colored shirt, & blue swimming shorts.]Hi and welcome to my blog stop for Sarah Adler's Mrs. Nash's Ashes! A big thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Summary.Just in time for summer, MRS. NASH’S ASHES takes us along for two romantic journeys set decades apart: a laugh-out-loud road trip romance and, a moving 1940s-set sapphic love story. In present day, former child-star Millicent Watts-Cohen is on what she believes to be simple a mission: hop on a flight from Washington, D.C. to sunny Key West and deliver the ashes of her elderly best friend to a long-lost lover. But when every flight in the airport is suddenly cancelled, Millie’s only hope at keeping her promise to dear Mrs. Nash is the insufferable—and ridiculously attractive—Hollis Hollenbeck. As the frenemy of Millie’s ex and a perpetual grump, the last thing Hollis wants is to travel all the way to Florida with Miss Ball of Sunshine, Millicent Watts-Cohen. But eventually, Hollis lets Millie hitch a ride with him, and the two embark on the adventure of a lifetime, one which will challenge every belief they’ve ever had about true love. As they contend with peculiar bed-and-breakfasts, unusual small-town festivals, and a deer with a death wish, Millie begins to suspect that her reluctant travel partner might enjoy her company more than he lets on. Because for someone who supposedly doesn’t share her views on romance, Hollis sure is becoming invested in the success of their journey. And the closer they get to their destination, the more Millie has to admit that maybe this trip isn’t just about Mrs. Nash’s love story after all—maybe it’s about her own. Alongside Millie and Hollis’s hilariously chaotic and deliciously steamy journey—yes, your favorite romance tropes like “there’s only one bed” and “quick, pretend we’re married” are in this one!—Adler takes us back in time to witness the love story that inspired Millie’s mission. Sparks fly in the past and present as two stories of true love weave together into a funny, heartfelt novel that hits the sweet spot between elevated romance and women’s fiction. My Review.Opposites attract road trip romance = love for me & Sarah Adler’s Mrs. Nash’s Ashes did not disappoint. This author is so funny, you all. I was cracking up reading some of the heroine’s lines & the banter is a grumpy & the sunshine delight. The book opens with Millie beginning a trip to Florida to bury part of her elderly best friend’s remains. Her flight plans fall through but luckily for her, Hollis Hollenbeck, who she vaguely knows through her ex, allows her to ride with him. Hollis is by turns exasperated, bewildered, & turned on by Millie or Millicent, as he calls her. That is my favorite combo . I adore Millie, whose heart is wide open. & then I adored Hollis for adoring this about her in a confused, curmudgeonly, & fiercely protective way. This book will grab hold of your heart & the dual storylines, telling Millie & Hollis’s story & Mrs. Nash & her lover’s, are done so well, pacing-wise. The only thing that bothered me a bit about the book is the conflict, which really does go for the jugular, as Millie describes that type of fight. But I love how it wraps up & how they got there, & this is one of those books that gives all the feelings a la The Dead Romantics. A lovely & celebratory portrayal of weirdness & love. 5⭐️. Out tomorrow, 05/23!Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs. Are you planning on checking this one out? Let me know what you think and thanks for stopping by!
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.I was impressed by Mazey Eddings’s adult romance debut A Brush with Love but for me her voice shines even more in this adorable & also emotionally striking YA contemporary romance, Tilly in Technicolor. Mazey captures so well the feeling of not belonging / not feeling free to be oneself & how critical putting yourself into new experiences, putting yourself out there, being yourself, can be to your own happiness…& maybe it will allow you to find and appreciate happiness with someone else too. The neurodivergence rep, the story of recent high school graduates, Tilly and Oliver—the former trying to figure out her path forward—, the leads’ bad initial impression of each other, & some adventures in different European cities results in a book that really had me smiling on the inside & also feeling so happy by the end. There’s one moment in particular where Oliver realizes that unlike other people, Tilly is actually into his interests, like the color of a door, that is particularly lovely. Though I wanted more in regards to Tilly’s relationship with her overbearing, often toxic mom—the resolution is a bit hasty for me—everything else is basically pitch perfect. I’m really glad this book was written! 5⭐️. Out 08/15.CWs: Overbearing, overmanaging, dismissive mom; lack of understanding & even cruelty from others regarding neurodivergence.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.I’m starting this review in a brutally honest way & saying that I thought book 1 in this series was really good, book 2 was a slog for me, & book 3–excluding a quibble or two I had at the end of this book—had me saying OH MY THIS IS FUN from the first time the MCs meet. Definitely by the end of their encounter, when they hook up for the first time. Eamon Sullivan is supposed to be accompanying Carla Black on a trip across Ireland for his brother & her BFF’s wedding. But sparks fly in a major way when they meet & after setting the sheets, the bed, the room, that entire side of Ireland on fire with their sexytimes, & after realizing how much pleasure they take in each other, they prolong their road trip in fun random adventures along the way. Off the Map portrays instant attraction & companionship in a beautiful & striking way—I totally believed that they were hot for each other, that they liked each other, & that it was love too. This book feels like it came to me at the right time & I embraced the heck out of this road trip romp. With that being said, there is a sadder story underpinning the book. Carla’s beloved dad has dementia & there is loss & grief on page—see my CW below for more on this. I didn’t totally love how it functions in the plot but the story of their relationship overall is touching & explains Carla’s love of travel. Off the Map was a bubble book for me in terms of reading Trish Doller. Will I be back for more now? You betcha. 4.5⭐️. Out 03/07.CWs: Dad has dementia & dies at the end of the book.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.#SundayShelfie + Review I recently reorganized my bookshelves, getting rid of some books I was N E V E R going to read, consolidating my two TBR shelves into one overflowing one, & making a lot more room for books I’ve loved in the rest of the bookcase. So here she is: a reorganized bookcase with some different books at the front! & now here’s that aforementioned review ;). If you’re searching for thick fantasy books with romantic elements you M U S T look at the Last Binding series by Freya Marske. Book 1, This Marvellous Light, was one of my top reads of last year. A Restless Truth is a sensational follow-up & my guesses & expectations about the couple for book 3 are S K Y high. In this book, Robin’s sister Maud Blythe is accompanying a woman holding part of the Last Contract back to England. Said woman hasn’t revealed what item in her belongings is actually the Last Contract, which is a problem when she’s murdered & someone ransacks their room. In order to find that item, & yeah, prevent a lot of bad things from happening to Britain’s magic-possessors & probably just the world in general, Maud ropes others into helping her, including the stunning Violet Debenham. There is intrigue galore in this book & lots of twists & turns. As Maud & Violet work together they indulge in their attraction, even as Violet struggles to really let someone in. Not only are the world-building & the plot strong, the emotional acumen shown here is really lovely. Marske has a deftness with emotions that left me hoping these leads could go to the relationship distance. Book 3 will likely focus on a different couple & I have my hopes for it will be. In the meantime, I highly recommend checking out these two interconnected queer fantasies, beginning with A Marvellous Light. They’re very very good! 5⭐️. Out 11/01.CWs: one of the secondary characters that we’re presumably kinda sorta supposed to be rooting for calls another “Mediterranean gutter rat.” Violence, including murder.
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