opposites attract

Flirting Lessons

Flirting Lessons is out now! Thank you to @berkleyromance for the free book! #BerkleyPartner

I’m about 50% into this one and really enjoying it!

It’s got lessons between straight-laced, dependable Avery, who wants to learn to approach women after only being with men, and Taylor, who is a bit less together in life, but has a lot more experience with women – and a bad reputation for loving and leaving them.

I’m really enjoying their opposites attract dynamic and watching Avery come into her own. They have a series of “lessons,” from salsa dancing to queer trivia nights and it’s been a lot of fun to listen to!

Blurb:

Newly single and about to leave her twenties behind, Avery Jensen is tired. Tired of being so buttoned up and well-behaved, and especially tired of dating men. She is desperate for change and determined to break out of her shell—which includes exploring her bisexuality and learning how to shamelessly flirt. One small problem: she doesn’t know where to start. With little dating experience, especially with women, confidence doesn’t seem within reach.

Enter Taylor Cameron, Napa Valley’s biggest flirt and champion heartbreaker who just swore off sex for two months after making a bet with her best friend. As impossible as it seems, Taylor agrees—but not without finding some loopholes. So, when Taylor meets Avery, it only makes sense to offer her flirting lessons. It’s a win-win—Avery will get the confidence she needs while Taylor will be too preoccupied to think of all the sex she isn’t having.

While their lessons may start off a little rocky, Taylor is patient and encouraging, and it isn’t long before Avery starts to look forward to their weekly meetings. Soon Avery’s life starts to look the way she’s always wanted. There is just one small issue…she now has feelings for Taylor. Little does she know the feelings are mutual. Soon their attraction is impossible to ignore, and their once innocent lessons risk becoming messy when Taylor realizes that the only person she wants Avery flirting with is her.

 

Promise Me Sunshine

Promise Me Sunshine released earlier this month, thank you to the publisher for the ARC!

This was a beautifully written, tender story about a woman learning to live again after a devastating loss. 

Lenny’s best friend in the world, her person, passed away and her world is just absolutely rocked by it. She’s living in a cycle of temporary nanny gigs, afraid to make a commitment to anyone, and also afraid to return to her apartment she shared with her friend so she wanders the streets and sleeps on public transportation. She meets Miles, uncle to one of her charges, and he offers to help her work through her “live again” list, while she helps him bond with his niece. 

The grief was handled so beautifully – both characters have suffered losses but are at different stages in the grief cycle and I just thought the representation felt so real and authentic. They bonded over their grief but also helped each other work through it. Despite all the grief, there was still humor and a bit of romance throughout. 

The blurb says it’s a romance, and I’m not quite sure I agree with that – it definitely read more woman’s fiction to me, with a romance that kicks in ⅔ of the way in (at least for Lenny. Miles was obviously in love with her from the beginning)

It didn’t quite top Ready or Not for me, but I did like it a whole lot! 

Fan Service

Fan Service is out now! Thank you to @berkleyromance for the free book! #BerkleyPartner #Berkley #BerkleyBookstagram

This was a unique book! I really really loved the premise – a washed up actor seems to be following the path of his once beloved character on a long running tv show: turning into a werewolf. He doesn’t know who to turn to for help, so he finds the moderator of the fan page for his show, because no one knows more about his old character than her.

It started off so strong for me, it was laugh out loud funny and like I said the premise was so fun, but ultimately I was kind of bored and wanted more to happen. 

So overall it was funny but not a true winner for me personally. I’d still say check it out if you like a himbo MMC or loved 90s The WB/CW paranormal dramas!

Story of My Life

Happy Tuesday! Story of my Life is out now and it’s small town romcom perfection! I received an ARC, but all opinions are my own. 

Lucy Score came out swinging (with a dead fish) in the first addition to this new series. Honestly I am not always the hugest romcom lover anymore, but this one was romcom done right for me – full of humor, irreverence, and a whole buttload of heart. 

I loved the new in town, fish out of water vibes of city girl Hazel moving to small town Story Lake on a whim, starting over when life wasn’t going her way. She was a once popular romance author struggling with writer’s block, so when the hunky small town contractor working on the dilapidated house she bought starts to stir up some creativity in her, she asks him to keep inspiring her with a fake date, and maybe more. The banter between Hazel and Cam was hilarious, and boy were those two attracted to each other. 

I loved the romance but I also loved the supporting characters and side plot. The town was so fun and quirky, and I loved how they banned together to try to save their town. 

It felt like one part Schitt’s Creek, one part Hart of Dixie, with the close proximity, exasperated,   I-want-to-tear-your-clothes-off vibes of Nick and Jess from New Girl (all my favorite things.)

Definitely check it out if you are a fan of the author’s Blue Moon series, or just quirky small towns in general. 

I really just loved everything about this!

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! 

The Last Guy on Earth

Happy Tuesday! The Last Guy On Earth is out today, thank you to the author for the ARC.

I loved this! No one does hockey romance like Sarina, and it is always a joy to return to this world. 

This is a second chance romance with some forbidden vibes, between a hockey coach and the player transferred to his team. They played in the minors together years ago and had a burgeoning romance at the time, but their career took them in different directions until they’re suddenly dropped back into each other’s lives.

They had a lot of hurt feelings over the past, and I loved watching them work through those emotions while also trying to maintain a professional front. Both characters were really great, both separately and together. I really enjoyed all the secondary characters, and seeing our old friends from series past.

I just really loved it! 

Truth Or Beard

Happy Tuesday! It’s an exciting day excuse Truth Or Beard by Penny Reid re-releases today. Thank you to the publisher for the special bookmail!

This is such a great start to one of my favorite series! (Or you can take it back a step and read Beauty and the Mustache if you want to know more background!)

This is a story about mistaken identity and long term pining, about a man who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to go after it, about a woman who knows what she wants and it’s not staying in her hometown, living a quiet little life. It’s also, and most importantly for me, a story about family. About coming together, about the importance of letting those you love help you carry you load when things are hard. 

In a world of You Up? texts, the Winston Brothers are old fashioned gentlemen who woo their ladies, who love hard and freely, who aren’t afraid to stand up and do the right thing. The series follows these remarkable bearded brothers as they grieve the loss of their mother, deal with the ramifications of their evil father, face off with a dangerous biker gang, and, of course, fall in love. 

The author’s writing is at once lyrical and sharp, full of prose but also whip smart language that will have you re-reading to take it all in. I have laughed with them, and cried with them, and cheered them on over the years. This is truly one of my favorite fictional worlds, and I’m so so excited to see these characters that have become friends out in the world for all to enjoy!

Wyatt

Wyatt is out today! Thank you to the author for the ARC

This one is for the mutual pining lovers! This is a childhood friends to fake dating to lovers romance between Sally and Wyatt, who we met in Cash. 

I loved this! I’m not always a fan of friends to lovers but I thought this was really really well done. It felt realistic why neither would have made a move before now, and I loved watching their relationship grow and change as they finally did admit feelings. 

I loved both characters separately and together. Sally is driven and ambitious but still has space for her family, friends, and community. She’s a good girl, following the dream her father set out for her, but I loved that she finally stood up for what she wanted and found her own path. 

Wyatt is, on the surface, a bit of a class clown, always flirting and trying to make people laugh. He’s faced some loss in his life that makes him scared to commit, that is until he finally gets a chance with his dream girl Sally. Oh, did I love the way Wyatt loved Sally. He loved her in big ways and small ways and it just filled my heart with so much joy. He’s a man who is not afraid to show emotion, not afraid to make a grand gesture, not afraid to ask for help to win over his girl.

Together their relationship just felt meant to be – these two opposites sure had common ground in each other and I just thought it was a beautiful romance. It’s a romance that actually feels romantic but also has some very dirty (complementary) scenes that had me sweating – it was sweet and spicy in the best way. 

Overall, I just really really loved this addition to the Lucky River Ranch series and can’t wait for Sawyer!

PS I Hate You

PS I Hate You is out now! Thank you to Berkley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an emotional and heartfelt journey between Maddie and her brother’s best friend Dom to spread her brother’s ashes at eight specific locations across the US as designated by her brother in his will. Dom is her nemesis (in her head) so this is extra hard for her, but the two start to form a begrudging friendship which turns to more as they go about carrying out these tasks. 

Though it is emotional and grief heavy at times on this journey, there was also a lot of laughter amongst the tears.

Maddie was a bit immature, but to be fair, she had no good role models growing up and she is actually quite young still. So, it was reasonable she would be a bit bratty at times but it did get a bit tiring. This didn’t make me dislike the book at all, but I do think it stopped it from being as emotional of an experience for me because I just wasn’t feeling sympathetic. 

However, I loved taciturn Dom, the caretaker, the big brother, the serious accountant who carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was so worried about Maddie’s health and safety, even when she was rebuking him at every step.  

This is a single POV, so we only see what Maddie thinks of things but I thought the author did a good job letting us know what Dom was thinking, even Maddie couldn’t understand it. The single POV also made it Maddie’s journey rather than Maddie & Dominic’s, so it felt more like women’s fiction than a romance to me. 

Overall though I thought it was a well written exploration of grief, one I definitely recommend to those who like emotional stories that border on women’s fiction!

Lost and Lassoed

I love this world so much! It’s always lovely to return to Rebel Blue, and I was especially excited to get Gus and Teddy’s story after seeing the animosity and banter between them during the first two books of the series.

This is a single dad/nanny, enemies to lovers, forced proximity romance that I absolutely loved. I’m a sucker for those tropes, but it also could have been really easy for this to feel trite and overdone. Instead, it felt fresh and exciting due to the author’s easy-reading writing and excellent world building.

I really loved Gus and Teddy, separately and together. Gus is the oldest Ryder, a single dad with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Teddy is his younger sister’s feisty best friend and her chaotic vibes don’t mesh well with Gus’s more structured life. 

The two start out with true dislike between them, but the forced proximity of Teddy living with him works its magic and they start to see each other in a different light. I thought the pacing of enemies to lovers felt believable and I really enjoyed watching them fall.

Overall, it was an excellent addition to the Rebel Blue Ranch series and i’m very excited for the fourth book!