 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. 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. 3 ⭐️. Out now.
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 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. TBH the hero might have made me roll my eyes a few times or so 😆 but Rebecca Zanetti’s Unforgiven gave me the kind of uncomplicated thrills and excitement I was looking for. With this book another member of the Deep Ops team gets his HEA—whether he accepts it or not. Sexy Brit Jethro Hanson has had a lot of lovers but mostly of the one night only variety. When he meets ice queen professor Gemma Falls he immediately makes snap judgements about her, based on his own past. It turns out single mom Gemma has lots of secrets & might not be as icy as he thought. But someone’s targeting both of them. As mentioned at the beginning of the review, despite Jethro’s many fine attributes, his appearance, charm, intelligence, physical prowess & save-the-day-ness, his judgments about Gemma seem largely unfounded to me & he isn’t self-aware of them fast enough/deeply enough for my taste. But in general it’s sweet watching him fall for Gemma & her daughter & seeing how much the team values & cares for him. The sense of found family—& the shared life they’re building in the neighborhood—is heartwarming. This was a fast-paced read that was great for the moment & my mood—& to me that’s so satisfying. 4 ⭐️. Release date: 06/07.
 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Cute, fun, & film-centric, Timothy Janovsky’s Never Been Kissed is an estranged BFFs to renewed friends to romantic partners NA romance featuring a drive-in loving lead who has—as the title suggests—never been kissed. I’ve never been to a drive-in but it’s a setting in this romance that evokes feelings of nostalgia & summer lightheartedness. 22 year old Wren Roland has worked there for the last 8 years. This year he’s manager & forced to work with his once closest friend, Derick, whom he almost kissed & who dropped him like a bad book in college. Things I really enjoyed about this book: the demisexual rep, the somewhat nerdy leads (said by a nerd herself), & how Wren & Derick work to repair their relationship & improve how they talk to each other. Less solid for me is the portrayal of Derick, whose actions aren’t always understandable. This is a case where I feel like I would have particularly loved dual narration. Never Been Kissed is an easygoing read that I think some readers will be really moved by, but in the end for me it was enjoyable but not a read I fell in love with. 3.5 ⭐️. Release date: 05/03.
 Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. (1) Basically every time I see an old house for sale I want to buy it, (2)characters looking for (and finding!) a home is one of my fave romance themes EVER, (3) & I happen to think that charmer heroes who love to tease & walk around with their baseball hats on backwards are all kinds of cute so…did I love this book? Yes. Yes I loved this book. In Lucy Score’s Maggie Moves On YouTube sensation + house renovator Maggie Nichols has just temporarily relocated to small-town Idaho to renovate the dilapidated home of a famous writer. She hires Silas Wright, local hottie & talented landscape architect, to redesign the grounds. Their dynamic is so good. (Stopping myself from repeating “so good” for emphasis.) From their first meeting he comes at her with his charm full-force & she is so matter-of-fact with him, so casual in ignoring his flirting. Flirting that still feels genuine bc he’s a genuinely good guy. This book is wholesome & got me hot, it’s funny, there’s a cute dog & a mystery or two, there’s found family & relationships that are strengthened. The hero is all-in for the heroine from the beginning—he refers to her internally & to her face as his “future wife” soon after meeting her—& the heroine is a major force with a hammer. My biggest quibble is that some of those aforementioned relationship issues are resolved too quickly for me, they feel too pat & easy, & I don’t even know if all of those various threads are entirely necessary. But overall this book is a total delight & I’m really happy I read it. 4.5 ⭐️. Release date: 06/21.
 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 and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. I have a family history of addiction & drug & alcohol abuse & I was both wondering how those topics would be treated in a romance & also aware that I was coming to the table with my own experiences & feelings on the topic. Now that I’ve offered that review caveat I’ll say that in general I love redemption stories + second chance stories, how much hope they offer & how satisfying the narrative arc often is, & in the case of Trusted & True by Rhenna Morgan, protagonist Callie Moore is clearly invested in making good choices & in “making amends.” She’s obviously done a lot of work thinking about her past actions, triggers, and motivations & leans heavily on the things that help her stay healthy & safe. In general I really enjoyed Rhenna Morgan’s focus on blue collar leads & found family with this romance, & the hero Danny’s admissions that professionally, he’s not satisfied. But I have two big problems with this romance. First, the relationship between Danny & Callie just moves so quickly. The end, in particular, feels rushed. Second, two of Callie’s past actions—really big & tbh troubling admissions—are just lobbed into the plot & then they’re pretty easily dismissed by the characters…but not by me. Callie made a huge mistake when she was a teen in particular—one that makes me feel very uncomfortable but the other characters are kind of like, oh it’s okay (obviously exaggerating some here). I believe in second chances but the execution of a second chance arc just doesn’t totally work for me in this book. Maybe if these were things the characters had started to process before the book started—instead of being quickly introduced in this book—it would have been more successful for me. 2.5 ⭐️. Release date: 05/24
 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 Thanks to Harlequin books & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided my own.Ruby Barrett’s Hot Copy is spicy w/ several H O T scenes & feels modern & innovative in some big ways; it didn’t make me swoon as much as I hoped but it leaves me wanting more from the author. On his first day as a marketing intern Wesley Chambers hears a coworker refer to his female boss as a c**t & awkwardly laughs in response before telling the guy he shouldn’t “say that word.” His boss, a powerhouse named Corinne Blunt, overhears his laugh & this, coupled w/ previous negative experiences w/ men in the workplace, makes her give Wes annoying, time-sucking tasks to complete instead of the digital marketing jobs he hoped for. But after Wes helps Corinne face challenges when he doesn’t *have* to, she realizes she might have misunderstood what happened. This is both bad & good b/c Wesley is described as a hot nerd & now she can see what a big heart he has...but she’s also his boss. Hot Copy tries to tackle some big topics & it succeeds in some ways but falls a bit short in others. The exploration of grief is touching, as is the fact that it’s a way for them to connect. Beta hero Wesley is stunningly portrayed; I love his uncertainty, sensitivity, & desire to nurture. I’m less enthusiastic about the portrayal of Corinne. On one hand I love her complexity—she’s smart, hardworking, & keenly aware of the power imbalance between herself & Wesley in the workplace & how that affects their personal relationship. On the other, I grew frustrated w/ her prickliness bc it’s so pervasive. Corinne’s frequently rude to even her close friend & I was frustrated by how she responds to the crisis moment w/ Wes. She consistently comes across as inflexible & I would have loved to have seen her taking more emotional initiative w/ Wes throughout the book. I’m all here for an adorkable beta hero w/ a novelty sock collection & a kicking ass, taking names heroine who’s soft w/ people she trusts. But I did want more emotional nuance in regards to the latter in Hot Copy. 3.5 ⭐️. Hot Copy is out today!CW:
 Thanks to Sourcebooks Casa & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.I have so many thoughts about Suleikha Snyder’s Big Bad Wolf. So many. The first is just how excited I am to find such an emotionally nuanced, sexy shifter read that isn’t afraid to throw some punches at our current political & social climate. A novel that puts a new spin on common themes of the shifter romance—mates, violence, etc—& that features a diverse, charismatic cast of characters who are sometimes noble & foolish & reckless & devoted & anything but one-note. Neha Ahluwalia is a junior associate at a criminal attorney firm who’s been asked to sit in on meetings for shifter & accused (& confessed) murderer Joe Peluso as they prepare for his second trial. He’s a murderer. He’s crude. He’s abrasive. But Neha starts having uncontrollable feelings for him & vice versa. There’s a lot standing in their way, including that they’re sitting on opposite sides of the law—plus the fact that his enemies want him dead. Like others & the blurb on the cover have said this is a dark read that’s full of big emotions—guilt & lust & uncertainty & trust. The worldbuilding is really cool & the difference in voice for each character feels special. There’s so much about Big Bad Wolf that feels special. But the relationship arc between Neha & Joe feels a little rushed. As steamy as the book is, I wanted more conversational intimacy between the leads & more of a basis outside of physical need for Neha to initially cross her ethical boundary. In addition, the fallout for Neha’s decision is treated pretty simplistically in the novel’s conclusion, to me. On balance Big Bad Wolf is a really exciting foray into paranormal romance & I can’t wait to pick back up with the next in the series. 4 ⭐️. Big Bad Wolf is available on 01/26/21.Thanks to Berkley for inviting me to join the blog blitz for the first 5⭐️ book I read this year: Megan Crane's Special Ops Seduction. Read on for my review! Q: what’s your fave song to dance to at a wedding? Special Ops Seduction wowed me in a big way with some of my kryptonite: an ice cold hero who can barely engage with the heroine because of his *very* reluctant feelings for her; a nuanced, standout heroine who’s a physical powerhouse & the only female on her special ops team; fake dating (!) for the job; & a pivotal sex scene that’s an exquisite mix of steam & emotion. I ate this one up with a spoon. Bethan Wilcox is immensely capable. She’s worked very hard for her military & special ops accomplishments & while she loves what she does, she’s also drawn a thick line between how she comes across in public & her outrageously soft, cushy home. If Bethan is secretly decadent, Jonas Crow is—to no one’s surprise—ascetic inside & out. He’s stoic to the extreme & afraid of having good feelings, especially when they’re sparked by Bethan. Pretending to be a fake couple for an op really shakes them up in the best possible way. Megan Crane really has her pulse on every emotion I wanted wrung from me with this one; when I say that this ending made me happy. Well. Jonas has denied himself for so long that when he finally reaches out I wanted to cheer. Or cry. Or both. Sexy, thoughtful, & with leads I adored, this book is practically wrapped with a bow for all lovers of romantic suspense. CWs: Chemical warfare plot line. Also, the hero almost dies before the story begins & he didn’t want to be saved. There are flashbacks. 5 ⭐️. Special Ops Seduction is available now. Thanks to Berkley Publishing & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC & to Berkley for inviting me to be part of the blog blitz. All opinions provided are my own. |
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