neighbors

On Loverose Lane

Happy Thursday! On Loverose Lane is out today, thank you to the author for the ARC. 

It’s so great to be back in the On Dublin Street world! This is a next-gen story following our OG ODS couple’s daughter, though you can read it as a standalone.

It’s a second chance, fake dating romance between Beth, the CEO of her own successful company, and Callan, a popular footballer. They had a brief dalliance as teens that ended quickly, but Callan still has hurt feelings over it so he’s not happy to see he’s moved into an apartment building next to his old crush.  He’s even less happy when Beth ropes him into fake dating her to help her business. 

The banter between the two was hilarious, and Beth was not afraid to put Callan in his place. I love a FMC that takes no shit! It was at times emotional, though overall I found it heart warming and sexy, and while I loved the nods to the original series, it still felt young and fresh. The mental health/anxiety rep was great to read about as well. 

It felt like coming home! 

Sunlight

Sunlight is out today! I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

I loved this! I’ve been excited for Jax’s story since Crossroads and this did not disappoint.

This is an accidental pregnancy romance between Jax, the younger Haven brother, and Sasha, the new-in-town employee of the Haven River Ranch.They have a bit of a bumpy start, but after a few drinks at a holiday party, they hook up and oops! She’s pregnant. 

I loved how their tentative relationship unfolded, Jax was very into her but she took longer to warm up and I loved how carefully Jax brought down her walls. I love when it’s not all sunshine and roses and the two had a lot to work though. 

There are themes of redemption and forgiveness adding a somewhat sad tone to parts of this, but mostly it read like a really great contemporary cowboy romance. 

Honestly this was a perfect book for me – you get some of my favorite tropes, a swoony cowboy, an “uptight” heroine, an accidental pregnancy, a good amount of steam, and a stunning setting. It was great to revisit the ranch and the Haven family and I’ve just really really enjoyed my time with this series. These are easily some of my favorite reads of the year, if not all time favorite Devney books. 

Saving Rain – Kelsey Kingsley

Oooh did I love this book.

This is a beautiful story of redemption, told in dual timelines but only one POV, which was his. I really liked the uniqueness of the single POV being the MMCs. And what a great MMC he was!

Soldier was born to a young mother with a drug problem, leading a very unstable upbringing and a series of bad decisions as a teen led him to be in prison in his early twenties. He did not always make the best choices but we can see the desperation that brought him to that point. We get his whole story from childhood to adult as we move through the first past timeline. 

We also get his present day story, being released from prison years later and trying to fit in back in the outside world. He ends up living next to a single mother and her son, whom he befriends and eventually starts a romance with the mom.

Truth be told, the romance is somewhat of the lesser plot here, and I didn’t mind at all. I loved Soldier, his strength and inherent goodness despite his difficult upbringing was beautiful. His journey was hard at times but I genuinely loved it. There is not much I love more than a true story of redemption and this one just really hit the spot for me. 

We do however definitely get a romance, and a beautiful, tender one at that. Soldier and Rain saved each other in multiple ways and their love felt meant to be. I also loved Soldier’s other relationships, with his former prison guard who helped him reestablish himself, with the townspeople as he won them over, and especially with Rain’s son who was the first person to befriend Soldier and not treat him any differently. 

I do have to say, it’s pretty long. It’s around 500 pages, and it’s very character driven so you spend a lot of time with Soldier. I personally enjoyed every second and flew through the pages. I loved the author’s writing style so much I immediately picked up the next (loosely interconnected) book and binged that one as well (review to come!) 

Young Buck


From Smartypants Romance… Young Buck, an all-new slow burn small-town romance
 from Kilby Blades, is now live in #kindleunlimited!

My take –

This was a sweet small town age gap romance. Loretta and Buck had a hilarious meet cute that set up the story really well. I love that she was the older one in the age gap, though Buck didn’t really seem younger in any way. I enjoyed how their relationship grew from neighbors to more and enjoyed the bit of heat we got! 

At times it felt like these were montages instead of chapters, the way things jump around. She’s on a date with a different guy, the next page he’s rescuing someone in her “book club”, then the next chapter something else happens. It didn’t feel like a super cohesive plot in these moments.

I also did not love the third act conflict. I don’t hate them in general but this one had me gritting my teeth.

Overall though it was a good addition to this series!

‘Young Buck’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #5 in the Green Valley Heroes series, Green Valley Chronicles, Penny Reid Book Universe.