en-US Tue, 15 Apr 2025 12:04:31 -0700 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg 205363938 A medical crisis brings one man close to death—and to love, art, and beauty—in a profound and luminous novel by award-winning author Garth Greenwell.

A poet's life is turned inside out by a sudden, wrenching pain. The pain brings him to his knees, and eventually to the ICU. Confined to bed, plunged into the dysfunctional American healthcare system, he struggles to understand what is happening to his body, as someone who has lived for many years in his mind.

This is a searching, sweeping novel set at the furthest edges of human experience, where the forces that give life value—art, memory, poetry, music, care—are thrown into sharp relief. Time expands and contracts. Sudden intimacies bloom. Small Rain surges beyond the hospital to encompass a radiant vision of human life: our shared vulnerability, the limits and possibilities of sympathy, the ideal of art and the fragile dream of America. Above all, this is a love story of the most unexpected kind.]]> 306 Garth Greenwell 0374279543 pao 0 currently-reading 4.06 2024
author: Garth Greenwell
name: pao
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/15
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]]> 220807894 Existing in the darkness sometimes means you’ll find the stars you didn’t know existed.

Goldie Moore has spent her life living out dreams that never belonged to her. After confronting her parents, who had pushed their fame-hungry desires onto her, she finally gets to live a life un-scripted. Now at Liberty Grove—the East Coast's most coveted college—Goldie is where she always knew she’d thrive. But living a life as precocious as hers, wandering through this hedge maze of adulthood, expectations, and love, proves more complicated than she imagined. When she crosses paths with Tristan Harper, the collision leaves her breathless. He’s the storm she didn’t prepare for—an undeniably magnetic indie rockstar haunted by bad decisions, wrong crowds, and a secret that weighs heavy on his heart.

Stuck at Liberty Grove, Tristan only has two goals: to find the man he used to be before the world knew who he was, and to make sure no one finds out the real reason he’s there. But keeping his past hidden becomes impossible when he meets Goldie, the girl who makes him feel seen in a way he didn’t know he craved.

When an offer is made to pretend to date each other to conceal both of the parts of themselves that they want to keep hidden, the lines between real life and the one they share in the shadows of Liberty Grove get pushed further into the darkness, making them wonder... can you ever fake love with a soul that burns just as brightly as your own?]]> Holly Jukes pao 4 3.58
author: Holly Jukes
name: pao
average rating: 3.58
book published:
rating: 4
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date added: 2025/04/14
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]]> 220478264 I promised my best friend I’d take care of his hellion of a sister. A sham marriage probably wasn’t what he had in mind.

Growing up, the three of us were inseparable. Now the only time she speaks to me is to tell me to get lost. Fair enough. Maybe I do go out of my way to make her mad, but I’d take her hate over her indifference any day.

But when it comes to a rodeo competition, we’re on the same side, for once. With a prize of $100,000, it would make her career—and she could finally give her mom the help she needs. Her skill and my horse are a winning combination. The only problem? The rider has to be the owner…or immediate family. The only way she can compete is as my wife.

She thinks our marriage is all for show, but there’s nothing fake about my feelings for her. I’m determined to make this marriage real. All she ever had to do was just say when.]]> 400 Elizabeth Bright pao 3 4.15
author: Elizabeth Bright
name: pao
average rating: 4.15
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/05
date added: 2025/04/05
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]]> 59804101
Vanessa has just started working on an English translation of a titillating, experimental thriller by a dead author when she’s offered a more prominent gig: translating the latest book by an Extremely Famous French Writer who is not in any way based on Michel Houellebecq. As soon as she agrees to meet this writer, however, her other, more obscure project begins to fight back―leading Vanessa down into a literary hell of traps and con games and sadism and doppelgangers and mystic visions and strange assignations and, finally, the secret of life itself.

Peppered with “sponsored content�� providing cocktail recipes utilizing a brand of liquor imported by the film director Steven Soderbergh, and with a cameo from the actress Juno Temple, Bad Eminence is at once an old-school literary satire in the mode of Vladimir Nabokov as well as a jolly thumb in the eyes of contemporary screen-life and digital celebrity.]]> 289 James Greer 1913505340 pao 3 3.22 2022
author: James Greer
name: pao
average rating: 3.22
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/03
date added: 2025/04/03
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]]> 202539653 From USA Today best selling author Elizabeth Bright comes a new grumpy/sunshine, single dad, steamy romance set in wild and beautiful Colorado.
Working as the head trainer at Lodestar Ranch is my chance to prove I have what it takes as a woman in a man's world. The only problem? My boss is the world’s grumpiest cowboy�� and I ������’t keep my eyes off him.
Between running the ranch and being a single dad, Adam Hale has the weight of the world on his shoulders. But beneath his gruff exterior is a man who is fiercely loyal and compassionate. His heart has been broken and he’s not looking to repeat the experience. After chasing my dad’s approval my whole life, I know better than to get my heart tangled. But it’s hard not to melt for this man—and his son. When things get heated at a local rodeo, I have to remind We’re not at the ranch. He’s not my boss here�� unless he wants to be.]]> Elizabeth Bright 1737070286 pao 4 4.18
author: Elizabeth Bright
name: pao
average rating: 4.18
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/01
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]]> 214269328 Grieving the loss of her best friend, a young woman’s life is turned upside down when she meets a grumpy stranger who swears he can help her live again, in this heartwarming, slow-burn romance by the author of Ready or Not

Lenny’s a bit of a mess at the moment. Her best friend, Lou, recently passed away after a battle with cancer, and her death has left Lenny feeling completely lost. She’s avoiding her concerned parents, the apartment she shared with Lou, and the list of things she’s supposed to do to help her live again. The only thing she can do is temporary babysitting gigs, and luckily, she just landed a great one, helping overworked, single mom Reese and her precocious daughter, Ainsley. It’s not perfect: Ainsley’s uncle, Miles, always seems to be around, and is kind of... a huge jerk. But if Lenny acts like she has it all together, maybe no one will notice she’s falling apart.

Miles sees right through her though. Turns out, he knows a lot about grief and, surprisingly, he offers her a proposition. He’ll help her complete everything on her “live again�� list if she’ll help him connect with Ainsley and overcome his complicated relationship with Reese. Lenny doubts anything can fill the Lou has left behind, but she begins to spend more time with Miles, Lenny is surprised to discover that, sometimes, losing everything is only the first step to finding yourself, and love, again.]]> 416 Cara Bastone 0593595734 pao 4 4.26 2025
author: Cara Bastone
name: pao
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/29
date added: 2025/03/29
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]]> 199368721 She's been driving him wild for years . . . the good kind of wild.

The kind of wild that comes with wanting your best friend's little sister and knowing you can't have her.

Forbes may have labeled Ford Grant the World's Hottest Billionaire, but all he cares about is escaping the press and opening a recording studio in gorgeous small town Rose Hill. Something that comes to a screeching halt when he ends up face-to-face with a young girl who claims he's her biological father. Now, he spends his days balancing business with parenting a sullen twelve-year-old, all while trying desperately to keep his hands the hell off his best friend's sister, Rosie Belmont.

After living in the city, Rosie came blasting back into town like a storm. Beautiful, messy, and chaotic. And one wide-eyed, desperate plea for a job is all it takes for Ford to hire her. He vows to keep her at arm's length. Tries to stick to scowls and grumpy one-liners. But with her, verbal sparring is a type of foreplay―friction that soon turns to blistering heat.

Ford knows damn well he shouldn't cross this line. But shouldn't and can't are two very different things.

And the only thing he truly can't do is resist her.]]> 402 Elsie Silver 0349441626 pao 4 3.98 2024
author: Elsie Silver
name: pao
average rating: 3.98
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/22
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]]> 217465190
But when my nephew’s guardianship is contested, I decide I’ll do whatever it takes to keep him in Rose Hill. Even if it means marrying the enemy.

Rhys Dupris.

A man who is secretive, broody, and completely infuriating. A man whose work takes him away for weeks on end and brings him back covered in mysterious bruises—ones he won’t talk about. In fact, we barely talk at all.

Which would be fine, except when he’s not talking, he’s staring. And the way he looks at me is borderline indecent.

The tension between us has always been palpable. But living under the same roof is a dangerous temptation.

I swore I would never forgive him. But that was before I knew the man behind the mask. The one who’s fierce and protective. The one who’s gentle and patient. The one who shows up for us when we need him most.

He’s not at all who I thought he was.

And that makes hating my husband so much harder�� and loving him just a little too easy.]]> 466 Elsie Silver pao 4 4.28 2025
author: Elsie Silver
name: pao
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/18
date added: 2025/03/18
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]]> 213243908 A hopeless romantic meets a jaded radio host in this cozy, Sleepless in Seattle-inspired love story from beloved author B.K. Borison.

Aiden Valentine has a secret: he's fallen out of love with love. And as the host of Baltimore's romance hotline, that's a bit of a problem. But when a young girl calls in to the station asking for dating advice for her mom, the interview goes viral, thrusting Aiden and Heartstrings into the limelight.

Lucie Stone thought she was doing just fine. She has a good job; an incredible family; and a smart, slightly devious kid. But when all of Baltimore is suddenly scrutinizing her love life-or lack thereof—she begins to question if she's as happy as she thought. Maybe a little more romance wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Everyone wants Lucie to find her happy ending... even the handsome, temperamental man calling the shots. But when sparks start to fly behind the scenes, Lucie must make the final call between the radio-sponsored happily ever after or the man in the headphones next to her.]]> 448 B.K. Borison 0593641191 pao 4 4.08 2025
author: B.K. Borison
name: pao
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/14
date added: 2025/03/14
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]]> 50243719
Doctor James Tanner is gorgeous, successful and decisively single.
He’s also a widower with a broken heart.
So when he meets a beautiful woman on a fateful night out, their chemistry shocks him to the core.

Harper Hayes is irresistible.
With her pink-tipped hair and tantalizing smile, she makes him forget all his pain.

One night together won’t hurt, will it?
One night to get her out of his system.
Then he’ll leave in the morning without a backward glance.

But actions have consequences, and this one will change both their lives forever.
And when Harper sees those two little lines she knows exactly what that means.
Now she just needs to find the unforgettable man who left her alone in bed after their one night together.

What a shame she doesn’t even know his name…]]> 308 Carrie Elks pao 4 3.67 2020
author: Carrie Elks
name: pao
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/12
date added: 2025/03/12
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]]> 217443065
**

After finishing his cardiology fellowship, Blake London moves to Boston with a single hope: fix as many hearts as he possibly can…including his own. Considering the one woman he's ever loved—his best friend from medical school—got engaged to another man, he needs to move on.

But that’s easier said than done, and Delaney proves harder to escape than he expected.

��

Delaney Delacroix's fiancé has fallen in love with another woman. Since love was never part of their arrangement, Delaney isn't upset about it. But it does mean she can't access her inheritance until finding a replacement husband, and she must put off her dreams of founding a specialty heart clinic for patients like her brother.

In the meantime, Delaney returns home to the East coast where she stumbles into Blake, whose abrupt cross-country move had devastated her. Their unexpected reunion is shocking, as is the reveal of Delaney’s broken engagement—her fake, broken engagement. But nothing stuns as much as Blake’s reaction: he promptly steps up to the plate. Or rather, the altar.

Their decade-long friendship can survive a year of playing husband and wife…right?]]> 463 Amelie Rhys pao 4 4.14
author: Amelie Rhys
name: pao
average rating: 4.14
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/07
date added: 2025/03/07
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]]> 58401360
Moving to Angel Sands is a brand new start for single mom Meghan Hart. With a beautiful new apartment, and a business she’s fallen in love with, things are finally looking up.

Then she meets her gorgeous new neighbor.

Rich Martin has no luck with relationships. He’s too busy saving lives to think about his own. But from the moment he sees Meghan, sparks fly.

After a run in with a persistent ex he asks Meghan for help. Pretend to be his girlfriend for a month. Despite her misgivings, Meghan agrees.

As they spend more time together, the chemistry between them explodes, ending in a kiss-to-end-all-kisses.

Before long, neither of them is certain what’s fake and what’s real any more.

And right now, they’re in no rush to find out…]]> 300 Carrie Elks pao 4 3.95
author: Carrie Elks
name: pao
average rating: 3.95
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/04
date added: 2025/03/04
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]]> 22609310
For once, Auburn takes a chance and puts her heart in control, only to discover that Owen is hiding a huge secret. The magnitude of his past threatens to destroy everything Auburn loves most, and the only way to get her life back on track is to cut Owen out of it—but can she do it?]]> 306 Colleen Hoover 1476791457 pao 0 4.14 2015
author: Colleen Hoover
name: pao
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2015/08/27
date added: 2025/03/01
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]]> 213234866 almost career-ending injury, she’s branded him as enemy number one. But when they're assigned to the same ICU team, Audrey can't avoid him.

Theo, known for his easy smiles and sunny disposition, has always been misunderstood. Behind his cheerful facade lies a man struggling with heavy responsibilities—he's been the main caretaker for his siblings ever since his mother's stroke. When he learns he'll be working alongside Audrey, he sees it as a chance to prove he's not the villain she thinks he is.

Forced proximity in the high-stakes environment of the ICU makes it impossible for Audrey to maintain her grudge. She discovers that Theo's life off the ice is as complex and demanding as her own, filled with sacrifices and care for those he loves. Theo starts to break through her defenses, where they start relying on each other for everything. But just as their relationship deepens, Audrey makes a decision to protect Theo by keeping a critical secret, which could unravel everything they've built.]]> 288 Jaqueline Snowe pao 4 3.72 2024
author: Jaqueline Snowe
name: pao
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/28
date added: 2025/02/28
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]]> 211399784 To the world, they were a scandal. To each other, an obsession.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER �� An epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating, starring a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice

“P������ Wuthering Heights and part Daisy Jones & The Six, this novel is as brilliantly choreographed as a gold medal performance and will keep you guessing until its last page.”—Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name

She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family’s support, but Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating—and each other—to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and roller-coaster relationship.

Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end.

As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the “real story�� through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary, but she ������’t stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy. So, after a decade of silence, she’s telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.]]> 448 Layne Fargo 0593732049 pao 4 4.18 2025
author: Layne Fargo
name: pao
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/25
date added: 2025/02/25
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]]> 57184206
Football has always been Cam Hartson’s life. When he's forced to retire following an injury, he slinks back to his small home town, planning to lie low and lick his wounds.

Until he meets Mia Devlin.


The beautiful single mom of two tearaway boys has no interest in love. She's too busy trying to find a job and keep a roof over her family’s heads to worry about relationships.

Even if every time Cam looks at her it sends her heart into a spin.


She knows she shouldn’t like him. He’s too ambitious, too confident, too much of everything.

But when he offers to be her rebound guy, she finds herself agreeing.


Cam wants more than just a few stolen moments. And if there’s one thing he likes it’s a challenge. There hasn’t been one he hasn’t risen to before.

As far as he’s concerned, Mia won’t be the one that gets away…]]> 320 Carrie Elks pao 4 4.12
author: Carrie Elks
name: pao
average rating: 4.12
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/21
date added: 2025/02/21
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]]> 61374793
Now trapped inside Jessica’s body, with access to Jessica’s most private journals and secrets, Jenna soon discovers that being the top student at the elite, highly competitive Havenwood Private Academy isn’t quite what she imagined. Worse, as everyone—including her own parents—start having trouble remembering who Jenna Chen is, or if she ever even existed, Jenna must decide if playing the role of the perfect daughter and student is worth losing her true self forever.]]> 320 Ann Liang 133552312X pao 4 4.09 2025
author: Ann Liang
name: pao
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/18
date added: 2025/02/18
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]]> 158649729 The fascinating history of women’s health as it’s never been told before.

For as long as medicine has been a practice, women's bodies have been treated like objects to be practiced on: examined and ignored, idealized and sexualized, shamed, subjugated, mutilated, and dismissed. The history of women’s healthcare is a story in which women themselves have too often been voiceless—a narrative instead written from the perspective of men who styled themselves as authorities on the female of the species, yet uninformed by women’s own voices, thoughts, fears, pain and experiences. The result is a cultural and societal legacy that continues to shape the (mis)treatment and care of women.

While the modern age has seen significant advancements in the medical field, the notion that female bodies are flawed inversions of the male ideal lingers on—as do the pervasive societal stigmas and lingering ignorance that shape women’s health and relationships with their own bodies.

Memorial Sloan Kettering oncologist and medical historian Dr. Elizabeth Comen peels back the curtain on the collective medical history of women to reintroduce us to our whole bodies—how they work, the actual doctors and patients whose perspectives and experiences laid the foundation for today’s medical thought, and the many oversights that still remain unaddressed. With a physician’s knowledge and empathy, Dr. Comen follows the road map of the eleven organ systems to share unique and untold stories, drawing upon medical texts and journals, interviews with expert physicians, as well as her own experience treating thousands of women.

Empowering women to better understand ourselves and advocate for care that prioritizes healthy and joyful lives—for us and generations to come��All in Her Head is written with humor, wisdom, and deep scientific and cultural insight. Eye-opening, sometimes enraging, yet always captivating, this shared memoir of women’s medical history is an essential contribution to a holistic understanding and much-needed reclaiming of women’s history and bodies.]]> 368 Elizabeth Comen 0063293013 pao 4 4.37 2024
author: Elizabeth Comen
name: pao
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/14
date added: 2025/02/14
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]]> 58925247
For years, I’ve dreamt of what college life could bring and while some things changed, there was always one constant.
It didn’t matter how wild I allowed my imagination to run, it always led me to the same place in the end.

It led me to him.
My future was clear, and he was it.


Until suddenly ... he wasn’t.


Now I’m a shell of who I was, on a path too blurry to follow, and I see no way out.
No way up.


They say first loves last forever.
That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.]]> 681 Meagan Brandy pao 4 4.19 2022
author: Meagan Brandy
name: pao
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/12
date added: 2025/02/12
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]]> 216781400 You ������’t steal something that belongs to you.

Casey

I’ve spent the last two years trying to keep the pieces together after my family fell apart. College was supposed to be my chance to start fresh—new beginnings, new dreams, and one thing I thought I could always count on.

Him.

Gray was my anchor, my constant, my everything.

Until he wasn’t.

Then Parker Davis crashed into my life and crumbled my reality. The first time I met the Tennessee star quarterback, something like obsession sparked in his eyes. He’s relentless, charming, and absolutely sure of what he wants.

And what he wants…is me.

He tells me I’m his endgame, and he’s determined to prove it.

But what’s the line between obsession and love?

And what does it mean for me when that line begins to blur?

At first I think Parker Davis is all wrong. But what if…he’s exactly right?

* Parker Davis is a morally grey antihero who is obsessed with his girl and will do anything to keep her. This is a darker football romance.

The Wrong Quarterback is a football romance standalone from USA Today and International Bestselling Author C.R. Jane.]]> 462 C.R. Jane pao 3 4.04
author: C.R. Jane
name: pao
average rating: 4.04
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/11
date added: 2025/02/11
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]]> 212808709 A competitive diver and an ace swimmer jump into forbidden waters in this steamy college romance from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis.

Scarlett Vandermeer is swimming upstream. A Junior at Stanford and a student-athlete who specializes in platform diving, Scarlett prefers to keep her head down, concentrating on getting into med school and on recovering from the injury that almost ended her career. She has no time for relationships—at least, that’s what she tells herself.

Swim captain, world champion, all-around aquatics golden boy, Lukas Blomqvist thrives on discipline. It’s how he wins gold medals and breaks records: complete focus, with every stroke. On the surface, Lukas and Scarlett have nothing in common. Until a well-guarded secret slips out, and everything changes.

So they start an arrangement. And as the pressure leading to the Olympics heats up, so does their relationship. It was supposed to be just a temporary, mutually satisfying fling. But when staying away from Lukas becomes impossible, Scarlett realizes that her heart might be treading into dangerous water...]]> 464 Ali Hazelwood pao 4 3.95 2025
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: pao
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/09
date added: 2025/02/09
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]]> 211164792 Two feuding second-grade teachers (and neighbors) find themselves teaming up in this rivals-to-lovers romance.

Emily Walker hates having her carefully crafted world disrupted by anyone, most of all her legendary nemesis, Jack Bennett. He's the opposite of the wonderful heroes she dreams up in her double life as a romance writer, which is why Emily was perfectly happy when Jack left Rome, Kentucky, mid-school year, with his fiancée. The last thing Emily saw coming was Jack’s return at the start of the summer after calling off the wedding and ending his relationship, but he’s here to stay—as her colleague and her neighbor.

Jackson Bennett is glad to be back, eager to renovate his house and work on the next mystery novel under his bestselling pen name. But when he realizes he’s now neighbors with the one woman who has always pushed his buttons, he discovers something he’s even more excited for—thwarting Emily and her petty plans to sabotage his return.

With their chemistry-fueled animosity at an all-time high, Emily accidentally sends an email to their school’s principal that could reveal her secret literary side hustle. She needs to steal back her manuscript, and Jack—she hates to admit—is just the man to help her. Surprisingly, Jack agrees. Will their unlikely alliance put an end to their rivalry? Or could it lead to a steamy plot twist they never saw coming?]]> 384 Sarah Adams 0593723694 pao 4 4.07 2025
author: Sarah Adams
name: pao
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/04
date added: 2025/02/04
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]]> 62058385
Charming, deadly, and smart enough to hide it, Christian Harper is a monster dressed in the perfectly tailored suits of a gentleman.

He has little use for morals and even less use for love, but he can't deny the strange pull he feels toward the woman living just one floor below him.

She's the object of his darkest desires, the only puzzle he can't solve. And when the opportunity to get closer to her arises, he breaks his own rules to offer her a deal she can't refuse.

Every monster has their weakness. She's his.

His obsession.

His addiction.

His only exception.

***

Sweet, shy, and introverted despite her social media fame, Stella Alonso is a romantic who keeps her heart in a cage.

Between her two jobs, she has little time or desire for a relationship.

But when a threat from her past drives her into the arms―and house―of the most dangerous man she's ever met, she's tempted to let herself feel something for the first time in a long time.

Because despite Christian's cold nature, he makes her feel everything when she's with him.

Passionate.

Protected.

Truly wanted.

Theirs is a love twisted with secrets and tainted by lies…and when the truths are finally revealed, they could shatter everything.]]> 560 Ana Huang 1728274893 pao 3 4.12 2022
author: Ana Huang
name: pao
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/30
date added: 2025/01/30
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]]> 62056935
The beautiful redhead has been a thorn in his side since they met, but she also consumes his thoughts in a way no woman ever has.

When their animosity explodes into one unforgettable night, he proposes a solution that’ll get her out of his system once and for all: an enemies with benefits arrangement with simple rules.

No jealousy.

No strings attached.

And absolutely no falling in love.

**

Outgoing and ambitious, Jules Ambrose is a former party girl who’s focused on one thing: passing the attorney’s bar exam.

The last thing she needs is to get involved with a doctor who puts the SUFFER in insufferable�� no matter how good-looking he is.

But the more she gets to know him, the more she realizes there’s more than meets the eye to the man she’s hated for so long.

Her best friend’s brother.

Her nemesis.

And her only salvation.


Theirs is a match made in hell, and when the demons from their past catch up with them, they’re faced with truths that could either save them�� or destroy everything they’ve worked for.

Twisted Hate is a steamy enemies with benefits/enemies to lovers romance. It's book three in the Twisted series but can be read as a standalone.

Warning: It contains explicit content and profanity. Recommended for 18+.]]> 500 Ana Huang 1728274885 pao 4 3.89 2022
author: Ana Huang
name: pao
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/01/28
shelves:
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]]> 62056013
Stoic, broody, and arrogant, elite bodyguard Rhys Larsen has two rules: 1) Protect his clients at all costs 2) Do not become emotionally involved. Ever.

He has never once been tempted to break those rules...until her.

Bridget von Ascheberg. A princess with a stubborn streak that matches his own and a hidden fire that reduces his rules to ash. She's nothing he expected and everything he never knew he needed.

Day by day, inch by inch, she breaks down his defenses until he's faced with a truth he can no longer deny: he swore an oath to protect her, but all he wants is to ruin her. Take her.

Because she's his.

His princess.

His forbidden fruit.

His every depraved fantasy.

***

Regal, strong-willed, and bound by the chains of duty, Princess Bridget dreams of the freedom to live and love as she chooses.

But when her brother abdicates, she's suddenly faced with the prospect of a loveless, politically expedient marriage and a throne she never wanted.

And as she navigates the intricacies-and treacheries-of her new role, she must also hide her desire for a man she can't have.

Her bodyguard.

Her protector.

Her ultimate ruin.

Unexpected and forbidden, theirs is a love that could destroy a kingdom...and doom them both.

Do not become emotionally involved. Ever.]]> 448 Ana Huang 1728274877 pao 4 4.09 2021
author: Ana Huang
name: pao
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/25
date added: 2025/01/25
shelves:
review:

]]> 62057697
He has a heart of ice…but for her, he'd burn the world

A diverse new adult steamy romance from Tiktok sensation and USA Today bestselling author Ana Huang.

Alex Volkov is a devil blessed with the face of an angel and cursed with a past he can't escape.

Driven by a tragedy that has haunted him for most of his life, his ruthless pursuits for success and vengeance leave little room for matters of the heart.

But when he's forced to look after his best friend's sister, he starts to feel something in his chest:

A crack.

A melt.

A fire that could end his world as he knew it.

***

Ava Chen is a free spirit trapped by nightmares of a childhood she can't remember.

But despite her broken past, she's never stopped seeing the beauty in the world...including the heart beneath the icy exterior of a man she shouldn't want.

Her brother's best friend.

Her neighbor.

Her savior and her downfall.

Theirs is a love that was never supposed to happen-but when it does, it unleashes secrets that could destroy them both...and everything they hold dear.

Twisted Love is a contemporary brother's best friend/grumpy sunshine romance. It's book one in the Twisted series but can be read as a standalone.]]> 343 Ana Huang 1728274869 pao 3 3.71 2021
author: Ana Huang
name: pao
average rating: 3.71
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/21
date added: 2025/01/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 154462768
Eve Hatch is pretty content with her life. Her apartment in Brooklyn is cozy and close to her childhood best friend Willa, but far from her midwestern, traditional family who never really understood her. While her job is only dream- adjacent , she’s hoping her passion and hard work will soon help her land a more glamorous role. And sure, her most recent romantic history has consisted of not one but two disappointing men named Derek. At least she always knows what to expect…until she finds herself expecting after an uncharacteristic one-night stand.

The unplanned pregnancy cracks open all the relationships in her life. Eve's loyal friendship with Willa is feeling off , right when she needs her most. And it’s Willa’s steadfast older brother, Shep, who steps up to help. He has always been friendly, but now he’s checking in, ordering her surprise lunches, listening to all her complaints, and is�� suddenly kinda hot? Then there’s the baby's father, who is supportive but conflicted. Before long, Eve is rethinking everything she thought she knew about herself and her world.

Over the course of nine months, as Eve struggles to figure out the next right step in her expanding reality, she begins to realize that family and love, in all forms, can sneak up on you when you least expect it.]]> 400 Cara Bastone 0593595718 pao 4 3.96 2024
author: Cara Bastone
name: pao
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/18
date added: 2025/01/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 124932739 I Hope This Doesn't Find You is Never Have I Ever meets To All the Boys if Lara Jean wrote hate emails instead of love letters.

Sadie Wen is perfect on paper: school captain, valedictorian, and a "pleasure to have in class." It’s not easy, but she has a trick to keep her model-student smile plastered on her face at all times: she channels all her frustrations into her email drafts. She'd never send them of course -- she'd rather die than hurt anyone's feelings -- but it's a relief to let loose on her power-hungry English teacher or a freeloading classmate taking credit for Sadie's work.

All her most vehemently worded emails are directed at her infuriating cocaptain, Julius Gong, whose arrogance and competitive streak have irked Sadie since they were kids. "You're attention starved and self-obsessed and unbearably vain . . . I really hope your comb breaks and you run out of whatever expensive hair products you've been using to make your hair appear deceptively soft..."

Sadie doesn't have to hold back in her emails, because nobody will ever read them... that is, until they're accidentally sent out.

Overnight, Sadie’s carefully crafted, conflict-free life is turned upside down. It's her worst nightmare -- now everyone at school knows what she really thinks of them, and they're not afraid to tell her what they really think of her either. But amidst the chaos, there's one person growing to appreciate the "real" Sadie -- Julius, the only boy she's sworn to hate...]]> 320 Ann Liang 1338827154 pao 4 4.17 2024
author: Ann Liang
name: pao
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/14
date added: 2025/01/14
shelves:
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]]> 60759266 massive secret to keep.

Eliza made her essay up. She’s never been in a relationship before, let alone in love. All good writing is lying, right?

Desperate to hide the truth, Eliza strikes a deal with the famous actor in her class, the charming but aloof Caz Song. She’ll help him write his college applications if he poses as her boyfriend. Caz is a dream boyfriend -- he passes handwritten notes to her in class, makes her little sister laugh, and takes her out on motorcycle rides to the best snack stalls around the city.

But when her relationship with Caz starts feeling a little too convincing, all of Eliza’s carefully laid plans are threatened. Can she still follow her dreams if it means breaking her own heart?

Get ready to fall in love in this hilarious romcom about a girl who begins a fake relationship with the famous actor in her class, perfect for fans of Meg Cabot and Jenny Han.]]> 352 Ann Liang 1338827111 pao 4 4.03 2023
author: Ann Liang
name: pao
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/11
date added: 2025/01/11
shelves:
review:

]]> 198902277 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250899576.

A propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women ������’t stop confiding in each other.

In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.]]> 384 Alison Espach pao 4 4.11 2024
author: Alison Espach
name: pao
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/01/10
shelves:
review:

]]> 203285427
As a single, unemployed, and unapologetic twenty-five year old mess, I came to the Hamptons this summer for one reason—to focus on myself and work out my quarter-life crisis. I didn’t come here planning to sneak into a private party and meet a handsome stranger.

I definitely didn’t come here expecting for that stranger to be Preston Rhodes—billionaire and superstar quarterback for the Manhattan Mambas.

And that’s not even the crazy part.

He asked me to be his pretend girlfriend for a week while his family is in town. He needed a date for his sister’s wedding, and I’d never turn down the opportunity to be spoiled by a rich man.

The only thing is, Preston’s not very good at pretending.

Now instead of discovering myself, I’m spending the week discovering what life would be like with him. Instead of focusing on me, I’m focusing on how he looks at me, how he touches me, how he wants me.

But now that neither one of us is faking it, I only hope that we can hold on to what we have through the bright lights and summer nights.

From the author that brought you Black Ties and White Lies and Pretty Rings and Broken Things, comes an all-new stand-alone in the Black Tie Billionaires Series. Bright Lights and Summer Nights is a billionaire, fake dating, sports romance releasing June 2024. It is Emma's book and a complete stand-alone. It is the third and final book in the series.]]> 362 Kat Singleton pao 4 4.20 2024
author: Kat Singleton
name: pao
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/09
date added: 2025/01/09
shelves:
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]]> 41941681 A coming-of-age story about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin's murder.

Jay Reguero plans to spend the last semester of his senior year playing video games before heading to the University of Michigan in the fall. But when he discovers that his Filipino cousin Jun was murdered as part of President Duterte's war on drugs, and no one in the family wants to talk about what happened, Jay travels to the Philippines to find out the real story.

Hoping to uncover more about Jun and the events that led to his death, Jay is forced to reckon with the many sides of his cousin before he can face the whole horrible truth -- and the part he played in it.]]> 323 Randy Ribay 0525554912 pao 5 4.21 2019
author: Randy Ribay
name: pao
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/01/06
date added: 2025/01/06
shelves:
review:
i don't know why it took me this long to pick up this book when i had known about it ever since its release. i would classify this as 'some people need killings fictional ya counterpart, companion even when this book is older. this is so beautifully written, poetic at times, but constantly stark and surprisingly tender. this is fictional, but avlegitimate account of those years in philippine history. five stars for what it is. five stars if only to get more people to read this book.
]]> 45450189
A small advice from me to you: if you haven’t dated, touched *or* kissed a guy in years and *years*…do not try to crawl away or hide from the-one-who-got-away. It’s not a good look.

William Carter, the stranger I’d met six years ago was the last person I’d imagine ever seeing at my dad’s firm where I work. While I panic and fight off the butterflies in my stomach and in general struggle to act normal, I realize he doesn’t even remember me. I’m not sure if I should feel relieved or heartbroken. Things get worse when I learn we’ll need to work in close quarters to each other, but at least I let him know that I don’t have a crush on him anymore right away. Just in case he gets any ideas.

While I’m in the process of writing lists and making serious changes in my life, because I decide I’m ready to be the heroine in my own story; having William just a breath away is not helping things. Especially when things shift between us and we start to make eye contact in meetings. Then he shows up in places I least expect him to…as in blind dates and sex clubs. He also gives me cheese because he knows how much I like it and there are secret notes he leaves in my office. If you were wondering, I still don’t have a crush on him though. Nope.

Even though I’d promised myself I’d never wait around for another guy and postpone my own life, I’m afraid William Carter who looks at me as if I’m his and was always supposed to be his might ruin my hopeful plans. And quite possibly me for any other guy since I’m craving his touch like I’ve never craved anything in my life before. But we both know we’re a losing game so we keep admitting that neither one of us has a crush on the other.
Not anymore. Not at all. Not even a little bit.]]> 429 Ella Maise pao 3 3.59 2023
author: Ella Maise
name: pao
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/01/05
date added: 2025/01/05
shelves:
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]]> 58762145
Let’s be honest here, wouldn’t you wanna take a peek over the wall to catch a glimpse of him, hopefully when he is naked? Wouldn’t you melt away after watching him work out as his five-year-old kid cheered him on? Do I even have to mention those abs, the big bulge in his pants, or that arm porn? Oh, wait, you would never spy on him? Sure��

While I was being thoughtful by not breaking and entering and was actually considering going over to offer him a shoulder—or maybe a boob or two—to cry on (y’know, because of his divorce), instead he had me thrown in jail after a small incident. Jail, people! He was supposed to grant me countless orgasms as a thank you, not a jail cell.

After that day, I was mentally plotting ways to strangle him instead of jumping his bones to make sweet love. So what if my body did more than just shiver when he whispered dirty little things in my ear? I ������’t be held responsible for that. And when was the last time he’d kissed anyone anyway? Who’d enjoy a kiss with a side of heart attack?

Even if he and his son were the best things since sliced bread—and I’m not saying he was—I couldn’t fall for him. No matter what promises he whispered on my skin, my curse wouldn’t let us be. I wasn’t a damsel in distress—I could save myself, thank you very much—but deep inside, I still hoped Adam Connor would be the hero of my story.

*Due to strong language and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18*]]> 448 Ella Maise pao 4 3.92 2016
author: Ella Maise
name: pao
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2025/01/04
shelves:
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]]> 58762117
Oh, how stupidly in love with that boy I was. He was the first boy that made me blush, my first official crush. Sounds beautiful so far, right? That excitement that bubbles up inside you, those famous butterflies you feel for the very first time—he was the reason for them all. But, you only get to live in that fairytale world until they crush your hopes and dreams and then stomp on your heart for good measure. And boy did he crush my little heart into pieces.

After the stomping part he became the boy I did my best to stay away from—and let me tell you, it was pretty hard to do when he slept in the room right across from mine.
When tragedy struck his family and they moved away, I was ready to forget he ever existed.

Now he is a movie star, the one who makes women of all ages go into a screaming frenzy, the one who makes everyone swoon with that dimpled smile of his. Do you think that’s dreamy? I certainly don’t think so. How about me coming face to face with him? Nope still not dreamy. Not when I ������’t even manage to look him in the eye.

Me? I’m Olive, a new writer. Actually, I’m THE writer of the book that inspired the movie he is about to star in on the big screen. As of late, I am also referred to as the oh-so-very-lucky girl who is about to become the wife of Jason Thorn.
Maybe you’re thinking yet again that this is all so dreamy? Nope, nothing dreamy going on here. Not even close.

To Love Jason Thorn is a full-length standalone, which also contains some pretty hot and descriptive sex scenes. *winks*]]> 428 Ella Maise pao 4 3.68 2015
author: Ella Maise
name: pao
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2015
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/02
date added: 2025/01/02
shelves:
review:
cute little love story to start off the year.
]]> 209568782
As a chart-topping country singer with a recent streak of bad press it’s hard to find any peace. But I find it in Rose Hill. With a little boy and a little girl who steal my heart just as thoroughly as their dad.

Weston Belmont.

The man is a shameless flirt. He oozes confidence and masculinity in a way that’s downright distracting. And in bed? He’s addictive.

Everything with him is wild and impulsive and I’m desperate to regain some control.

But no one has supported me like West does. And no one has ever made me feel as loved as he does either.

So, while my brain says settling down with a small-town horse trainer is impossible�� my heart says I’m right where I belong.

Still, my life as a celebrity haunts me. It has the power to pull us apart.

I can see in his eyes that wants me to stay. And I want that too.

But I know better than anyone that we don’t always get what we want.]]> 464 Elsie Silver 1464220824 pao 4 4.24 2024
author: Elsie Silver
name: pao
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/01/01
date added: 2025/01/01
shelves:
review:

]]> 55145261 A deeply moving and mind-expanding collection of personal essays in the first ever work of non-fiction from #1 internationally bestselling author John Green

The Anthropocene is the current geological age, in which human activity has profoundly shaped the planet and its biodiversity. In this remarkable symphony of essays adapted and expanded from his ground-breaking, critically acclaimed podcast, John Green reviews different facets of the human-centered planet - from the QWERTY keyboard and Halley's Comet to Penguins of Madagascar - on a five-star scale.

Complex and rich with detail, the Anthropocene's reviews have been praised as 'observations that double as exercises in memoiristic empathy', with over 10 million lifetime downloads. John Green's gift for storytelling shines throughout this artfully curated collection about the shared human experience; it includes beloved essays along with six all-new pieces exclusive to the book.]]> 304 John Green 0525555218 pao 4 4.37 2021
author: John Green
name: pao
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/02/16
date added: 2024/12/27
shelves:
review:

]]> 43802026 Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year

This “witty, engaging analysis�� of female monsters in pop culture offers “provocative and incisive�� commentary on society’s fear of female rage and power (Soraya Chemaly, author of Rage Becomes Her)

Women have always been seen as monsters. Men from Aristotle to Freud have insisted that women are freakish creatures, capable of immense destruction.

Maybe they are. And maybe that’s a good thing.

Sady Doyle, hailed as “smart, funny and fearless�� by the Boston Globe, takes readers on a tour of the female dark side, from the biblical Lilith to Dracula’s Lucy Westenra, from the T-Rex in Jurassic Park to the teen witches of The Craft. She illuminates the women who have shaped our nightmares: Serial killer Ed Gein’s “domineering�� mother Augusta; exorcism casualty Anneliese Michel, who starved herself to death to quell her demons; author Mary Shelley, who dreamed her dead child back to life.

These monsters embody patriarchal fear of women, and illustrate the violence with which men enforce traditionally feminine roles. They also speak to the primal threat of a woman who takes back her power. In a dark and dangerous world, Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers asks women to look to monsters for the ferocity we all need to survive.

“Some people take a scalpel to the heart of media culture; Sady Doyle brings a bone saw, a melon baller, and a machete.�� —Andi Zeisler, author of We Were Feminists Once]]> 272 Jude Ellison S. Doyle 1612197930 pao 0 4.20 2019
author: Jude Ellison S. Doyle
name: pao
average rating: 4.20
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/26
date added: 2024/12/26
shelves:
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]]> 6957682
Forced by her stepmother to attend a ball, Kate meets a prince... and decides he's anything but charming. A clash of wits and wills ensues, but they both know their irresistible attraction will lead nowhere. For Gabriel is promised to another woman—a princess whose hand in marriage will fulfill his ruthless ambitions.

Gabriel likes his fiancee, which is a welcome turn of events, but he doesn't love her. Obviously, he should be wooing his bride-to-be, not the witty, impoverished beauty who refuses to fawn over him.

Godmothers and glass slippers notwithstanding, this is one fairy tale in which destiny conspires to destroy any chance that Kate and Gabriel might have a happily ever after.

Unless a prince throws away everything that makes him noble...

Unless a dowry of an unruly heart trumps a fortune...

Unless one kiss at the stroke of midnight changes everything.]]> 384 Eloisa James 0061626848 pao 0 3.78 2010
author: Eloisa James
name: pao
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/12/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 56347680 The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-First Century upends the way we discuss—or avoid discussing—the problems and politics of sex.

How should we think about sex? It is a thing we have and also a thing we do; a supposedly private act laden with public meaning; a personal preference shaped by outside forces; a place where pleasure and ethics can pull wildly apart.

How should we talk about sex? Since #MeToo many have fixed on consent as the key framework for achieving sexual justice. Yet consent is a blunt tool. To grasp sex in all its complexity��its deep ambivalences, its relationship to gender, class, race and power��we need to move beyond yes and no, wanted and unwanted.

We do not know the future of sex—but perhaps we could imagine it. Amia Srinivasan’s stunning debut helps us do just that. She traces the meaning of sex in our world, animated by the hope of a different world. She reaches back into an older feminist tradition that was unafraid to think of sex as a political phenomenon. She discusses a range of fraught relationships—between discrimination and preference, pornography and freedom, rape and racial injustice, punishment and accountability, students and teachers, pleasure and power, capitalism and liberation.

The Right to Sex: Feminism in the Twenty-First Century is a provocation and a promise, transforming many of our most urgent political debates and asking what it might mean to be free.]]> 241 Amia Srinivasan 0374721033 pao 0 4.27 2021
author: Amia Srinivasan
name: pao
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/20
date added: 2024/12/20
shelves:
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]]> 57933316 They were cowriting literary darlings until they hit a plot hole that turned their lives upside down.

Three years ago, Katrina Freeling and Nathan Van Huysen were the brightest literary stars on the horizon, their cowritten books topping bestseller lists. But on the heels of their greatest success, they ended their partnership on bad terms, for reasons neither would divulge to the public. They haven't spoken since, and never planned to, except they have one final book due on contract.

Facing crossroads in their personal and professional lives, they're forced to reunite. The last thing they ever thought they'd do again is hole up in the tiny Florida town where they wrote their previous book, trying to finish a new manuscript quickly and painlessly. Working through the reasons they've hated each other for the past three years isn't easy, especially not while writing a romantic novel.

While passion and prose push them closer together in the Florida heat, Katrina and Nathan will learn that relationships, like writing, sometimes take a few rough drafts before they get it right.]]> 336 Emily Wibberley 0593201930 pao 4 3.56 2022
author: Emily Wibberley
name: pao
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/18
date added: 2024/12/18
shelves:
review:

]]> 63031640
But hockey heartthrob Jasper Gervais isn’t looking at me like a friend anymore. And he isn’t touching me like one either.

To his fans, he’s the handsome, talented athlete on TV. But to me he’s still the lost boy with sad eyes and a heart of gold.

The man I’ve loved in secret for years.

So when my life falls apart on my wedding day, it only makes sense that he’s the one to swoop in and save me. And when his world comes crashing down around him, I’m there to return the favor.

But the more time we spend alone, the more Jasper doesn’t feel like a friend at all. He feels like everything I’ve ever wanted and thought I could never have.

Our feelings aren’t straight forward though. They twist and turn around the pain of his past and the reality of my present.

Jasper Gervais acts like he wants me.

But after years of turning me away, he’s going to need to prove it.]]> 504 Elsie Silver pao 4 4.08 2023
author: Elsie Silver
name: pao
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/16
date added: 2024/12/16
shelves:
review:
sometimes we all need a fun little sweet read. that's what this is.
]]> 58456287 When Dimple Met Rishi meets Loveboat, Taipei in this hilarious YA rom-com about a Chinese-Filipina girl in Manila whose father sets her up on a marathon of arranged dates in hopes of convincing her to stay close to home for college.

Chloe is officially off the waitlist at USC, and thus one step closer to realizing her dream of becoming an animator in the United States. But before she leaves home, her auntie insists on planning a traditional debut for Chloe’s eighteenth birthday (think sweet sixteen meets debutante ball). To make matters worse, her father, intent on finding Chloe the perfect escort for the party, keeps setting her up on one awkward kaishao—or arranged date—after another. But . . . why does her dad suddenly care so much about her love life? And what happens when she actually starts to fall for one of the guys, only to have to leave at the end of the summer?]]> 320 Mae Coyiuto 0593461630 pao 5 4.03 2023
author: Mae Coyiuto
name: pao
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/14
date added: 2024/12/14
shelves:
review:
i wanted 'a book like crying in h mart but filipino' and this title came up. it's everything a ya ought to be but with a very filipino flair. so filipino I actually get the references and the punchlines, and the voice of the writer. and it's so refreshing. the few critiques questioning the maturity of the fmc, and therefore the storytelling are charged to the fact that this is unapologetically ya. i am clearly not the audience, but it's still a fun sweet read. i could give fewer stars for what i want it to be bur for what it is, I'll give it five stars. five stars also to get more people to pick up this book because representation matters a great deal.
]]> 25904473 So Sad Today, Broder delves deeper into the existential themes she explores on Twitter, grappling with sex, death, love, low self-esteem, addiction, and the drama of waiting for the universe to text you back. With insights as sharp as her humor, Broder explores—in prose that is both gutsy and beautiful, aggressively colloquial and achingly poetic—questions most of us are afraid to even acknowledge, let alone answer, in order to discover what it really means to be a person in this modern world.]]> 206 Melissa Broder 1455562726 pao 4 3.81 2016
author: Melissa Broder
name: pao
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/12
shelves:
review:
picked this book up because i am knee deep in romance, which isn't a bad thing, but i needed variety. considering i grew up for the most part in exclusive schools for girls and might have a lot of latent angst, i am a feminist by default. on the first session of one of my college subjects, we were made to write a full-page essay asking if we were feminists, and we had to defend our answers, even then I can't still fully explain why I am, I just know that I, in some form, am. this might help. this is a collection of short essays that I feel must be ingested in increments taking what you need day to day.
]]> 36111620 He’s been a bad, bad rake—and it takes a governess to teach him a lesson

The accidental governess.

After her livelihood slips through her fingers, Alexandra Mountbatten takes on an impossible post: transforming a pair of wild orphans into proper young ladies. However, the girls don’t need discipline. They need a loving home. Try telling that to their guardian, Chase Reynaud: duke’s heir in the streets and devil in the sheets. The ladies of London have tried—and failed—to make him settle down. Somehow, Alexandra must reach his heart... without risking her own.

The infamous rake.

Like any self-respecting libertine, Chase lives by one rule: no attachments. When a stubborn little governess tries to reform him, he decides to give her an education—in pleasure. That should prove he ������’t be tamed. But Alexandra is more than he bargained for: clever, perceptive, passionate. She refuses to see him as a lost cause. Soon the walls around Chase’s heart are crumbling... and he’s in danger of falling, hard.]]> 373 Tessa Dare 0062672126 pao 3
i just wanted a silly little bridgerton-like regency romance that's not bridgerton at all to tide me over. one year is a long wait. I also need a palette cleanser. this works. it's fun, flirty, with a smart heroine with a sturdy spine. it also surprisingly has pinoy mythological representation.]]> 3.87 2018
author: Tessa Dare
name: pao
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/11
date added: 2024/12/11
shelves:
review:
3.5

i just wanted a silly little bridgerton-like regency romance that's not bridgerton at all to tide me over. one year is a long wait. I also need a palette cleanser. this works. it's fun, flirty, with a smart heroine with a sturdy spine. it also surprisingly has pinoy mythological representation.
]]> 61021912
When a well-meaning guest mistakes Eliza and Graham for being single and introduces them at the hotel bar, they don't correct him. Suddenly, they're pretending to be perfect strangers and it's unexpectedly... fun? Eliza and Graham find themselves flirting like it's their first date, and waiting with butterflies in their stomach for the other to text back.

Everyone at the retreat can sense the electric chemistry between Eliza and Graham's alter egos. But when their scintillating game of roleplaying ends, will they still feel the heat?

When a couple starts to feel like they're married to a stranger, a flirtatious game of pretend becomes the spark they need to reignite their relationship.]]> 321 Emily Wibberley 0593201957 pao 4 i love romances, but the falling in love needed some variety, which makes a story on staying in love so fascinating. the perceived weight and finality of marriage makes a love story that much more complex. this also touches on different psychological and gender issues that make it more layered. that it is written in seemingly effortlessly beautiful prose, which makes this an easy read despite the subject matter makes it even better. i don't know, i haven't read that many stories with healthy marriages, but the security of marriage in a book is incredibly comforting. this one is.]]> 3.47 2023
author: Emily Wibberley
name: pao
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/09
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves:
review:
i remember reading and loving this couple's debut novel some years ago. for some reason, i just fell off that wagon until this book reminded me of how amazing they are.
i love romances, but the falling in love needed some variety, which makes a story on staying in love so fascinating. the perceived weight and finality of marriage makes a love story that much more complex. this also touches on different psychological and gender issues that make it more layered. that it is written in seemingly effortlessly beautiful prose, which makes this an easy read despite the subject matter makes it even better. i don't know, i haven't read that many stories with healthy marriages, but the security of marriage in a book is incredibly comforting. this one is.
]]> 58065414 Then. Twentysomething writer Chani Horowitz is stuck. While her former MFA classmates are nabbing book deals, she's in the trenches writing puff pieces. Then she's hired to write a profile of movie star Gabe Parker. The Gabe Parker--her forever celebrity crush, the object of her fantasies, the background photo on her phone--who's also just been cast as the new James Bond. It's terrifying and thrilling all at once... yet if she can keep her cool and nail the piece, it could be a huge win. Gabe will get good press, and her career will skyrocket. But what comes next proves to be life-changing in ways Chani never saw coming, as the interview turns into a whirlwind weekend that has the tabloids buzzing.

Now. Ten years later, after a brutal divorce and a heavy dose of therapy, Chani is back in Los Angeles, laser-focused on one thing: her work. But she's still spent the better part of the last decade getting asked about her deeply personal Gabe Parker profile at every turn. No matter what new essay collection or viral editorial she's promoting, it always comes back to Gabe. So when his PR team requests that they reunite for a second interview, she wants to say no. She wants to pretend that she's forgotten about the time they spent together, years ago. But the truth is that those seventy-two hours are still crystal clear, etched in her memory. And so... he says yes.

Chani knows that facing Gabe again also means facing feelings she's tried so hard to push away. Alternating between their first meeting and their reunion a decade later, this deliciously irresistible novel will have you hanging on until the last word.

A restless young journalist with big dreams interviews a Hollywood heartthrob--and, ten years later, it's clear that their time together meant more than meets the eye in this sexy, engrossing adult debut novel. ]]> 352 Elissa Sussman 0593357329 pao 4 3.55 2022
author: Elissa Sussman
name: pao
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/08
date added: 2024/12/08
shelves:
review:
funny, witty banter, classic romcom vibes. plus drawing the curtain back on the entertainment industry and celebrity is always a good story.
]]> 215107606 I was eight when Nathan moved away.
He was my best friend.
My only friend.
My safe space.
And then he was gone. And my life turned into Hell.
But I survived.
I broke free and made a life for myself.
And I tried to forget about the boy who grew up to be Nate Waller, the famous retired football player.
I really did try to forget.
But then I opened the door, while working at a client’s house, and he was there. Standing before me.
My old friend.
My unwitting confidant.
My Nathan.
Except�� he doesn’t recognize me.

Nate
The curvy little redhead captured my attention the second I saw her.
And I knew I needed to have her.
Needed to know her better.
Needed to get my hands on her.
But when I did.
When she moaned my name. My full name. It all came rushing back.
Twenty-five years had passed, but in that moment I finally recognized her.
My Rosie.
My childhood friend.
I may have forgotten about her. But I remember now.
And this time I’m not letting her go.]]> 438 S.J. Tilly 1962096122 pao 5 it's a love story. and it sticks with you.

the first of this duology also earned 5 stats from me. that says something about this writer. this has definitely upped its shock value and bittersweetness, though. don't make me choose.

don't know if I would suggest these out right, though. suppose if you don't mind spice, look past it maybe and focus on the emotion, this is an awesome read.

imagine a love like that that began from childhood, that finds you again, and ultimately heals your broken history? just imagine.]]> 4.24
author: S.J. Tilly
name: pao
average rating: 4.24
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/05
date added: 2024/12/05
shelves:
review:
this is just a silly little romance novel with more spicy moments than the ordinary person would be comfortable with. so laughably, simply written. it's an easy read (there's something about how short the chapters are and how those short chapters are divided). finished in pretty much a day, made of two half days, mindless, really, until it's not. until it makes you cry. until that plot twist, which i did not see coming, and I usually see things coming from a mile away, shocks you, leaves you speechless.
it's a love story. and it sticks with you.

the first of this duology also earned 5 stats from me. that says something about this writer. this has definitely upped its shock value and bittersweetness, though. don't make me choose.

don't know if I would suggest these out right, though. suppose if you don't mind spice, look past it maybe and focus on the emotion, this is an awesome read.

imagine a love like that that began from childhood, that finds you again, and ultimately heals your broken history? just imagine.
]]> 55762902
That’s how much my sister’s freedom cost. She’s moved on. I haven’t. I think about the horror of her kidnapping every day. Every hour. Every goddamn second.

Someone has to pay.

Yet despite my relentless searching, each road leads to a dead end.

Until a chance meeting with my secret high school crush changes everything.

She promises answers where I only have questions. She vows to support me on my quest for justice.

Except I’m on a path to self-destruction, and if she’s not careful, I’ll take her down with me.

***

A lot can happen in a decade and a half.

I’m no longer the shy, awkward girl who blended into the background. And he’s no longer the guy who excelled at everything.

He’s bitter and angry and filled with a thirst for revenge.

Yet despite the intervening years, those suppressed feelings of lust reappear.

But he’s dangerous, and if I allow myself to become embroiled in his desire for payback, I might just lose everything.]]> 266 Tracie Delaney pao 3 4.41
author: Tracie Delaney
name: pao
average rating: 4.41
book published:
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves:
review:
been on a romance streak these days. it's literally all i can read right now that it's abnormal even by my standards. I'd say I'm reading for the mindless feels, and it's true. it's also for the un-toxic men written by women. there's much needed safety and comfort in that.
]]> 53848352
At least I thought that was as bad as it could get.

Turns out I was wrong.

Only someone with my kind of luck could arrive at an interview for a job I desperately need and then discover my potential new boss is the guy I drunk-kissed the other night. An unsolicited—and unwanted—kiss if the way he recoiled is any indication.

I don’t expect him to offer me the job as nanny to his seven-year-old daughter. I mean, who wants a drunken harlot taking care of something so precious? Except he does. And against my better judgement, I accept the position.

He’s gorgeous and sexy and the kind of father that has my ovaries screaming. Yet to him, I might as well be invisible.

Until the night that everything changes.

Now, I’ll do anything to keep him, especially when his past comes knocking.]]> 278 Tracie Delaney pao 3 file under: read for feels. 4.26 2020
author: Tracie Delaney
name: pao
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/12/03
shelves:
review:
file under: read for feels.
]]> 52347273
No? Well, I did.

Okay, that’s not the first lie I’ve ever told myself. I fought tooth and nail for the only man I’ll ever love, but in the end, I had to concede defeat.

Even now, seven years later, the cruel words Ryker uttered the morning after he took my virginity still wield the power to shatter the remains of my heart.

Yet fate has a way of shaping our lives.
No matter how hard we fight for a different outcome.

Have you ever feared losing someone so much you’d give up the only woman who made your heart race?

No? Well, I have.

She holds the power to bring my entire world crashing down, which is why I’ve spent the last seven years forgetting she exists.

And until today, I’d succeeded.

But time isn’t a healer, she’s a cruel mistress.
One who won’t be ignored.

Entranced is the first book in a brand-new six-part billionaire romance series from International Bestselling Author Tracie Delaney.
]]> 288 Tracie Delaney pao 3 3.88 2020
author: Tracie Delaney
name: pao
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2020
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/12/02
shelves:
review:
another read just for the feels. simple, perhaps too simple but just the breather I needed. 
]]> 61326735
Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and broody older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, right between Elsie and her dream job.

Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?]]> 389 Ali Hazelwood 1408725797 pao 4
very on brand ali hazelwood, creative, sweet and a perfect representation of a people pleaser. politics in academe
, gende imbalance are equal parts fascinating and frustrating. as much as I've adored the niche interests and logical writing, I fear for the first time, not knowing scientific vocabulary has caught up with me on this one. still cute, though.

think I'll take a break from ali hazelwood for now. after three books not in love might be my favorite.]]> 4.07 2023
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: pao
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/12/02
date added: 2024/12/02
shelves:
review:
3.5 ⭐️

very on brand ali hazelwood, creative, sweet and a perfect representation of a people pleaser. politics in academe
, gende imbalance are equal parts fascinating and frustrating. as much as I've adored the niche interests and logical writing, I fear for the first time, not knowing scientific vocabulary has caught up with me on this one. still cute, though.

think I'll take a break from ali hazelwood for now. after three books not in love might be my favorite.
]]> 60683957 done with chess. Every move counts nowadays. After the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory's focus is on her mom, her sisters, and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious "Kingkiller" Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning bad boy of chess.

Nolan's loss to an unknown rook-ie shocks everyone—especially Mallory. What's even more confusing? His desire to cross pawns again. What kind of gambit is Nolan playing? The smart move would be to walk away. Resign. Game over. But Mallory's victory opens the door to sorely needed cash prizes and, despite everything, she can't help feeling drawn to the enigmatic strategist....

As she rockets up the ranks, Mallory struggles to keep her family safely separated from the game that wrecked it in the first place. And as her love for the sport she so desperately wanted to hate begins to rekindle, Mallory quickly realizes that the games aren't only on the board, the spotlight is hotter than she imagined, and the competition can be fierce(-ly attractive. And intelligent...and infuriating...)]]> 347 Ali Hazelwood 0593619919 pao 4 3.75 3.93 2023
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: pao
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/30
date added: 2024/11/30
shelves:
review:
3.75
]]> 198716261 A forbidden, secret affair proves that all’s fair in love and science.

Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough: a few friends she can always count on, the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, one of the most promising start-ups in the field of food science. Her world is stable, pleasant, and hard-fought. Until a hostile takeover and its offensively attractive front man threatens to bring it all crumbling down.

Eli Killgore and his business partners want Kline, period. Eli has his own reasons for pushing this deal through - and he's a man who gets what he wants. With one burning exception: Rue. The woman he can't stop thinking about. The woman who's off-limits to him.

Torn between loyalty and an undeniable attraction, Rue and Eli throw caution out the lab and the boardroom windows. Their affair is secret, no-strings-attached, and has a built-in deadline: the day one of their companies will prevail. But the heart is risky business - one that plays for keeps.]]> 384 Ali Hazelwood 1408728915 pao 4 it has everything a romance ought to have - banter, chemistry, a bit of spice (I hear this is her spiciest?), but the best thing about this is, it has actual plot. the characters are the story. it's always fascinating to see brilliant, complex people with niche interests, usually logical people fall in love and deal with the abstractness of emotions. the writing is a perfect combination of reason and emotion. an admittedly slow start for me because as much as I adore logical exploration of the abstract, this is still my first ali hazelwood, so it was a surprise, to say the least. the pay-off made everything worthwhile. that final confession, in all aspects - emotional and logical - was grand.]]> 3.59 2024
author: Ali Hazelwood
name: pao
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/28
date added: 2024/11/28
shelves:
review:
first ali hazelwood book, and I don't understand why it took this long. I fear this might be such big shoes to fill, that it will be impossible to read the rest of her books.
it has everything a romance ought to have - banter, chemistry, a bit of spice (I hear this is her spiciest?), but the best thing about this is, it has actual plot. the characters are the story. it's always fascinating to see brilliant, complex people with niche interests, usually logical people fall in love and deal with the abstractness of emotions. the writing is a perfect combination of reason and emotion. an admittedly slow start for me because as much as I adore logical exploration of the abstract, this is still my first ali hazelwood, so it was a surprise, to say the least. the pay-off made everything worthwhile. that final confession, in all aspects - emotional and logical - was grand.
]]> 196068491 316 Carrie Elks pao 3 4.23
author: Carrie Elks
name: pao
average rating: 4.23
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/27
date added: 2024/11/27
shelves:
review:
carrie elks books are reliable easy reads, and it looks like the single dad trope is becoming a favorite of mine.
]]> 199335111
I’m a single dad and starting pitcher for Chicago’s MLB team.
I’m stretched too thin, but I don’t want help raising my son.

Each of his previous nannies only lasted a few weeks before I let them go.
Now, my coach is putting his foot down by hiring the one person I ������’t fire—his daughter.

Miller Montgomery is the last woman I should fall for. Too wild, too young, and too unattached.

Chicago is just a quick stop for her. I thought I’d be counting down the days until she left, but summer feels too short when I start thinking about forever.


Miller

As a high-end pastry chef who recently won the most prestigious award in my industry, I’m desperate to prove I deserve it. But with a new title comes new pressure, and I ������’t create a fresh and inspiring dessert to save my life.

With only two months to get back on track, I should be focusing in the kitchen, but instead, I let my dad talk me into using my time off to nanny for his star player’s kid.

Kai Rhodes forgot how to have fun, and I’m eager to jog his memory. But when he and his son start to feel like home, I have to remind us both that my time in Chicago ends with the summer.

Besides, I’ve always been a runner, and the last thing I want is to get caught.]]> 408 Liz Tomforde 139972858X pao 4
3.5-4 ⭐️]]> 4.37 2023
author: Liz Tomforde
name: pao
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/25
date added: 2024/11/25
shelves:
review:
much needed stress-free read this is a fun one. spunky, charming, quick-witted kilig banter.

3.5-4 ⭐️
]]> 87912407 “He calls me his ruination but he forgot to tell he was mine first.��

BIANCA

A fairytale wedding is every girl’s dream. Isn’t it.
Well not mine.
Seven years ago, I locked my dead heart in a cage after it was shattered into pieces.
It wasn’t a problem until now.
Being the eldest daughter, tradition dictates I must marry first but at twenty five, a happily ever after is the last thing I’m chasing.
So when my little sister drops the bomb she wants to marry, suddenly I have to choose between her future and my freedom.
Until fate collides me with Dash Stern.
The man I lost my virginity to when I was eighteen and heartbroken.
My ex’s older stepbrother.
Oh and my soon to be fake husband.

DASH

A marriage is a nightmare for a man like me.
Make it a fake one��. That’s just inviting disaster with open arms.
Even if it’s to an irresistible woman I secretly desired.
Bianca Chopra.
Gorgeous. Forbidden. My past obsession.
When she propositions me for a sham marriage, I say no with a warning to stay away.
Like a dirty vixen, she raises the stake, reawakening the forbidden feelings and I find myself throwing caution to the wind.
She thinks she’ll walk away unscathed but doesn’t realize she made a deal with a monster, with a secret that will wreck her entire world.

Note: Scandalous games is a steamy fake relationship contemporary romance. It features a morally gray antihero and a sweet yet feisty heroine who happens to be his past obsession. This is book one in the arranged games series. Recommeded for 18+.]]> 571 Simran . pao 3 2.5 - 3 3.79
author: Simran .
name: pao
average rating: 3.79
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/23
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves:
review:
2.5 - 3
]]> 62628727 A comedy writer thinks she’s sworn off love, until a dreamily handsome pop star flips the script on all her assumptions. Romantic Comedy is a hilarious, observant and deeply tender novel from New York Times–bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld.

Sally Milz is a sketch writer for "The Night Owls," the late-night live comedy show that airs each Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she’s long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life.

But when Sally’s friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actor who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show—and in society at large—who’ve gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called the "Danny Horst Rule," poking fun at this phenomenon while underscoring how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman.

Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week’s show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder whether there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn’t a romantic comedy; it’s real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her...right?

With her keen observations and trademark ability to bring complex women to life on the page, Sittenfeld explores the neurosis-inducing and heart-fluttering wonder of love, while slyly dissecting the social rituals of romance and gender relations in the modern age.]]> 309 Curtis Sittenfeld 0399590943 pao 3 3.60 2023
author: Curtis Sittenfeld
name: pao
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/21
date added: 2024/11/21
shelves:
review:
if nerds and geeks, smart people (affectionately) wrote a love story, this would be it. here for the behind the scenes look into television and the banter.
]]> 54814676
In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humour and heart, she tells of growing up the only Asian-American kid at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother’s particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the east coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, performing gigs with her fledgling band �� and meeting the man who would become her husband �� her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live.

It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.

Vivacious, lyrical and honest, Michelle Zauner’s voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.]]> 243 Michelle Zauner 0525657746 pao 5
this book is beautifully written, evocative, sensory, emotional. i did not know it was about identity, culture loss, and grief, navigating through this jumbled maze through food and taste memory. I was only curious about the book, not knowing what this memoir would tackle. it was apparent when I was reading l, how much I needed it at this moment. it broke me while being strangely comforting.

I said it before, I'll say it again: it is beautifully written in that the carefully chosen words are strung together perfectly. the deliberate nature of these choices painted a flawless visual, taste, and emotional picture.

one of the best books I've read this year, might just be one of my favorite reads ever.]]> 4.25 2021
author: Michelle Zauner
name: pao
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/20
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves:
review:
one in a list of books i had always wanted to read, and one that did not disappoint. i had heard of japanese breakfast too, but did not realize she had written this book. it's so cool.

this book is beautifully written, evocative, sensory, emotional. i did not know it was about identity, culture loss, and grief, navigating through this jumbled maze through food and taste memory. I was only curious about the book, not knowing what this memoir would tackle. it was apparent when I was reading l, how much I needed it at this moment. it broke me while being strangely comforting.

I said it before, I'll say it again: it is beautifully written in that the carefully chosen words are strung together perfectly. the deliberate nature of these choices painted a flawless visual, taste, and emotional picture.

one of the best books I've read this year, might just be one of my favorite reads ever.
]]> 219743843 Danny Walker, my big brother’s arrogant, powerful, handsome, and completely unobtainable best friend.

He’s a ruthless tech tycoon, and I take calls from angry clients who ������’t reset their passwords.

He lives in a Grade II listed mansion with holiday homes worldwide, and I rent a room in a flat-share with my best friend and mice.

Our worlds couldn’t be further apart.

Falling for him is not an option.

Eight years ago, I made the mistake of flirting with him only to be rejected…hard.

To this day, he won’t acknowledge me as anything more than his best friend’s silly little sister. Which is fine because I ������’t stand to be around that emotionless CEO.

Regardless of him being the hottest man I’ve ever met.

Now I find out he’s bought the company I work for, making him my boss’s boss’s boss.

And he wants to get rid of me.

Danny Walker is not a man to be messed with.

But perhaps there’s more behind his cold, detached stares than I thought.

Stone-faced ruthless CEOs don’t fall for scatty girls like me. Or do they?]]> Rosa Lucas pao 3 3.88 2021
author: Rosa Lucas
name: pao
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/18
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves:
review:
quick, cute, escapist little read. immaculate, witty, very british. fmc a bit childish but understandable being that this is quite an age gap romance, and a brother's best friend one, at that. nice little filler read.
]]> 55338982
What makes “cults�� so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join—and more importantly, stay in—extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has . . .

Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of “brainwashing.�� But the true answer has nothing to do with freaky mind-control wizardry or Kool-Aid. In Cultish, Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us/them attitudes all comes down to language. In both positive ways and shadowy ones, cultish language is something we hear—and are influenced by—every single day.

Through juicy storytelling and cutting original research, Montell exposes the verbal elements that make a wide spectrum of communities “cultish,�� revealing how they affect followers of groups as notorious as Heaven’s Gate, but also how they pervade our modern start-ups, Peloton leaderboards, and Instagram feeds. Incisive and darkly funny, this enrapturing take on the curious social science of power and belief will make you hear the fanatical language of “cultish�� everywhere.]]> 309 Amanda Montell 0062993151 pao 3 3.82 2021
author: Amanda Montell
name: pao
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/17
date added: 2024/11/17
shelves:
review:
I've always wanted to pick up this book, thinking it's the psychology of pop culture fandom. it's not. it'd a deconstruction of cults and fads and the like. a more extreme iteration of the fandom that I am familiar with and would like to understand. still a good read, though. a cautionary tale. evidence that language and context pmatters. this is exactly why I am hesitant to use fanaticism in the strictest sense of the word in the context of the kind of fan I am. a bit of a niche read. go give it a try if this is your thing.
]]> 215369044 For lovers of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, a new book about the beauty of humble objects, the power of writing, and reconnecting with those you have lost.

Write your story, heal your heart . . .

Hidden away in a corner of the Ginza neighbourhood is a venerable stationery shop. To venture inside is to find everything your stationery-loving heart desires, from the most delicate paper to fountain pens that fit exactly to the shape of your hand to gorgeously coloured inks. The shop owner intuits your every need, inviting you to take a seat at a small wooden table on the top floor, where you'll find the words flowing, helping you unlock repressed memories, secret longings and your own mysteries.

To this shop comes a young company employee, uncertain in his career and needing a connection back to his past; the hostess of an elegant club; the vice-captain of a high-school archery team, an ageing businessman and a formerly homeless sushi chef. With impeccable manners and a warm demeanour, the shop owner helps each of them with more than just their stationery needs.]]> 320 Kenji Ueda 1786584646 pao 3 3.78 2022
author: Kenji Ueda
name: pao
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/16
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves:
review:
atmospheric, cozy, introspective, charming, very japanese.
]]> 211350358
Maya was a rising star in the political world until her ex-husband’s high-profile sex scandal nearly derailed her career. Landing a gubernatorial candidate like Teresa Powell is the fresh start she desperately needs �� a chance to focus on meaningful work and leave the drama behind.

But then an email from her past sends her world spinning: Charlie, former lead singer of Mischief, the boy band that fueled her teenage obsession, is staging a solo comeback and wants Maya’s help to make it happen. Turns out, she likes the grown-up Charlie and his genuine engagement with the world.

Maya’s not about to ditch her political ambitions for a teenage crush, but if she can leverage Charlie to draw attention to the policies she cares about, shouldn’t she give it a try?]]> 176 Alexandra Romanoff pao 3 3.5 3.79
author: Alexandra Romanoff
name: pao
average rating: 3.79
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/16
date added: 2024/11/16
shelves:
review:
3.5
]]> 62926992
Lucy Hart knows better than anyone what it’s like to grow up without parents who loved her. In a childhood marked by neglect and loneliness, Lucy found her solace in books, namely the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson. Now a twenty-six-year-old teacher’s aide, she is able to share her love of reading with bright, young students, especially seven-year-old Christopher Lamb, who was left orphaned after the tragic death of his parents. Lucy would give anything to adopt Christopher, but even the idea of becoming a family seems like an impossible dream without proper funds and stability.

But be careful what you wish for. . . .

Just when Lucy is about to give up, Jack Masterson announces he’s finally written a new book. Even better, he’s holding a contest at his home on the real Clock Island, and Lucy is one of the four lucky contestants chosen to compete to win the one and only copy.

For Lucy, the chance of winning the most sought-after book in the world means everything to her and Christopher. But first she must contend with ruthless book collectors, wily opponents, and the distractingly handsome (and grumpy) Hugo Reese, the illustrator of the Clock Island books. Meanwhile, Jack “the Mastermind�� Masterson is plotting the ultimate twist ending that could change all their lives forever.

. . . You might just get it.]]> 304 Meg Shaffer 0593598830 pao 3 4.02 2023
author: Meg Shaffer
name: pao
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/15
date added: 2024/11/15
shelves:
review:
convinced fantasy and magical realism are conduits for beautiful, poetic, metaphorical, figurative, descriptive writing, and I'm perfectly fine with that. 
]]> 54377375
When Vanessa Price quit her job to pursue her dream of traveling the globe, she wasn't expecting to gain millions of YouTube followers who shared her joy of seizing every moment. For her, living each day to its fullest isn't just a motto. Her mother and sister never saw the age of 30, and Vanessa doesn't want to take anything for granted.

But after her half-sister suddenly leaves Vanessa in custody of her infant daughter, life goes from "daily adventure" to "next-level bad" (now with bonus baby vomit in hair). The last person Vanessa expects to show up offering help is the hot lawyer next door, Adrian Copeland. After all, she barely knows him. No one warned her that he was the Secret Baby Tamer or that she'd be spending a whole lot of time with him and his geriatric Chihuahua.

Now she's feeling things she's vowed not to feel. Because the only thing worse than falling for Adrian is finding a little hope for a future she may never see.]]> 384 Abby Jimenez 1538715686 pao 3
this is a story of loveable characters thrust in unfortunate circumstances and the love that makes those circumstances a bit more bearable.

it's always unfair to find characters dealing with conflict and its aftermath that they did not ask for to begin with. from abuse, dysfunction, and chronic illness. this has been a distressing read sometimes, but in the interest of empathy and holding space for people's stories to be told we soldier on. helps that this is generally beautifully written.

all that drama is fine, what I wish would have happened differently is how the female lead chose to deal with chronic illness looming over her. i understand blissful ignorance to a certain extent. I understand living life to the fullest being the point of it all while advocating for awareness and cure said chronic illness, and it did deliver its message, I suppose it was her stubbornness that I couldn't quite make sense of. her default hyper-independence and fear do not give her the luxury of confronting being possibly afflicted, but even when she had a man who was willing, she was being stubborn. when she finally had herself checked, it wasn't what she feared it was, and even when genetics predisposed her to such condition, I suppose for now it's a relief.

glad the male lead is a solid one in this cast of dysfunction. understandable, but still dysfunctional nonetheless. he may have given her his all, it may have been smarter to make other choices but him choosing her every single time (to the point of adopting, won't say who), which I had known by the way, or i just wanted it so badly), will never make him weak in my eyes. while she tells a life story, he is what makes this story a love story.

it's still a happy ending. that's good enough.]]> 4.13 2021
author: Abby Jimenez
name: pao
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/14
date added: 2024/11/14
shelves:
review:
*SPOILERS AHEAD?*

this is a story of loveable characters thrust in unfortunate circumstances and the love that makes those circumstances a bit more bearable.

it's always unfair to find characters dealing with conflict and its aftermath that they did not ask for to begin with. from abuse, dysfunction, and chronic illness. this has been a distressing read sometimes, but in the interest of empathy and holding space for people's stories to be told we soldier on. helps that this is generally beautifully written.

all that drama is fine, what I wish would have happened differently is how the female lead chose to deal with chronic illness looming over her. i understand blissful ignorance to a certain extent. I understand living life to the fullest being the point of it all while advocating for awareness and cure said chronic illness, and it did deliver its message, I suppose it was her stubbornness that I couldn't quite make sense of. her default hyper-independence and fear do not give her the luxury of confronting being possibly afflicted, but even when she had a man who was willing, she was being stubborn. when she finally had herself checked, it wasn't what she feared it was, and even when genetics predisposed her to such condition, I suppose for now it's a relief.

glad the male lead is a solid one in this cast of dysfunction. understandable, but still dysfunctional nonetheless. he may have given her his all, it may have been smarter to make other choices but him choosing her every single time (to the point of adopting, won't say who), which I had known by the way, or i just wanted it so badly), will never make him weak in my eyes. while she tells a life story, he is what makes this story a love story.

it's still a happy ending. that's good enough.
]]> 50208350 The Friend Zone.

Two years after losing her fiancé, Sloan Monroe still can't seem to get her life back on track. But one trouble-making pup with a "take me home" look in his eyes is about to change everything. With her new pet by her side, Sloan finally starts to feel more like herself. Then, after weeks of unanswered texts, Tucker's owner reaches out. He's a musician on tour in Australia. And bottom line: He wants Tucker back.

Well, Sloan's not about to give up her dog without a fight. As their flirty texts turn into long calls, Sloan can't deny a connection. There's no telling what could happen when they meet in person. The question is: With his music career on the rise, how long will Jason really stick around? And is it possible for Sloan to survive another heartbreak?]]> 401 Abby Jimenez pao 4
as far as abby jimenez books go, with one more book of hers left to read, and with the bar set by 'yours truly's' 4.5 stars, at 4.75 this is my favorite abby jimenez title yet.

it's the simplest, most straightforward read, in that you know exactly whose story is being told. it's the hardest to read - anything about grief, as it is, is poised to be a difficult read anyway, but personally, loss and grief have been touchy subjects this past couple of years.

this is also the messiest read. it is frustrating. and the most satisfying. there were times it felt like the conflict was unfairly piling up, it seemed to have no end, but you push through it because it is cleverly written, beautifully worded conflict. the drama is good when all sides of the story are valid. the drama is good when it makes you want to pull your hair out. drama, as in conflict, is delicious when it comes from outside sources, when the protagonists have done nothing catastrophically wrong to warrant being in the cross hairs of drama. it's frustrating it's frightfully accurate, as is the depiction of the grieving process, and it's just great.

that it's a rockstar, celebrity romance, it's just perfect. stories that draw back the curtain on fame, deconstruct it, humanize it, de-mistify it, will always be fascinating to me. yeah, I love this.

it's a woman's story. it's a romance. it's a love story. ]]> 4.14 2020
author: Abby Jimenez
name: pao
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/13
date added: 2024/11/13
shelves:
review:
4.75 ⭐️

as far as abby jimenez books go, with one more book of hers left to read, and with the bar set by 'yours truly's' 4.5 stars, at 4.75 this is my favorite abby jimenez title yet.

it's the simplest, most straightforward read, in that you know exactly whose story is being told. it's the hardest to read - anything about grief, as it is, is poised to be a difficult read anyway, but personally, loss and grief have been touchy subjects this past couple of years.

this is also the messiest read. it is frustrating. and the most satisfying. there were times it felt like the conflict was unfairly piling up, it seemed to have no end, but you push through it because it is cleverly written, beautifully worded conflict. the drama is good when all sides of the story are valid. the drama is good when it makes you want to pull your hair out. drama, as in conflict, is delicious when it comes from outside sources, when the protagonists have done nothing catastrophically wrong to warrant being in the cross hairs of drama. it's frustrating it's frightfully accurate, as is the depiction of the grieving process, and it's just great.

that it's a rockstar, celebrity romance, it's just perfect. stories that draw back the curtain on fame, deconstruct it, humanize it, de-mistify it, will always be fascinating to me. yeah, I love this.

it's a woman's story. it's a romance. it's a love story.
]]> 41945163
Planning her best friend's wedding is bittersweet for Kristen—especially when she meets the best man, Josh Copeland. He's funny, sexy, never offended by her mile-wide streak of sarcasm, and always one chicken enchilada ahead of her hangry. Even her dog, Stuntman Mike, adores him. The only catch: Josh wants a big family someday. Kristen knows he'd be better off with someone else, but as their attraction grows, it's harder and harder to keep him at arm's length.

The Friend Zone will have you laughing one moment and grabbing for tissues the next as it tackles the realities of infertility and loss with wit, heart, and a lot of sass.]]> 372 Abby Jimenez pao 3
the usual abby jimenez fair thar lulls you into a false sense of emotional security with that slow, almost uneventful narrative before it takes your hand for a deep dive into angst, real life, loss, friendship and love. I did not expect that. four abby jimenez books down, her nobility to tackle difficult but important subjects in her stories is already recognizable.]]> 3.85 2019
author: Abby Jimenez
name: pao
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/11
date added: 2024/11/11
shelves:
review:
3.5-4 ✨️

the usual abby jimenez fair thar lulls you into a false sense of emotional security with that slow, almost uneventful narrative before it takes your hand for a deep dive into angst, real life, loss, friendship and love. I did not expect that. four abby jimenez books down, her nobility to tackle difficult but important subjects in her stories is already recognizable.
]]> 214131996
Maddox Lovelace. The captivating football player I met in college.
The one I only knew for a week. A week that was�� life-changing.
Until my phone rang, and I had no choice but to go home.
I left Maddox a letter, putting my feelings on paper, giving him my number, hoping he’d call.
But he didn’t call.
He never called.
He got drafted into the professional league and lived like a king while I stayed home and struggled to stay afloat.
I may have followed his career, but now that he’s retired from football, I’ve forced myself to stop thinking about him.
And it’s okay that I won’t ever see him again. That week in college was fifteen years ago.
I’m not in love with Maddox anymore.
I might even hate him.

Maddox
Hannah Utley. The name that’s haunted me since my senior year of college.
The girl who caught my attention with her wide eyes and freckled nose.
Who spent one week twisting up my insides until she stole a piece of my heart the night we got locked inside the campus library.
The girl who disappeared without a word.
It’s the name of the girl I’ve been trying to forget for fifteen years.
And it’s the name looking up at me from the résumé in my hand.
Because Hannah Utley works for the company I just purchased.
And that makes her mine. Whether she likes it or not.]]> 428 S.J. Tilly 1962096106 pao 5
another shameless romance that actually surprised in the best way possible - an extremely streamlined, focused plot, proof that being human has conflict enough for so many gripping stories. it's such an easy read, I did not realize I was flying through the book. the writing is so simple but not plain at all, short chapters that are sometimes made up of a punchy sentence or two, or a series of text messages, or a couple of chapters that read like poetry. it's everything a romance is supposed to be, heartwarming butterflies, a few tears, but what truly surprised me the most is its strong feminist message - from a man written by a woman, to its real understanding of women's plight. this author writes what and how i love to read and i would pick up more of her titles if i find another story i like.]]> 3.92
author: S.J. Tilly
name: pao
average rating: 3.92
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/09
date added: 2024/11/09
shelves:
review:
a surprising 5 stars (was considering a 3-4.5 until that feminist message towards the end) for what it is, and because of what it is - the possibility of a romance that doesn't make men jerks, or short-change women. 

another shameless romance that actually surprised in the best way possible - an extremely streamlined, focused plot, proof that being human has conflict enough for so many gripping stories. it's such an easy read, I did not realize I was flying through the book. the writing is so simple but not plain at all, short chapters that are sometimes made up of a punchy sentence or two, or a series of text messages, or a couple of chapters that read like poetry. it's everything a romance is supposed to be, heartwarming butterflies, a few tears, but what truly surprised me the most is its strong feminist message - from a man written by a woman, to its real understanding of women's plight. this author writes what and how i love to read and i would pick up more of her titles if i find another story i like.
]]> 196241667 From the author of the Sunday Times bestseller and viral TikTok phenomenon, The Pumpkin Spice Café, comes a brand new spicy romance set in Dream Harbor!

When a secret message turns up hidden in a book in the Cinnamon Bun Bookstore, Hazel can't understand it. As more secret codes appear between the pages, she decides to follow the trail of clues�� she just need someone to help her out.

Gorgeous and outgoing fisherman, Noah, is always up for an adventure. And a scavenger hunt sounds like a lot of fun. Even better that the cute bookseller he's been crushing on for months is the one who wants his help!

Hazel didn’t go looking for romance, but as the treasure hunt leads her and Noah around Dream Harbor, their undeniable chemistry might be just as hot as the fresh-out-of-the-oven cinnamon buns the bookstore sells��

The Cinnamon Bun Book Store is a cozy romantic mystery with a HEA guaranteed!

Tropes:
�� opposites attract
�� small town
�� forced proximity
�� he falls first]]> 384 Laurie Gilmore pao 3
everything it promised it would be - easy, cute, cozy, idyllic, not in the way that it makes you jealous, it is comforting, it is soothing and for a perpetually anxious person like i am, it is strangely calming. there is no pressure to finish at all. you just read, don't think to put it down and before you know it you're done in a day and a half. and it's incrementally better written than the first. at least i like it better. these books are necessary relief.]]> 3.67 2024
author: Laurie Gilmore
name: pao
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/08
date added: 2024/11/08
shelves:
review:
3.5

everything it promised it would be - easy, cute, cozy, idyllic, not in the way that it makes you jealous, it is comforting, it is soothing and for a perpetually anxious person like i am, it is strangely calming. there is no pressure to finish at all. you just read, don't think to put it down and before you know it you're done in a day and a half. and it's incrementally better written than the first. at least i like it better. these books are necessary relief.
]]> 139391940 A spicy small-town romance and TikTok phenomenon, perfect for fans of Hannah Grace and Stephanie Archer.

When Jeanie's aunt gifts her the beloved Pumpkin Spice Café in the small town of Dream Harbor, Jeanie jumps at the chance for a fresh start away from her very dull desk job.

Logan is a local farmer who avoids Dream Harbor's gossip at all costs. But Jeanie's arrival disrupts Logan's routine and he wants nothing to do with the irritatingly upbeat new girl, except that he finds himself inexplicably drawn to her.

Will Jeanie's happy-go-lucky attitude win over the grumpy-but-gorgeous Logan, or has this city girl found the one person in town who won't fall for her charm, or her pumpkin spice lattes��

The Pumpkin Spice Café is a cozy romantic mystery for fans of Gilmore Girls, with a grumpy x sunshine dynamic, a small-town setting and a HEA guaranteed!

Tropes:

�� grumpy x sunshine
�� small town
�� found family
�� spicy]]> 373 Laurie Gilmore 0008610665 pao 3 3.36 2023
author: Laurie Gilmore
name: pao
average rating: 3.36
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/07
date added: 2024/11/07
shelves:
review:
it's everything it promised it would be - warm and cozy and cute, an easy read to breeze through. simple, maybe too simple, ideal, maybe too ideal, but in times like these, a (bitter)sweet read necessary for wish fulfillment.
]]> 104659050 From the author of The Wrong Bride and The Temporary Wife comes an angsty and steamy billionaire arranged marriage romance

��
Faye is the last woman Dion Windsor wants to be near, let alone marry�� yet there’s no escaping the alluring pianist he’s been engaged to since they were children.

For years, he made his unwillingness known, but his attempts to keep Faye at a distance fade to dust at the sight of her with another man �� mere months before their wedding.

One look at her, and he realises he’s done running. Time is up, and whether she likes it or not, she’s his.

Or she could be, if the secrets he keeps didn’t hold the power to destroy her.


Publisher's Note: Each book in the Windsors series features a different Windsor sibling, and as such, each book can be read as a standalone. The Unwanted Marriage contains a guaranteed happily-ever-after and no cheating.]]> 374 Catharina Maura pao 4 4.03 2023
author: Catharina Maura
name: pao
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/06
date added: 2024/11/06
shelves:
review:
another unapologetic escapist read that's fairly beautifully written. I think we deserve it on days like these.
]]> 60633773 The hottest college football safety in the nation just asked me to be his fake girlfriend.

And I just asked him to take my virginity.

Clay Johnson has the abs of Adonis and the deadly smirk of the devil, himself. There’s hardly a day he’s not headline material during football season, and never a day he isn’t a bullseye target for every girl on campus.

He used to be the easiest of all the players for me to wrangle as the Public Relations Coordinator, but after a nasty breakup with his high school sweetheart, he’s a mess.

And a complete pain in my ass.

We meet to discuss his behavior and review media relations standards. But when he witnesses how I fall to pieces in front of my guitar-toting crush, his wheels start turning. And he cooks up this absurd plan.

He helps me get noticed.
I help him make his ex jealous.
All by pretending to be in a relationship.

What he doesn’t realize is that this bookworm is a virgin, and far from versed in seducing a musician. So, to sweeten the deal, I convince him to help me �� not just to get my crush’s attention, but to knock his socks off once I have it.

But the more I come unraveled at the hands of Clay Johnson, the more trouble I have discerning what’s fake and what’s undoubtedly real �� particularly, the way my heart flutters every time that breathtaking man touches me.

We set the rules. We put the safeguards in place.

But they say rules are meant to be broken.
They probably should have added that hearts are, too.

Blind Side is a fake dating college sports romance with "lessons" and opposites attract. It is a complete stand-alone. ]]> 408 Kandi Steiner pao 3
still unapologetically on an easy, mindless romantic streak as a breather from the trauma memoir i couldn't shake off until now. this is simple, fun, kilig, that is actually decently written.]]> 3.99 2022
author: Kandi Steiner
name: pao
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/05
date added: 2024/11/05
shelves:
review:
3.5

still unapologetically on an easy, mindless romantic streak as a breather from the trauma memoir i couldn't shake off until now. this is simple, fun, kilig, that is actually decently written.
]]> 59417433 This is not your typical love story.

It’s a story of almosts and could-have-beens.
Of friendship that teeters on the edge of something more.
Of passion so intoxicating, it burns.

Jamie and B are two hearts caught in the tangle of bad timing and unspoken words. Their connection defies labels—too deep for friendship, too tangled for love. Over a decade of moments, choices, and missed opportunities, they find themselves drawn together like a moth to a flame, even when the world—and their own mistakes—keep pulling them apart.

Is it obsession? Destiny? Or just self-destruction with a pretty face?

Sometimes, love isn’t about finding the right person—it’s about the moment when everything aligns.
But what if that moment never comes?

This special edition features:
* A Love Letter to Whiskey (the full, heart-wrenching story)
* Love, Whiskey (Jamie’s side, plus an extended epilogue)
* Bonus content, including behind-the-scenes stories, fun facts, and letters from the author and audiobook narrator]]> 608 Kandi Steiner pao 4
a toxic relationship is clearly a strange choice for a breather of a book, but after a harrowing, factual, all too traumatizing accoint of mass murder in my country, anything is a palette cleanser - even a tumultuous relationship.

I do not touch morally ambiguous reads, but then I intentionally did not want to think, did not want to judge. contradictory, but it worked.

it is toxic. it is frustrating as hell, but there's this certain sense of liberation allowing people to navigate their messes. it is a luxury of fiction to be led blindly by one's heart, knowing, in this case, that happily ever after is predetermined by its writer.

this book is painfully, beautifully written. more than the toxicity of the relationship, its the writing that I found to be most intoxicating. it is the writing that made this impossible to put down.

it is a relief that the lovets got their happy ending, finally. it is beautiful, the way the relationship was romanticized. it clear, in some twisted way from the onset that they are meant to be, you want them to find each other despite it all. I don't know what that says about me as a reader, but it says a lot about the writer.

this is why fiction matters. this is why the safety, the constraints of fiction matter. this is an addictive, beautiful, engaging read. I am sure, though, that I wouldn't want this for my real life.

I was strung along for a rollercoaster of a ride, no thoughts just feeling. therefore, this book had done its job.

I will be reading more from this writer.]]> 4.23
author: Kandi Steiner
name: pao
average rating: 4.23
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/04
date added: 2024/11/04
shelves:
review:
***for the fifth anniversary edition

a toxic relationship is clearly a strange choice for a breather of a book, but after a harrowing, factual, all too traumatizing accoint of mass murder in my country, anything is a palette cleanser - even a tumultuous relationship.

I do not touch morally ambiguous reads, but then I intentionally did not want to think, did not want to judge. contradictory, but it worked.

it is toxic. it is frustrating as hell, but there's this certain sense of liberation allowing people to navigate their messes. it is a luxury of fiction to be led blindly by one's heart, knowing, in this case, that happily ever after is predetermined by its writer.

this book is painfully, beautifully written. more than the toxicity of the relationship, its the writing that I found to be most intoxicating. it is the writing that made this impossible to put down.

it is a relief that the lovets got their happy ending, finally. it is beautiful, the way the relationship was romanticized. it clear, in some twisted way from the onset that they are meant to be, you want them to find each other despite it all. I don't know what that says about me as a reader, but it says a lot about the writer.

this is why fiction matters. this is why the safety, the constraints of fiction matter. this is an addictive, beautiful, engaging read. I am sure, though, that I wouldn't want this for my real life.

I was strung along for a rollercoaster of a ride, no thoughts just feeling. therefore, this book had done its job.

I will be reading more from this writer.
]]> 124961437 A fearless, powerfully written on-the-ground account of a nation careening into violent autocracy—told through harrowing stories of the Philippines�� state-sanctioned killings of its citizens—from a journalist of international renown

“My job is to go to places where people die. I pack my bags, talk to the survivors, write my stories, then go home to wait for the next catastrophe. I don’t wait very long.��

Journalist Patricia Evangelista came of age in the aftermath of a street revolution that forged a new future for the Philippines. Three decades later, in the face of mounting inequality, the nation discovered the fragility of its democratic institutions under the regime of strongman Rodrigo Duterte.

Some People Need Killing is Evangelista’s meticulously reported and deeply human chronicle of the Philippines�� drug war. For six years, Evangelista chronicled the killings carried out by police and vigilantes in the name of Duterte’s war on drugs—a war that has led to the slaughter of thousands—immersing herself in the world of killers and survivors and capturing the atmosphere of fear created when an elected president decides that some lives are worth less than others.

The book takes its title from a vigilante whose words seemed to reflect the psychological accommodation that most of the country had made: “I’m really not a bad guy,�� he said. “I’m not all bad. Some people need killing.��

A profound act of witness and a tour de force of literary journalism, Some People Need Killing is also a brilliant dissection of the grammar of violence and an important investigation of the human impulses to dominate and resist.]]> 428 Patricia Evangelista 0593133137 pao 5
i had asked for this book on my birthday as part of a haul of three other sappy emily henry romances. unsure if i could handle it, i knew i just had to have a copy. that was in may. it had been left untouched until last night. i had finished the entire first part of the book in one sitting. i didn’t sleep til four am. it was scary to go from a desensitized numbness to an almost quiet terror marked by deep breaths and sudden gasps. eerie to be experiencing this in a place as still as this, in the middle of the night. ironic that such heavy material was so beautifully written it made for such an easy read. this is my favorite kind of writing, but a topic i do not want to touch. i figured if the senate is a circus where only one woman has the guts to face the man, if she can single-handedly do the work of justice, if the victims had to go through the horrors they went through, the least i could do is to endure this book, shallow breathes, a wildly beating heart, and multiple chills down the spine. the least i could do is hold space for their stories. please go read this.

now, excuse me while i go read my quirky little romance, a palette cleanser. I need happy noise for a breather.]]> 4.19 2023
author: Patricia Evangelista
name: pao
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/01
date added: 2024/11/01
shelves:
review:
five stars if only to get more people to read this.

i had asked for this book on my birthday as part of a haul of three other sappy emily henry romances. unsure if i could handle it, i knew i just had to have a copy. that was in may. it had been left untouched until last night. i had finished the entire first part of the book in one sitting. i didn’t sleep til four am. it was scary to go from a desensitized numbness to an almost quiet terror marked by deep breaths and sudden gasps. eerie to be experiencing this in a place as still as this, in the middle of the night. ironic that such heavy material was so beautifully written it made for such an easy read. this is my favorite kind of writing, but a topic i do not want to touch. i figured if the senate is a circus where only one woman has the guts to face the man, if she can single-handedly do the work of justice, if the victims had to go through the horrors they went through, the least i could do is to endure this book, shallow breathes, a wildly beating heart, and multiple chills down the spine. the least i could do is hold space for their stories. please go read this.

now, excuse me while i go read my quirky little romance, a palette cleanser. I need happy noise for a breather.
]]> 199261152 A professor of literature finds herself caught up in a work of fiction�� literally.

Eileen Merriweather loves to get lost in a good happily-ever-after. The fictional kind, anyway. Because at least imaginary men don’t leave you at the altar. She feels safe in a book. At home. Which might be why she’s so set on going to her annual book club retreat this year—she needs good friends, cheap wine, and grand romantic gestures—no matter what.

But when her car unexpectedly breaks down on the way, she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it’s right out of a novel��

Because it is.

This place ������’t be real, and yet�� she’s here, in Eloraton, the town of her favorite romance series, where the candy store’s honey taffy is always sweet, the local bar’s burgers are always a little burnt, and rain always comes in the afternoon. It feels like home. It’s perfect—and perfectly frozen, trapped in the late author’s last unfinished story.

Elsy is sure that’s why she must be here: to help bring the town to its storybook ending.

Except there is a character in Eloraton that she ������’t place—a grumpy bookstore owner with mint-green eyes, an irritatingly sexy mouth and impeccable taste in novels. And he does not want her finishing this book.

Which is a problem because Elsy is beginning to think the town’s happily-ever-after might just be intertwined with her own.]]> 368 Ashley Poston 0593640977 pao 4
it is comforting to realize that while I enjoy words, I haven't lost sight of my reality, and I like this real more than the imagined. it is comforting that I merely rest in between the pages rather than disappear in stories that aren't mine to begin with. as tempting as it is. now, living is an entirely different endeavor, and i am trying.

it makes sense that, as writing advice, a mentor once told me to just live.]]> 3.62 2024
author: Ashley Poston
name: pao
average rating: 3.62
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/30
date added: 2024/10/30
shelves:
review:
as a reader, this was offensively on point in describing the kind of person that escapes...or finds themselves between the pages of a book, in the middle of someone else's story. to fix plot holes and not be the main character.

it is comforting to realize that while I enjoy words, I haven't lost sight of my reality, and I like this real more than the imagined. it is comforting that I merely rest in between the pages rather than disappear in stories that aren't mine to begin with. as tempting as it is. now, living is an entirely different endeavor, and i am trying.

it makes sense that, as writing advice, a mentor once told me to just live.
]]> 62926938 An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.]]> 336 Ashley Poston pao 4
magic that i almost stubbornly missed out on. i have known this book for a while now, but for what I suppose are very valid reasons, I was hesitant to pick it up.

if the fantasy genre were on a spectrum, I'd say I can only chew on the lower end, which is a bit of whimsy and magical realism. magical realism allows beautiful, descriptive, vivid, metaphorical writing, the kind that I chase in books. I always pray all books regardless of genre are written the way this one is only, the lines between magical realism that I can believe in, and fantasy that often loses me, is often blurred. this was one apprehension. and then there is issue on the content: I have been holding off on books that tackle a cocktail of grief and loss and love for about a couple of years now, having to deal with a monumental grief of my own. counterproductive, I know.

the decision to give this book a try was an instinctive one. I was treading lightly, fearful and uncertain. plot-wise, it was also treading lightly at the beginning. it felt like being in a maze, you are willingly lost in, the only comfort, the only encouragement to continue is the vivid imagery written with flourish.

it's a romance to be sure, and gosh, it's sunshine and sunflowers and endless summer days, but it's also a multilayered exploration of love and loss and grief and living on. it's the tragedy of separation and the comfort of divine orchestration - the idea that our loved ones, with the help of a Godly power, if one is a faithful, or some grand, universal design, whatever you choose to call it, have made arrangements for those who are left behind, by calling on people, putting them in our path to make their absence a bit more bearable. a web of human connection.

it demonstrates the grace we ought to show those in the throws of grief. loss is difficult, and therefore, the grieving process is complex. to reduce this into a one-dimensional journey would be a crime.

4.75 stars - would have been a perfect 5 if I hadn't spoiled myself of a major plot point, and if i hadn't predicted a couple of plot twists like the earliest chapters in. and i wiah the time jump would have been clearer, but that's just me and my being a need for plot. pretty much a 5 star read. I genuinely do not understand and feel sad for people who feel otherwise. ]]> 4.18 2023
author: Ashley Poston
name: pao
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/28
date added: 2024/10/28
shelves:
review:
oh my gosh. this book is magic.

magic that i almost stubbornly missed out on. i have known this book for a while now, but for what I suppose are very valid reasons, I was hesitant to pick it up.

if the fantasy genre were on a spectrum, I'd say I can only chew on the lower end, which is a bit of whimsy and magical realism. magical realism allows beautiful, descriptive, vivid, metaphorical writing, the kind that I chase in books. I always pray all books regardless of genre are written the way this one is only, the lines between magical realism that I can believe in, and fantasy that often loses me, is often blurred. this was one apprehension. and then there is issue on the content: I have been holding off on books that tackle a cocktail of grief and loss and love for about a couple of years now, having to deal with a monumental grief of my own. counterproductive, I know.

the decision to give this book a try was an instinctive one. I was treading lightly, fearful and uncertain. plot-wise, it was also treading lightly at the beginning. it felt like being in a maze, you are willingly lost in, the only comfort, the only encouragement to continue is the vivid imagery written with flourish.

it's a romance to be sure, and gosh, it's sunshine and sunflowers and endless summer days, but it's also a multilayered exploration of love and loss and grief and living on. it's the tragedy of separation and the comfort of divine orchestration - the idea that our loved ones, with the help of a Godly power, if one is a faithful, or some grand, universal design, whatever you choose to call it, have made arrangements for those who are left behind, by calling on people, putting them in our path to make their absence a bit more bearable. a web of human connection.

it demonstrates the grace we ought to show those in the throws of grief. loss is difficult, and therefore, the grieving process is complex. to reduce this into a one-dimensional journey would be a crime.

4.75 stars - would have been a perfect 5 if I hadn't spoiled myself of a major plot point, and if i hadn't predicted a couple of plot twists like the earliest chapters in. and i wiah the time jump would have been clearer, but that's just me and my being a need for plot. pretty much a 5 star read. I genuinely do not understand and feel sad for people who feel otherwise.
]]> 182484354 College exes break all the rules when they reunite years later in this enemies-to-lovers, second-chance romance, the highly anticipated companion novel to the viral TikTok sensation The Cheat Sheet.

Nora Mackenzie’s entire career lies in the hands of famous NFL tight end Derek Pender, who happens to be her extremely hot college ex-boyfriend. Nora didn’t end things as gracefully as she could have back then, and now it has come back to haunt her. Derek is her first client as an official full-time sports agent, and he’s holding a grudge.

Derek has set his sights on a little friendly revenge. If Nora Mackenzie, the first girl to ever break his heart, wants to be his agent, oh, he’ll let her be his agent. The plan is simple: make Nora’s life absolutely miserable. But if Derek knows anything about the woman he once loved—she won’t quit easily.

Instead of giving in, Nora starts a scheme of her own. But then a wild night in Vegas leads to Nora and Derek in bed the next morning married. With their rule book out the window, could this new relationship save their careers and spark the romance of a lifetime?]]> 356 Sarah Adams 0593723678 pao 4
my first sports romance. it's a great reading experience though i haven't read enough to be a fan of the genre. the first sarah adams book I've read, practice makes perfect is one of my only two 5 star reads this year, and we only have two months left. that book has my heart. it is for these reasons that this earned 4.5 stars from me. still pretty high, I think.

love the general sweetness and wholesomeness of sarah adams' writing. though this is a tad bit spicier than practice makes perfect. tasteful. Just about right. it just makes you melt into a puffle or sweet goo.

love that she chooses to write to address a certain issue of the female experience, writing for a specific cross section of females, be it introverts, or in this case, females in a male dominated workspace environment. it always seeks to validate and uplift women. and she does so in such a lighthearted, non-judgemental way that doesn't abandon the romance of it all. it is beautiful. and it is possible.

should I read her other books? or I can take suggestions...my cuttently reading pile is empty andI want the same experience. looking for my next read...]]> 3.88 2024
author: Sarah Adams
name: pao
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/27
date added: 2024/10/27
shelves:
review:
second sarah adams book. she seems to hit it out of the park with her second books in a duology. i haven't read when in rome and the cheat sheet only because those weren't the first recommendations i stumbled upon, and now that I've read the second books i don't know if I need to read the firsts. maybe I just will.

my first sports romance. it's a great reading experience though i haven't read enough to be a fan of the genre. the first sarah adams book I've read, practice makes perfect is one of my only two 5 star reads this year, and we only have two months left. that book has my heart. it is for these reasons that this earned 4.5 stars from me. still pretty high, I think.

love the general sweetness and wholesomeness of sarah adams' writing. though this is a tad bit spicier than practice makes perfect. tasteful. Just about right. it just makes you melt into a puffle or sweet goo.

love that she chooses to write to address a certain issue of the female experience, writing for a specific cross section of females, be it introverts, or in this case, females in a male dominated workspace environment. it always seeks to validate and uplift women. and she does so in such a lighthearted, non-judgemental way that doesn't abandon the romance of it all. it is beautiful. and it is possible.

should I read her other books? or I can take suggestions...my cuttently reading pile is empty andI want the same experience. looking for my next read...
]]> 62816044 Two villains, one girl, and a deadly battle for happily ever after.

Evangeline Fox ventured to the Magnificent North in search of her happy ending, and it seems as if she has it. She’s married to a handsome prince and lives in a legendary castle. But Evangeline has no idea of the devastating price she’s paid for this fairytale. She doesn’t know what she has lost, and her husband is determined to make sure she never finds out . . . but first he must kill Jacks, the Prince of Hearts.

Blood will be shed, hearts will be stolen, and true love will be put to the test in A Curse for True Love, the breathlessly anticipated conclusion to the Once Upon A Broken Heart trilogy.]]> 386 Stephanie Garber 1250851203 pao 3 4.14 2023
author: Stephanie Garber
name: pao
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/23
date added: 2024/10/23
shelves:
review:

]]> 59808071 Not every love is meant to be.

After Jacks, the Prince of Hearts, betrays her, Evangeline Fox swears she'll never trust him again. Now that she’s discovered her own magic, Evangeline believes she can use it to restore the chance at happily ever after that Jacks stole away.

But when a new terrifying curse is revealed, Evangeline finds herself entering into a tenuous partnership with the Prince of Hearts again. Only this time, the rules have changed. Jacks isn’t the only force Evangeline needs to be wary of. In fact, he might be the only one she can trust, despite her desire to despise him.

Instead of a love spell wreaking havoc on Evangeline’s life, a murderous spell has been cast. To break it, Evangeline and Jacks will have to do battle with old friends, new foes, and a magic that plays with heads and hearts. Evangeline has always trusted her heart, but this time she’s not sure she can...]]> 416 Stephanie Garber 1250268427 pao 3 4.49 2022
author: Stephanie Garber
name: pao
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/22
date added: 2024/10/22
shelves:
review:

]]> 55987278 How far would you go for happily ever after?

For as long as she can remember, Evangeline Fox has believed in true love and happy endings... until she learns that the love of her life will marry another.

Desperate to stop the wedding and to heal her wounded heart, Evangeline strikes a deal with the charismatic but wicked Prince of Hearts. In exchange for his help, he asks for three kisses, to be given at the time and place of his choosing.

But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that bargaining with an immortal is a dangerous game—and that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. He has plans for Evangeline, plans that will either end in the greatest happily ever after or the most exquisite tragedy...]]> 408 Stephanie Garber 1250268397 pao 3 4.06 2021
author: Stephanie Garber
name: pao
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/21
date added: 2024/10/21
shelves:
review:

]]> 195820807
Emma hadn't planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

It's supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma's toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they're suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected--including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?]]> 432 Abby Jimenez 1538704439 pao 3
three and a half to four stars - I could have done away with fewer side characters, apart from the found insular families and friendship connections, would have wanted to see what happened in those six months instead. I liked the leads very much, who they were connected to and how that I wanted to spend more time with them instead of certain triggering characters. BUT when the book gives you a bright spot in nattative or twist, it's practically perfect. it's emotional, and important, it's validating and comforting, and at times it holds a mirror back at you in such beautifully uncomfortable ways, you are grateful for the book and you forget what you've wanted instead.

I suppose her books are built for multiple reads to get something different out of it ever time? I don't mind it at all.]]> 4.35 2024
author: Abby Jimenez
name: pao
average rating: 4.35
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/20
date added: 2024/10/20
shelves:
review:
third abby jimenez book, three books familiar enough to recognize that her books are a lot to comb through to get to its heart...but then again, it just could be me and my processing time.

three and a half to four stars - I could have done away with fewer side characters, apart from the found insular families and friendship connections, would have wanted to see what happened in those six months instead. I liked the leads very much, who they were connected to and how that I wanted to spend more time with them instead of certain triggering characters. BUT when the book gives you a bright spot in nattative or twist, it's practically perfect. it's emotional, and important, it's validating and comforting, and at times it holds a mirror back at you in such beautifully uncomfortable ways, you are grateful for the book and you forget what you've wanted instead.

I suppose her books are built for multiple reads to get something different out of it ever time? I don't mind it at all.
]]> 61918816 A novel of terrible first impressions, hilarious second chances, and the joy in finding your perfect match.

Dr. Briana Ortiz’s life is seriously flatlining. Her divorce is just about finalized, her brother’s running out of time to find a kidney donor, and that promotion she wants? Oh, that’s probably going to the new man-doctor who’s already registering eighty-friggin��-seven on Briana’s “pain in my ass�� scale. But just when all systems are set to hate, Dr. Jacob Maddox completely flips the game . . . by sending Briana a letter.

And it’s a really good letter. Like the kind that proves that Jacob isn’t actually Satan. Worse, he might be this fantastically funny and subversively likeable guy who’s terrible at first impressions. Because suddenly he and Bri are exchanging letters, sharing lunch dates in her “sob closet,�� and discussing the merits of freakishly tiny horses. But when Jacob decides to give Briana the best gift imaginable—a kidney for her brother—she wonders just how she can resist this quietly sexy new doctor . . . especially when he calls in a favor she ������’t refuse.]]> 416 Abby Jimenez 1538704390 pao 4 4.29 2023
author: Abby Jimenez
name: pao
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/17
date added: 2024/10/17
shelves:
review:
second abby jimenez book. I like this better than part of your world, but I gave that book four stars, this was better so i am giving it four and a half stars, never mind that it is slower paced than I am used to. i could forgive that, though, because the anxiety representation is spot on and necessary. personally, it felt like being seen accurately for the first time. the spotlight on chronic kidney disease and organ donation is much appreciated, too. so much to comb through to get to the romance of it all, but when we did, it was so worthwhile. it felt like a privilege.
]]> 58684524
While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere�� ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people.

Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet she ������’t just give up the joy she’s found with him either. With so many differences between them, how can Alexis possibly choose between her world and his?

The New York Times bestselling author of Life's Too Short delivers a refreshingly modern fairy tale perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston and Emily Henry.]]> 389 Abby Jimenez 1538704374 pao 4 4.26 2022
author: Abby Jimenez
name: pao
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/15
date added: 2024/10/15
shelves:
review:

]]> 61718053
They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They ������’t stand to break their friends�� hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week�� in front of those who know you best?

A couple who broke up months ago make a pact to pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.]]> 400 Emily Henry 0593441273 pao 3
i am still learning to be patient.

it is said of this one, those who get it, get it, those who don't, don't.

I happen to get it. i do not know if that's fortunate or not.

friendship and romance, growing up and growing apart, lessons in fighting, and sticking it out. a love story between a perfect people pleaser of a girl, and a boy with a big heart and little ambition, only because he was written off as the mediocre one in his family. the only thing he claims to be great at is loving her. that falls apart. her perfection is flawed to begin with, merely to keep her family together. their group of friends is loosing touch. their last week-long trip brings this all to the forefront. a classic story or miscommunication, not for lack of the want to connect.

so I get it. on all sides. and that is enough. and if only for beautiful moments, and glimpses of wonderfully strung words that make reading this, as easy as breathing, this book is worth it.]]> 3.95 2023
author: Emily Henry
name: pao
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/10/14
date added: 2024/10/14
shelves:
review:
here's the thing, I find, with emily henry books: it starts out intentionally messy, surface level, beautifully so, and part of the joy, the anticipation is combing through that mess to get to the heart of the story, the soul of the characters. reading an emily henry book is an adventure in character excavation. and that takes patience.

i am still learning to be patient.

it is said of this one, those who get it, get it, those who don't, don't.

I happen to get it. i do not know if that's fortunate or not.

friendship and romance, growing up and growing apart, lessons in fighting, and sticking it out. a love story between a perfect people pleaser of a girl, and a boy with a big heart and little ambition, only because he was written off as the mediocre one in his family. the only thing he claims to be great at is loving her. that falls apart. her perfection is flawed to begin with, merely to keep her family together. their group of friends is loosing touch. their last week-long trip brings this all to the forefront. a classic story or miscommunication, not for lack of the want to connect.

so I get it. on all sides. and that is enough. and if only for beautiful moments, and glimpses of wonderfully strung words that make reading this, as easy as breathing, this book is worth it.
]]> 194802722 A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé, Peter, told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it... right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned-up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex... right?]]> 400 Emily Henry pao 4 4.21 2024
author: Emily Henry
name: pao
average rating: 4.21
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/12
date added: 2024/10/12
shelves:
review:

]]> 169690624 Perfect for fans of Lynn Painter and Jenny Han, this romantic comedy follows a hopeless romantic finishing college who agrees to embark on a fake relationship with her childhood best friend, who, unfortunately for her, also happens to be her first love.

Daniella Daisy Maria wanted love. It’s all she hoped for when watching endless rom-coms every Friday night. What she hadn't hoped for was to find it in her childhood best friend Levi. It was the hand-trembling, heart-thumping kind of love that wasn't supposed to happen when you saw your best friend. But it all ended when he didn’t feel the same way and she vowed to never see him again.

Four years later and one night in a crowded bar in the West Village, there he was, just as perfect as ever. Maybe it was the lighting or the way his hair curled above his brow, but she couldn’t say no when he asked her to be his fake girlfriend for his sister’s wedding. Another chance at being his friend and mending her immature mistake? How was she supposed to say no?

The weight of possible rejection from her dream grad school quickly became the least of her problems. With old, resurfacing feelings at every staged, romantic interaction and stolen glance, she struggles to find confidence. She couldn't help but think that maybe she should’ve said no to protect her heart for a second time.]]> 327 Liana Cincotti pao 4 4.03 2023
author: Liana Cincotti
name: pao
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/11
date added: 2024/10/11
shelves:
review:

]]> 63247365
“Emotional, relatable and binge-worthy." –Tessa Bailey

“I’ll read anything she writes. An absolute star." –Emily Henry

“I was hooked on the very first page. Don't miss this one!" �� Carley Fortune

Two writers with a complicated history end up working on the same TV show. Can they write themselves a new ending? A sexy and emotional enemies-to-lovers romance guaranteed to pull on your heartstrings and give you a book hangover from brilliant new voice Yulin Kuang

Helen Zhang hasn’t seen Grant Shepard once in the thirteen years since the tragic accident that bound their lives together forever.

Now a bestselling author, Helen pours everything into her career. She’s even scored a coveted spot in the writers�� room of the TV adaptation of her popular young adult novels, and if she can hide her imposter syndrome and overcome her writer’s block, surely the rest of her life will fall into place too. LA is the fresh start she needs. After all, no one knows her there. Except��

Grant has done everything in his power to move on from the past, including building a life across the country. And while the panic attacks have never quite gone away, he’s well liked around town as a screenwriter. He knows he shouldn’t have taken the job on Helen’s show, but it will open doors to developing his own projects that he just ������’t pass up.

Grant’s exactly as Helen remembers him—charming, funny, popular, and lovable in ways that she’s never been. And Helen’s exactly as Grant remembers too—brilliant, beautiful, closed off. But working together is messy, and electrifying, and Helen’s parents, who have never forgiven Grant, have no idea he’s in the picture at all.

When secrets come to light, they must reckon with the fact that theirs was never meant to be any kind of love story. And yet�� the key to making peace with their past—and themselves—might just lie in holding on to each other in the present.]]> 384 Yulin Kuang pao 5 3.61 2024
author: Yulin Kuang
name: pao
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2024/10/09
date added: 2024/10/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 55600878
Evie Thomas doesn't believe in love anymore. Especially after the strangest thing occurs one otherwise ordinary afternoon: She witnesses a couple kiss and is overcome with a vision of how their romance began . . . and how it will end. After all, even the greatest love stories end with a broken heart, eventually.

As Evie tries to understand why this is happening, she finds herself at La Brea Dance Studio, learning to waltz, fox-trot, and tango with a boy named X. X is everything that Evie is not: adventurous, passionate, daring. His philosophy is to say yes to everything--including entering a ballroom dance competition with a girl he's only just met.

Falling for X is definitely not what Evie had in mind. If her visions of heartbreak have taught her anything, it's that no one escapes love unscathed. But as she and X dance around and toward each other, Evie is forced to question all she thought she knew about life and love. In the end, is love worth the risk?]]> 304 Nicola Yoon pao 4 3.96 2021
author: Nicola Yoon
name: pao
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/09
date added: 2024/10/09
shelves:
review:

]]> 49466262 Two souls, drawn together beneath a fierce sky...
Calvin Ellis's neat and orderly life is shattered when his grandfather dies, leaving him ownership of a quirky bookstore in Big Sur, California. The Mad Ones: once a place famous for poetry readings and bohemian rebellion, it now teeters on the brink of financial ruin.

Lucia Bell's glamorous life as a super model is put into stark perspective when she shows up for a photo shoot, at a bookstore, in the middle of nowhere. She finds herself oddly intrigued by the quiet, nerdy owner with the huge glasses reading behind the register.

One night they share a passionate and frenzied kiss against a bookshelf. Outside the store, lightning strikes. Trees topple. And the world shakes beneath their feet.

As the storm tears its way through Big Sur, Calvin and Lucia share and explore their most secret desires. Hopes and dreams they once thought lost are recaptured. But inevitably, as reality roars back, they find themselves stuck at a crossroads.
Two conflicting paths. And each must make their own decision.

Which life will they choose? And will it include the other?

Authors Note: Opposites attract. Shy nerd (with a dirty mouth). Gorgeous supermodel. Secret love notes. Poetry. Hidden desires. Quirky small towns and funky book stores. Hot springs. Wild storms. True love. ]]> 308 Kathryn Nolan pao 4 4.10 2017
author: Kathryn Nolan
name: pao
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/04
date added: 2024/10/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 60720329 He wants to make the movie he’s dreamed of ever since he was a child.
And the pretty beach town of Angel Sands is the perfect place to do it.

There’s one small problem. He needs a nanny for his six-year-old daughter. And fast.

Enter Chelsea Kennedy.

She’s the perfect caregiver on paper. And more than easy on the eye.
It’s a shame she left her last job under a dark cloud and she won’t tell him why.

Taking a punt on her is a risk. She’s trouble with a capital ‘T��.
But it’s not as though either of them is going to do something stupid.

Like spend long evenings falling for each other. Or long nights together tangled between his sheets.

Somebody’s going to get hurt. Maybe everybody will. But he just ������’t help himself…]]> 324 Carrie Elks pao 4 4.16
author: Carrie Elks
name: pao
average rating: 4.16
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/01
date added: 2024/10/01
shelves:
review:
read this overnight. that doesn't happen. I'm such a slow reader, must mean it's actually good, or at least an easy read.
]]> 62626163
Have you ever heard of a man-in-waiting?

Yeah, neither has my best friend's soon-to-be monster-in-law. Ooo, sorry, I meant mother-in-law. Nor has she heard of the term, what the bride wants, the bride gets.

With wedding planning underway and a short timeline, my best friend, Lia, has recruited me to help her battle the snarly beast that is Mrs. Beaver. Not scared at all, I accept the challenge as her man-in-waiting--aka, man of honor--and take matters into my own hands.

The only problem is, with every second we draw closer to the wedding, I'm starting to see my best girl in a different light.

She's always been beautiful to me, but now . . . I find myself staring a touch too long. My hand lingering for one more minute. And when she's upset? Allowing her to sleep in my bed.

And before I know what's happening, it hits me like a ton of bricks. I'm in love with my best friend. Not just in love, but infatuated.

No one compares to her and nothing seems to distract me from that realization.
Not the girl I try to date while I help plan Lia's wedding.
Not her angry fiancé who thinks I'm growing too close.
And not the looming deadline of her nuptials.

Which means, there's only one thing left for me to do. Prove to Lia I'm the one she should be with instead. But with the pressure of her engagement, the stress from her soon-to-be mother-in-law, and the breath-stealing nerves running through me, I'm finding it a lot harder to claim the girl than I would like to admit.

Say a little prayer for me . . .]]> 450 Meghan Quinn pao 4 4.24 2023
author: Meghan Quinn
name: pao
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2023
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/10/01
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]]> 60809640 From author Meghan Quinn, comes a fresh take on a romantic comedy classic, When Harry Met Sally. This steamy, laugh-out-loud, enemies to lovers romance is about an annoyingly handsome coworker and the woman who refuses to be charmed by him.

Am I friends with JP Cane?

Ha! That's laughable.

Besides the fact that he’s adopted some far-fetched notion from the movie When Harry Met Sally that says men and women can't be friends and work together, it’s safe to say we're not friends. He's annoyingly loud, obnoxiously handsome, and has made an art out of poking all my hot buttons . . . multiple times a day.

So you can imagine how disgruntled I am when I not only have to fly to San Francisco with him for work, but stay in the same penthouse. Yup, we're sharing the same air, twenty-four-seven. We're talking full-fledged working roommates.

The man doesn't know what it means to wear a shirt, thrives off protein bars, and you guessed it, moans loud enough for people to believe he's Meg Ryan in a restaurant.

Spoiler Alert: I WON'T be having what he's having.

Tack on his continuous flirting and his polished good looks, and I'm caught staring down the barrel of a seductive temptation that makes it hard for me to sleep at night.

But guess who can control herself? This girl.

Because if there is one thing I know for certain, it's that JP Cane and I are so not meant to be.]]> 512 Meghan Quinn pao 3 3.92 2022
author: Meghan Quinn
name: pao
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2022
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/10/01
shelves:
review:

]]> 58995736
The quintessential question asked to every couple. And the answer is usually some bubbly, lovey dovey tale of being struck in the bum by Cupid’s arrow.

My meet cute (well not so meet cute) is slightly different. I was trolling a wealthy neighborhood in Beverly Hills, searching for someone to take me as their bride, you know, to make my arch nemesis jealous who consequently just fired me.

He was stomping around the block like some sort of gorgeous ogre, mumbling about a business deal gone wrong and attempting to finagle his way out of it.

And that’s when we bumped into each other.

There were no sparks.

Not even a hint of blossoming love.

But next thing I knew, I was scarfing down free chips and guac, listening to this man lay out all of his problems which led to his big ask . . . he wanted me to be his Vivian Ward, you know, from Pretty Woman--minus the frisky behavior.

We’re talking about living in a mansion, intimate double dates, and pretending we were head over heels in love . . . and engaged. Can you imagine?

The absolute audacity.

But people do crazy things when they’re desperate. And I reeked of desperation. So, I struck up a deal.

My one big mistake, though . . . big . . . HUGE? I accidentally fell for the incomparable Huxley Cane.]]> 404 Meghan Quinn pao 3 3.94 2021
author: Meghan Quinn
name: pao
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2024/10/01
shelves:
review:

]]> 61897968 A small-town sweetheart and an emotionally unavailable bad boy try to find some common ground in this chemistry-filled romance from the author of The Cheat Sheet and When in Rome.

Annie Walker is on a quest to find her perfect match—someone who complements her happy, quiet life running the local flower shop in Rome, Kentucky. But finding her dream man may be harder than Annie imagined. Everyone knows everyone in her hometown, and the dating prospects are getting fewer by the day. After she overhears her latest date say she is “so unbelievably boring,�� Annie starts to think the problem might be her. Is it too late to become flirtatious and fun like the leading ladies in her favorite romance movies? Maybe she only needs a little practice . . . and Annie has the perfect person in mind to be her tutor: Will Griffin.

Will—the sexy, tattooed, and absolutely gorgeous bodyguard—is temporarily back in Rome, providing security for Amelia Rose as excitement builds for her upcoming marriage to Noah Walker, Annie’s brother. He has one personal objective while on the job: stay away from Annie Walker and any other possible attachments to this sleepy town. But no sooner than he gets settled, Will finds himself tasked with helping Annie find the love of her life by becoming the next leading lady of Rome, Kentucky. Will wants no part in changing the sweet and lovely Annie. He knows for a fact that some stuffy, straitlaced guy won’t make her happy, but he doesn’t have the heart to say no.

Amid steamy practice dates and strictly “educational�� tutoring lessons, Annie discovers there are more layers to Will’s usual stoic attitude. As the lines of their friendship become dangerously blurred, Annie reconsiders her dream guy. Maybe her love life doesn’t need to be perfect—it just needs to be real.]]> 335 Sarah Adams 0593500806 pao 5 4.00 2023
author: Sarah Adams
name: pao
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/09/17
date added: 2024/09/17
shelves:
review:

]]> 58885776 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780593336489.

Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.

When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.

For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she ������’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.

Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.

Romance is most certainly dead... but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.

A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.]]> 368 Ashley Poston pao 4 3.90 2022
author: Ashley Poston
name: pao
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/09/14
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]]> 58690308 One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn't see coming....

Nora Stephens�� life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.

Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters�� trip away—with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.

If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.]]> 377 Emily Henry 0593334833 pao 4 4.09 2022
author: Emily Henry
name: pao
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 4
read at: 2024/09/14
date added: 2024/09/14
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]]> 32190451
Without any glass globe and no one to take care of her needs, how can a single flower survive? How can her fragrance save her from the harshness of a brute breast? Will her thorns be enough? And after discovering that She is not the only Rose in the world, how will She be?]]> 229 Andrea St. Thomas 9710043013 pao 0 3.92 2016
author: Andrea St. Thomas
name: pao
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/09/04
shelves:
review:

]]> 980045 The New York Times

“The staggering purity of this show will touch all open hearts…In its refined, imaginative simplicity, it daringly reverses all the conventional rules by returning the American musical to an original state of innocence.”—John Heilpern, The New York Observer

“An unexpected jolt of sudden genius, edgy in its brutally honest, unromanticized depiction of human sexuality.”��New York Post

Spring Awakening is an extraordinary new rock musical with book and lyrics by Steven Sater and music by Grammy Award-nominated recording artist Duncan Sheik. Inspired by Frank Wedekind’s controversial 1891 play about teenage sexuality and society’s efforts to control it, the piece seamlessly merges past and present, underscoring the timelessness of adolescent angst and the universality of human passion.

Steven Sater’s plays include the long-running Carbondale Dreams, Perfect for You, Doll (Rosenthal Prize/Cincinnati Playhouse), Umbrage (Steppenwolf New Play Prize), and a reconceived version of Shakespeare’s Tempest, which played in London.

Duncan Sheik is a singer/songwriter who also collaborated with Sater on the musical The Nightingale. He has composed original music for The Gold Rooms of Nero and for The Public Theater’s Twelfth Night in Central Park.]]> 112 Steven Sater 1559363150 pao 0 4.18 1891
author: Steven Sater
name: pao
average rating: 4.18
book published: 1891
rating: 0
read at: 2010/06/20
date added: 2024/02/15
shelves:
review:

]]> 60393672 Before It Ends with Us, it started with Atlas. Colleen Hoover tells fan favorite Atlas’s side of the story and shares what comes next in this long-anticipated sequel to the “glorious and touching�� (USA TODAY) #1 New York Times bestseller It Ends with Us.

Lily and her ex-husband, Ryle, have just settled into a civil coparenting rhythm when she suddenly bumps into her first love, Atlas, again. After nearly two years separated, she is elated that for once, time is on their side, and she immediately says yes when Atlas asks her on a date.

But her excitement is quickly hampered by the knowledge that, though they are no longer married, Ryle is still very much a part of her life—and Atlas Corrigan is the one man he will hate being in his ex-wife and daughter’s life.

Switching between the perspectives of Lily and Atlas, It Starts with Us picks up right where the epilogue for the “gripping, pulse-pounding�� (Sarah Pekkanen, author of Perfect Neighbors) bestselling phenomenon It Ends with Us left off. Revealing more about Atlas’s past and following Lily as she embraces a second chance at true love while navigating a jealous ex-husband, it proves that “no one delivers an emotional read like Colleen Hoover�� (Anna Todd, New York Times bestselling author).]]> 323 Colleen Hoover 1668001225 pao 0 3.80 2022
author: Colleen Hoover
name: pao
average rating: 3.80
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/07
date added: 2024/02/07
shelves:
review:

]]> 62136057
Beautiful and prim Vanessa is the perfect pawn in Carter’s revenge scheme. Who better to humiliate his wealthy religious family than the girl who just announced on social media that she’s planning to lose her virginity in thirty days?

Their arrangement will just be an exchange of services. He’ll let her tell the world the campus player took her virginity, and she’ll give him the opportunity he’s been waiting years for.

But after one taste of her, he wants so much more than petty revenge��

He wants her body as well as her heart.

He wants everything.]]> 270 Skyler Mason pao 0 3.49
author: Skyler Mason
name: pao
average rating: 3.49
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/11/13
shelves:
review:

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