ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This latest from Clevenger is a nice sweet read. This features MCs Paige, a veterinarian ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This latest from Clevenger is a nice sweet read. This features MCs Paige, a veterinarian whose mother has had a fall and ropes Paige into teaching her aqua aerobics class, and Serendipity (Seren), who is four months pregnant and taking the class to help with morning sickness.
The first meeting is a “meet cute�, and a lot of this book reads like a romcom, with a gaggle of funny older ladies taking the class and both Seren’s BFF, Leslie, and Paige’s mother, Bea, providing some lighter moments.
Seren is trying to come to terms with her mother’s death and the fact that she doesn’t like living in the small town she was forced to return to to care for her mother, while Paige returned because she wants to live there. Seren is also not looking to date or for commitment and this got a bit repetitive in the latter part of the book when their relationship takes off.
I enjoyed watching their relationship unfold and how they got to know each other, both characters are lovely, together and separately. There was plenty of humour and chemistry between them and the supporting characters were a delight. I especially loved Leslie, and liked that Paige’s ex, Connie, wasn’t portrayed negatively. I wouldn’t mind reading a follow up about either (or both) of those characters.
I did feel the pacing was a bit off, the first 50% or so takes place over a few weeks, which means large time jumps are needed to get to the baby’s birth at the end of the book. There’s the requisite “break� towards the end that seems a bit over the top and could have just been handled with a mature conversation, but we all know lesfic requires “drama�. Given how central to the book the baby is, I also found the choice in the final chapter to be a bit odd.
Overall though, this is a sweet romance between engaging characters. Clevenger fans should enjoy this. 3.5 stars. ...more
ARC received via YLVA in exchange for an honest review.
The blurb calls this “A warm, feel-good, enemies-to-lovers, lesbian romance� and that’s a prettARC received via YLVA in exchange for an honest review.
The blurb calls this “A warm, feel-good, enemies-to-lovers, lesbian romance� and that’s a pretty accurate description.
This features MC Claire, a business woman from NY who is burnt out on making bad deals that hurt good people and has decided to trade the business world for her dream of running her own women’s retreat in a small town. She buys a run down property and moves to the town to live while the renovates are undertaken (I also appreciated that these took a long time instead of just being done in a month or so). Only problem is the property she bought was also the dream property of the other MC, Ruby, who lives in town and has always wanted to buy the property to set up an animal sanctuary.
Claire buying the property out from under Ruby is essentially the ‘enemies to lovers� set up of the book, but it’s not really accurate, Claire has no problem with Ruby, so the enemy thing is one sided and pretty much just comprised of Ruby acting like a petulant brat for something that was her own fault, since she had ample opportunity to buy it at any time prior. Claire does try to smooth things over, but it takes way too long for Ruby to get over herself and move on from her disappointment.
Apart from her reaction to Claire, Ruby is a lovely character, sweet and loving with her family and friends and with the admirable wish to help animals. Claire is also a sweetheart, I had expected more of an ice-queen, but she’s just a lovely woman who has taken a lot of emotional hits. Both women have past issues that weigh them down, and once they start interacting and moving towards a relationship, it’s this that slows them down.
I liked that they were open and honest with each other, pretty much from the start, and that the story took place over a long period to allow the MCs to actually get to know each other. The town is also populated by good supporting characters, especially Ruby’s family (her grandfather, Ned, in particular), and I liked that side story as well, although there were times I felt everything was wrapped up a bit too neatly. Claire also had a few good friends who provided support when needed, but terrible parents.
I was thankful that this avoids the miscommunication/contrived breakup situations that usually appear in lesfic, but I did find feel that the beginning was too slow due to Ruby being unreasonable, and on the flip side, the end sort of dragged due to Claire’s issues, which is why I knocked off a star. I still enjoyed this though, and recommend to anyone who enjoys nice, largely angst free romances. 4 stars....more
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is an ok second chance romance, but it’s not the best I’ve read.
This features MC AlARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is an ok second chance romance, but it’s not the best I’ve read.
This features MC Ali, who has just been broken up with by her latest ex and is encouraged by her BFF Charley to send a questionnaire to all of her exes to see if she can find out what went wrong. The other MC is Madison, Ali’s high school sweetheart, who Ali thinks broke her heart.
Madison is none to pleased to get Ali’s questionnaire, because she believes Ali broke HER heart, so when Ali doesn’t hear back from Madison and shows up in the small town they both grew up in, Madison is even less thrilled. The two talk and realise their breakup came from a miscommunication, but Madison is still ticked off, and this requires a contrived circumstance to then keep them in proximity long enough to sort things out. Unfortunately, we are not done with the miscommunication, and have to slog through them sorting themselves out again.
There’s a few supporting characters, mostly Ali’s BFF Charley (the highlight of the book) and Madison’s sister Jenny, with some other scenes featuring Madison’s other family or coworkers. Both MCs are likeable, and I mostly believed they’d always pined for each other, but honestly just didn’t warm to their reunion enough to care about them getting back together. Fans of the second chance trope will likely enjoy this, it’s an ok read. 3 stars. ...more
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a lovely, sweet holiday romance. It features Grace, who started working for a proARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a lovely, sweet holiday romance. It features Grace, who started working for a proposal planning company after breaking up with her ex, Chrstina, who was also her boss. The other MC is Bridget, a gaming programmer who is working as Christina’s PC and is tasked with planning the proposal to Christina’s current girlfriend.
The two meet when Bridget hires Grace for the proposal planning not knowing how they are connected. Grace’s hometown also happens to be where Christina wants the proposal to happen, and is a Christmas wonderland. Bridget, on the other hand, hates Christmas due to her childhood spent in foster care.
The two get trapped in Grace’s hometown for a week or so and spend a lot of time together in the town and with Grace’s family. The two eventually work out the connection issue and begin a relationship while working on the proposal. Both MCs are sweet and I loved them both together and separately. The secondary characters in Grace’s town were also fun. Both have baggage from the past, but they work through it with each other. There’s the usual breakup thing around the 80% mark, but it doesn’t last long.
Honestly, this was like reading one of the better Hallmark movies, if you like them, then you’ll enjoy this. It’s a nice way to spend a few hours this time of year. 4 stars. ...more
ARC received via Ylva in exchange for an honest review.
Second chance romances can be a bit of a mixed bag, but I enjoyed this one. Here, we have ChloeARC received via Ylva in exchange for an honest review.
Second chance romances can be a bit of a mixed bag, but I enjoyed this one. Here, we have Chloe, who is returning to her small UK village to renovate her childhood home following the death of her father. The other MC is Amy, who returned to the village some years back to help with the family farm. Chloe and Amy were BFFs as kids/teens but haven’t seen each other since Chloe left the town due to Amy’s handling of rumours about them being gay as teens. Since their properties border each other, they run into each other pretty quickly, which brings up all the “feels�. Chloe was heartbroken by Amy’s treatment of her, so wants nothing to do with Amy and Amy is ashamed of how she treated Chloe.
One thing that I appreciated was how quickly this was resolved. Amy apologised up front for what she did and Chloe didn’t take too long to forgive her. I also liked the chemistry between the MCs, I believed they loved each other then, and could see how those feelings carried over into the present. I also thought their relationship unfolded realistically and appreciate the lack of contrived drama towards the end. I also liked how Chloe came to appreciate her small town and the people in it and discover that she was accepted there for who she was (as was Amy).
Amy’s brother was a bit of a jerk, and I didn’t really like him, even after his part in their break up was resolved. The rest of the supporting characters are really good though, particularly Chloe’s BFF Naomi (who I hope gets her own book) and Naomi’s family, Amy’s family were also lovely (with the exception of the brother) and I loved her nephews.
Both characters are interesting separately and together and their relationship is sweet enough that I was rooting for their HEA. If you like second chance romances, then this should hit the spot. 3.75 stars....more
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I’m not quite sure where to start with this one. It started with a lot of promise that itARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I’m not quite sure where to start with this one. It started with a lot of promise that it largely did not deliver on.
This features MC Aster, the fourth and last child in the Lavender family made up of older sisters Marigold and Violet and brother Sage, who apparently has lived her entire life in a small town in the shadows of her siblings, though I couldn’t see why, they all seemed like nice people, but none were particularly spectacular at anything. Aster is fairly quiet and unassuming and prefers books over people, can’t fault her there, she also runs her own donut business, while the rest of her family work at their lavender farm. The other MC is Brynn, a vet, who comes to town to fill in for her friend Tyler who is going away for six months to do some study. Brynn is also just out of a toxic relationship where her partner cheated on her and is not feeling so great about herself.
So, this set up what I thought was going to be a fairly routine book about two people who find each other and the usual ‘one of us will have to move� thing due to the short time frame for Brynn to be in town. I will give Brayden points for subverting this, as that’s not really what happens at all. Instead this is a slow, slow, slow burn of a book that spans several years broken up into parts.
I enjoyed Part One, mostly it was very sweet and the way the MCs meet and their relationship unfolds is lovely and full of meet-cutes and banter. Aster is a little shy, but blossoms thanks to her relationship with Brynn and Brynn is obviously smitten with Aster. This bit takes up roughly 40%.
Part Two and most of Part Three form the next 30% and contain some major time jumps, and this is where the book lost me. It started to feel very much like my least favourite Brayden book of all time Back to September, with the MCs living in different places and dating other people. I am not a fan of MCs dating other people in stories, usually this happens at the start of a book and then the MCs get together, but I am really not a fan of them being together and then being with other people and then getting back together. The two also sort of swap personalities here, as Aster starts to really shine and come into her own in these sections but Brynn becomes pretty withdrawn and also a bit unlikable (Aster is never unlikable at any stage). Part 3 also ends with a major miscommunication and Brynn acting like a complete ass, which didn’t help.
Part Four starts with another major time jump and some family circumstances that force Aster home and back into Brynn’s orbit. Brynn’s “woe is me, I could be happy if I could just get out of my own way" shtick is also in full flight here, but Aster has grown enough to call her on it and not put herself back out there. At one point Brynn tells Tyler that Aster is over Brynn’s "back-and-forth" and I was right there with her, it was way past old at that point. They keep running into each other though and eventually discuss what happened, and manage to reconcile after a big gesture from Brynn. The epilogue provides a nice tidy bow on the HEA, though to be honest, I thought Aster deserved someone better.
I enjoyed Aster’s family and her relationship with the various members and their side plots were mostly interesting. I did find the whole ‘no-one knows Aster’s name� thing a bit hard to believe given this is a small town and she owns a popular business, but it was a plot device to show how far she comes. Brynn’s relationship with Tyler was sweet, and I loved both dogs, dogs are always a plus! I also thought Marigold’s reveal came out of nowhere, but wouldn’t mind reading her book if there is one.
I liked this more than Back to September, but found it very uneven, I’d give Part one 4 stars, Parts Two and Three 2.5 stars and Part four 3 stars, so will round this out to 3.25 stars....more
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I like Rey’s books, but this wasn’t my favourite of hers. It’s ok, but not her best.
ThisARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I like Rey’s books, but this wasn’t my favourite of hers. It’s ok, but not her best.
This features the second chance trope, with MCs Kate and Sutton as high school sweethearts who break up after Sutton leaves for college, there more to it but it’s a spoiler I guess, so hidden under the tag (view spoiler)[ Kate sleeps with someone else while she’s away and falls pregnant (hide spoiler)].
Sutton returns home 10 years later to look after her father while he has surgery and of course runs into Kate. Kate has remained in town and is raising her 9 year old daughter, Harper, alone. She has a lovely supportive family, including her trans brother Bryce. Sutton and Kate were ok characters (Sutton as the better of the two), but Harper and Bryce were my favourites.
So, Sutton comes home, but both MCs have mixed feelings about each other because of ‘reasons�. It’s a small town though, so they run into each other a lot and get friendly again pretty quickly, which then leads to a friends with benefits sort of thing. They do have good chemistry, and for the most part I enjoyed their interactions, but the scenes between Harper and Sutton were the real gold.
So the two of them have reunited, things are going ok, and then we have to hit the requisite drama portion around the 80% mark, which didn’t feel organic, in all honesty I didn’t buy either part, the whole thing felt contrived and overblown. It is fairly quickly resolved, which was the only plus.
The big downside to this book is the issue that broke them up to start with. It gets harped on all the way through the book, and yet isn’t really explained, which is just weird. Both families warn the MCs about rekindling their relationship, although for the life of me I couldn’t work out why Kate’s family were mad at Sutton, she cops a lot of blame for their break up but from where I was sitting, all the blame was on Kate. (view spoiler)[ did they seriously think she’d come home, find out her girlfriend had cheated on her and was pregnant and be all like ‘that’s cool, let’s get married�? Seriously? They all acted like Kate’s cheating on Sutton was no problem and Sutton was the unreasonable one. I mean, how did Kate have the high moral ground because Sutton had the good sense to leave and not come back? They also don’t mention what happened to Harper’s father, which I also found weird (hide spoiler)]
Anyway, that aside, the MCs are both fairly interesting and I bought that they still cared for each other. They both have good family’s and nice interactions with them and I loved Harper and Bryce as side characters. Like I said, not Rey’s best book, but an ok read. 3 stars. ...more
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is the third in the Tangled Valley series, and is probably my favourite. I enjoyed bARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is the third in the Tangled Valley series, and is probably my favourite. I enjoyed book 1, thought book 2 had a few issues, but this one is mostly a very sweet, cute romance with lots of ‘feels�.
The main issue I had with book 2 was the weird character assassination of Madison’s character, everything she did in book 2 seemed out of character from book 1, and she was quite unlikable, which made me worry about this book. No fear though, Madison is back to her lovely self here.
The other MC is Clementine, who featured as a minor town character in the other books. She works at ‘The Biscuit�, a cafe in town. She’s worked their for years and has always wanted to buy it, but when it comes up for sale, Madison beats her to the punch, not knowing how much Clementine wanted it. Clem’s also dealing with the unexpected appearance of her father.
Clem has also always had a thing for Madison, but she was from the wrong side of town, so never felt worthy. She’s also ticked at being beaten to the punch for the cafe and doesn’t mind showing it. Madison is such a sweetie though that Clem can’t help but get past it and the two embark on their relationship. The whole thing is going along swimmingly, with lots of Braydenesque banter, but then the other shoe then drops. I admit I saw the ‘drama� coming from miles away, but did appreciate that it felt fairly organic, and I liked how Madison handled it.
I probably liked Madison a bit more than Clem, and Clem’s ‘I’m not worthy� stuff was just as repetitive as Ryan’s in book 2. I did like how one of the biddies helped with this though, and how they were in general in this book, they were annoying in the other books. We also spend ample time with the other two couples, lots of movie nights and dinners, etc, which felt more like book 1 and was missing in book 2.
I also liked that the epilogue tied everything up nicely. It’s sad that this is the last we’ll see of Tangled Valley, but this was a nice way to end the series. 4 stars...more
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was a lovely way to start off my 2021 reading. Vaun says in her acknowledgements thaARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was a lovely way to start off my 2021 reading. Vaun says in her acknowledgements that she wanted to write something sweet and hopeful and that’s exactly what this is. There’s nothing ground breaking here, but it’s just what I needed.
The MCs are Garet, and artist who is substituting as an art teacher for three months in a small town and Tess, who is the music teacher at the same school and they share a classroom. Tess also has a six year older daughter called June.
Both are sweet characters, and the chemistry between them is there from the start. They have to navigate Tess’s reluctance to start a relationship due to Garet being in town on a short term basis, but honestly, they get together pretty quickly. There’s lots of charming time spent with them and June (Garet’s interactions with her are a highlight) and there’s some good supporting characters in their two BFFs. I would especially enjoy seeing Lane in her own story.
It wasn’t perfect, the time sequence doesn’t quite fit and the drama at the end wasn’t necessary, but it’s resolved quickly and doesn’t detract too much from the rest of the story. If you’re in the mood for a quick, sweet romance, then this is for you. 4 stars. ...more
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is book 2 in Murphy’s University Square series, and it was ok, but I liked book 1 moARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is book 2 in Murphy’s University Square series, and it was ok, but I liked book 1 more.
This features Eun, a lawyer returning home to the small town she grew up in after the death of her father, and Morgan, a locksmith who also grew up there. Parts of this were ok, but there were too many elements that didn’t gel for me.
First, gievn that they are the same age and Morgan was only delayed a year in graduation, I didn’t buy that they wouldn’t have known each other or that Eun wouldn’t have know Morgan’s family. There are multiple comments about how small this town is and how everyone knows each other, so it seemed unlikely that Eun wouldn’t have recognised Morgan.
Eun is also dealing with a lot when she arrives, and almost immediately jumps into bed with Morgan, they rarely talk about anything of substance outside of Eun’s family issues, but still manage to fall in love. I felt like Eun was just grabbing hold of Morgan because her family represented all the Eun wished she had. Morgan also comes from a family of three queer siblings, but it’s not very well fleshed out, given that this would be unusual, I thought it deserved more exploration.
There’s also a fairly mundane plot involving Eun’s hateful uncle and another character I won’t name to avoid spoilers. It was fairly obvious and a bit over the top, so I didn’t feel it added much. I’d have much preferred a deeper exploration of the MCs relationship to the addition of that subplot, which was also the reason for many of the contrived miscommunications throughout the book.
The resolution was fairly easy to spot from practically the beginning and not many of the side characters were fleshed out this time (unlike Dale’s sons in book 1). This isn’t a bad read, but book 1 was more enjoyable and had more realistic plot elements. 3 stars. ...more
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a fairly sweet romance from Bryant that falls somewhere between a novella and a nARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is a fairly sweet romance from Bryant that falls somewhere between a novella and a novel. It features Natalie, a Sheriff in her small home town, and Sarah, who is returning to said small town with her six year old daughter. Natalie and Sarah shared a kiss in high school, and haven’t talked since. Both remember the kiss though (and think about it a lot since seeing each other again).
To be honest, not much happens in this book, these two reunite, have a lot of ‘meet cutes� and then get together, in between that is a subplot about a lost dog, that even though I love dogs, I thought took up too much of the story given it’s length. The side characters aren’t terribly fleshed out, but are very supportive and there’s some cute moments with Sarah’s daughter Harper, who also features in the dramatic portion of the book.
Thankfully there’s no miscommunication or contrived breakup, and the MCs are very sweet together. I did think the ending from the dog’s POV was weird though. 3.5 stars. ...more
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I haven’t read anything else by Murphy, but thought this was ok. There was a lot I liked,ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I haven’t read anything else by Murphy, but thought this was ok. There was a lot I liked, but it fell short in other areas.
The MCs are Dale, a contractor living in her home town and Mai, a who is returning home to renovate what used to be the family restaurant and apartment above. Mai hires Dale to oversee the renovations and ends up living with her through a series of circumstances. Dale has three sons, Noah, who is in high school, Seth who ends up living back home again and her oldest Thomas, but Noah is the only one who really gets any decent story time, and he was one of my favourite characters. There’s a few other side characters in Dale’s dad and Mai’s sister and some people from the town, but most aren’t fleshed out that much. For all that Mai’s sister is mentioned as the driving plot for the renovation she doesn’t feature much and little is explained about her condition.
I liked both MCs and really liked that Mai was both a POC and butch, I also liked the issues raised around this and how she stood up for herself. Dale was also interesting, and I liked how she was portrayed as a strong woman who had raised three lovely sons.
The relationship between the MCs was a sticking point for me though. They are each attracted to the other but the first half of the book is just filled with mutual pining but no forward movement. There’s also a time jump in the middle of the book and I found it hard to believe their relationship didn’t progress at all during that time. Once they do get together there’s a series of miscommunications that I just found annoying, you would hope that grown women would be more mature in how the dealt with each other, but not so here. The annoying thing was that this felt like it was just done to insert some drama. There’s also a side plot with a homophobic jerk that I felt could have been more strongly plotted.
Overall, I enjoyed the characters, and Mai’s relationship with Noah was also a highlight, but the main romance didn’t do enough for me, I would have liked to see the restaurant open and how that worked out for them all. This is the start of the series, so maybe that will be in the next book. Anyway, as the start of a series it was fine, and I’m interested to see what book 2 brings. 3.5 stars....more
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was was a nice enough romance. This features Carla, a teacher who has to go home wheARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was was a nice enough romance. This features Carla, a teacher who has to go home when her grandmother dies, and Janice a family friend. Janice is best friends with Carla’s aunt (who is only about 7 years older than Carla) and I had assumed from the blurb that Carla would be younger for some reason, so was surprised to find out she’s 37. The age gap isn’t particularly large, nor does it play much of a role. Janice offers her spare room to Carla while she’s in town, which allows them to spend lots of time together.
Janice, who is a straight divorcee, has been fascinated by Carla since she came out a few years before. So much so that she’s kind of cyber stalked her. Carla has also long fancied Janice. This leads to endless pages of them waxing poetic (in their minds) about how sexy the other one is. They also spend a lot of time wearing tank tops and other items of clothing that allow them to ogle each other. This is the very definition of a slow burn, with mutual pining for most of the first half of the book.
There’s a few subplots involving the rest of Carla’s family and Janice’s great aunt, Mamie, who was one of the best characters in the book. But I found the burn a bit too slow, the story doesn’t really pick up til about the 65% mark, and then there’s the obligatory drama at the 80% mark, which I didn’t really enjoy. I also thought the end was a bit unrealistic, I thought it would have been much more likely that Carla would find it easier to relocate than Janice.
ARc received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This one had an interesting premise, but it didn’t live up to it. This features MC Riley,ARc received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This one had an interesting premise, but it didn’t live up to it. This features MC Riley, who manages a movie theatre in her home town, and Vic who is returning home for her twin sister’s wedding. Vic and her sister Vanessa used to bully Riley back in high school, and Riley and Vic both had unrequited crushes on the other.
So, as I said, interesting premise, and both Riley and Vic are interesting and likeable characters individually, but for me the chemistry didn’t quite gel. Although I did like that Vic had thought of what she’d done to Riley over the years and made amends right away. I still couldn’t get over Riley actually wanting to be with Vic after the way she’d treated her though.
Megan, Riley’s bff was a good character, but Vanessa, Vic’s twin blew hot and cold, and I couldn’t warm to her. The other issue was that both women had terrible relationships with their mothers, who were very cartoonishly drawn, and much of the dialogue and the way those scenes turned out just seemed over the top to me. Same with the reunion scene, I didn’t buy that people would actually act like that at a reunion.
Then there’s the constant harping on the past and Vic’s insecurity that Riley only wants her for her money. Riley also has insecurities and these lead to the requisite breakup, which is resolved blindingly fast. I didn’t buy the HEA, in fact, I barely bought the ending as a HFN. I wish I’d liked this as much as I thought I would. 3 stars. ...more
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is pretty much vintage Brayden. There’s a super cute couple, Joey, who runs a vineyaARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is pretty much vintage Brayden. There’s a super cute couple, Joey, who runs a vineyard, and Becca, who is managing the new hotel that’s about to open in town. Joey does not want said hotel in her town, so is disappointed to discover that her new crush is also the woman in charge of the hotel she doesn’t like. Becca and Joey have instant chemistry, and Becca manages to win Joey over in short order. There’s lots of meet cutes and banter, as you’d expect. This also features Madison, Joey’s long time BFF and Gabrielle, Madison’s ex and good friend. These two come to work at the vineyard with Joey, and will also feature in the other books in the series.
When reading this I kept thinking how much it was like Kiss the Girl and it gets more so as you go along. The requisite drama at the 70% mark was almost an exact replay. This also features the issue I’ve had with Brayden’s books before, the banter wears after awhile and most of the characters talk in the same voice, which is annoying. Brayden also manages some tie ins with other books, and I did like her tongue in cheek reference to the mixed reviews for Back to September.
Joey and Becca are very sweet together and I enjoyed watching them flirt and move through their relationship, even though the last 30% or so kind of dragged. Fans of Brayden will enjoy this, for the most part it’s a nice sweet romance. It’s probably 3.5 stars, but I’m rounding up....more
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
If you’ve read a Jenny Frame book before, then you know going in what you’ll find. This iARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
If you’ve read a Jenny Frame book before, then you know going in what you’ll find. This is no different in that the MCs are butch/femme, and as with two of her past series, this features British aristocracy.
The mains here are Evan Fox, who runs a large toy manufacturing business and also has multiple side businesses, one of which is to take over an English village and make it eco friendly and a safe haven for minorities (the dreamer). The other MC is Clementine, a duchess whose family fortune was lost thanks to the larger than life dreams of her grandmother, leaving her living in the gardeners cottage on the edge of what was once her family estate and her village. Clem is also responsible for caring for her mother who has dementia, and is bitter and closed off from her many losses/struggles.
Evan has long admired Clem’s grandmother, Isadora, and is ecstatic to find out that the family estate and I guess the village are up for sale, she buys them and moves in to enact her utopian plan. The village doesn’t have much in the way of locals, and Clem and some of the farmers want nothing to do with Evan’s plans. Evan, however, is a big ball of positivity and soon starts to win everyone over. It doesn’t hurt that Clem also finds her attractive. For Evan’s part, it’s pretty much love at first sight after meeting Clem, so she’s even more determined to win her over.
Evan’s dream seems like a pipe dream to be honest, but it was fun reading about all the different things they were going to do and watching the villagers slowly get on board. And the ideology behind it sets up a setting where LGBTQIA people will feature, which removes one of the biggest obstacles to a series set in such a setting.
I could have lived without the endless repetition about Clem being a duchess, Evan being a ‘dapper dandy�, and the word ‘collywobbles� has probably never featured so much in a book as it does here. The romance itself is pretty sweet though and the characters are fairly engaging. Some of the secondary characters were interesting, and I assume will be fleshed out further in the coming books, it’s not hard to work out who will feature in those.
Overall, it’s a nice, sweet romance. Frame fans will enjoy this. 4 stars. ...more
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I read this just before the holidays bit haven’t had a chance to post my review. This is ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I read this just before the holidays bit haven’t had a chance to post my review. This is a nice enough Christmas novella. It features Brooke, who is returning to the home town she hates to bury her mother and settle her mother’s estate and Holly who owns a bakery, is a single mother, and is about to be evicted by Brooke. Brooke’s kind of a Scrooge or grinch, not sure which, but she hates the town and Xmas, and unfortunately for her is snowed in and stuck in town over the holidays. After a rocky start she and Holly keep getting thrown together, and get to know each other. This leads to a thaw in Brooke and they spend the holiday together and eventually manage a HEA.
Because it’s a novella, there’s not a lot of substance to this, there’s way too many characters and situations going on, which means that there’s not enough time to get to know the leads or really establish their relationship. Still, it’s an enjoyable enough read. 3.5 stars. ...more
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I’m not sure what I was expecting with this one, but whatever it was, I didn’t get it. ThARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Ivy is about 11 years younger than Claire, and while I usually like age-gap romances, Ivy acted young for 24 years (though in her defence her much older brother acted like he was in his teens) so I didn’t really buy the romance between the leads. I’m sure most of their interactions were supposed to be ‘cute� but I didn’t see any sparks. The whole family feud thing was ridiculous as well. Claire and Kurt were all of 19 when they were supposed to be married, frankly Claire should have been applauded for knowing not to go through with it, no matter the reason.
Through a series of ridiculously contrived circumstances Ivy ends up working for Claire while she’s in town, this means they spend a fair bit of time together but most of this is spent endlessly rehashing ‘feud� stuff with relatives and other people who live in town.
Ivy also has unresolved issues about her twin sister’s death and Claire confronts a bully from her past but neither of these side plots was particularly engaging. The romance wasn’t strong enough to overcome any of the issues I had with the story. I’d give this 2.5 but am rounding up. ...more
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for and honest review.
This is a nice romance from Beers. Here, we have MC Olivia, who is an assistant manager ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for and honest review.
This is a nice romance from Beers. Here, we have MC Olivia, who is an assistant manager at a resort in upstate New York, who has recently been passed over for the manager’s role she thought should be hers (she’s right). She meets the other MC, Haley, while walking in the woods, and they flirt and make plans to get together again, only to discover the next day that Haley is Olivia’s new manager.
Of course, this doesn’t please Olivia, but she’s less pleased by the fact that Haley appears to be a total flake, who is completely unqualified for the role (she is). It also rightfully annoys and confuses Olivia that she’s been passed over for Haley.
Meanwhile, Haley is actually the daughter of the owner, who has been going off the rails with spending in the wake of her mother’s death two years earlier and has now been exiled to the resort with an ultimatum to turn it around within the next four months, even though she’s an artist, and knows nothing about running a resort. She’s also hiding her real identity, so Olivia doesn’t know she’s the boss’s daughter and this was the ‘waiting for the other shoe to drop� element, which was as annoying as it usually is because I just kept waiting for the reveal.
The secondary characters include Olivia’s two best friends who also work at the resort and her family who all live in town (her mother is a hoot), while Haley’s BFF and one of her brothers appear during brief phone calls. Her main connection is her father, who is also having trouble dealing with her mother’s death and they do not relate to each other at all.
The two MCs spend a lot of time together due to their roles, and early on this is fraught by Haley’s lack of interest in the role and Olivia’s resentment of her. They do become closer though and end up giving in to their mutual attraction. This then leads to the ‘drama� portion, which actually zigged when I expected a zag, and didn’t bog the story down as I had thought it would, so I was happy that the conflict did not play out at all the way I thought.
My main issue with the story was Haley’s character, she’s 30, and completely dependent on her father to pay her bills, which is kind of... pathetic for a grown ass woman (although I also couldn’t work out if she was being paid to work at the resort). She also half asses her way through her job, does no preparation before arriving, and little once she gets there, it’s at least a month before she really starts doing anything of note, she just lets Olivia do the heavy lifting. She does improve, but it took me awhile to warm to her. Even in the epilogue when she makes a rather large purchase, I had to wonder who actually paid for it.
Anyway, that aside, I enjoyed the setting, the romance between the MCs was sweet, and I give points for not following the usual ‘get them together to break them up� formula. It’s probably around the 3.75 star mark, but I’m rounding up to 4 because it’s Beers...more
ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is my second book by Rey and it’s a nice sweet love story. This features MC Lauren, ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is my second book by Rey and it’s a nice sweet love story. This features MC Lauren, recently fired from her marketing job for something she didn’t do and who also happens to have just inherited an inn/bar in England. She jumps on a plane with the intention to flip the inn and use the funds to start her own marketing firm. The other MC is Cam, who runs a nearby family owned gin distillery and is a regular at the inn and doesn’t want it to change. So hometown girl vs city slicker.
Both MCs are interesting, together and apart. They have great chemistry and spend a lot of time together since Cam gets roped into helping Lauren with her plans. There are a lot of side characters (Cam has three sisters who feature, some more heavily than others and each character has a best friend). The BFFs feature the most heavily out of the side characters, and they are both poly, which you don’t see often in lesfic (the fact that they were both poly was a little much but whatever). There is also a LOT of talk about gin, which was interesting to start with, but started to bore me, I did end up skipping some scenes where this was the focus.
This also features the requisite drama at the 75% mark, but it doesn’t drag on and though the resolution was obvious from pretty much the start, I still enjoyed the HEA. I think I’ll be adding Ms Rey’s back catalogue to my TBR pile. 4 stars....more
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