Romance

Hemlock

I saw a friend post about this book and thought it sounded right up my alley – small town, romantic suspense so I requested it from my library. I’m always looking for more of this type of book!

Told in dual timelines, this is a story about Maggie, a woman with a complicated past who returns to her hometown where old secrets start to resurface. She was once torn between two men who both reappear in her life and she must once again make a decision who she wants to be with. 

She’s purchased a home where mysterious things start to happen (lights flickering, temperatures spiking, etc) and it gets pretty creepy. You’re not sure as the story unfolds if the house is haunted, or if Maggie is losing her mind, or if someone is messing with her. 

I pretty much read this in one sitting because I was dying to know what would happen. It’s a little messy and dramatic at times and I ate it up. I’m not a fan of love triangles in general but I immediately thought there was a clear winner between the guys and I had to read to see if the one I wanted to “win” would end up with her. 

Was some of it a little far-fetched and too coincidental? Sure. But I still couldn’t put it down.I think the author is more of a thriller writer in general but I’ll definitely be keeping my eye out for more romantic suspense from her in the future because I really enjoyed this ride. 

Cash – Jessica Peterson

This is exactly what I want in a cowboy romance!

Give me a grumpy cowboy, a fish out of water city girl, and an enemies to lovers plot where the MMC thinks he was supposed to get the ranch the FMC inherits and now they have to work together side by side by side and I am a happy girl but throw in Jessica Peterson’s signature charm and steam and I am ecstatic. 

Cash was on the surface a stoic, grumpy cowboy, but at heart he was actually quite sweet and very caring for those he loved. He gave up basically everything for his younger brothers after his parents passed away and has devoted his adult life caring for them and Lucky Ranch, so he doesn’t appreciate this city girl coming in after she inherits the property. Also, he has a great mustache and isn’t afraid of being vulnerable and sharing his feelings. 

Mollie was a great character too, she was strong willed and determined but also willing to admit she didn’t know what she was doing. She stepped in and really tried to learn the business and I love how she stood up to Cash with no hesitation. 

The banter between them was excellent and the sparks were intense from the get go, and when they finally give into that chemistry it gets to be melt-your-kindle hot. No location is off limits to these two! I’ve never considered the phrase “mustache ride” hot before but my worldview has been shaken and I’m re-evaluating everything. 

I also loved the setting and side characters. Every small town cowboy romance needs a local dive bar, a close knit group of cowboys, and brothers who interfere with your life choices. I’m so excited to get the rest of these brother’s stories and get more from this world!

I’ve loved every Jessica Peterson book I’ve read and given her combination of southern gentleman (except in the bedroom) mixed with sassy, smart heroines, I feel like she was made to write cowboy romance! 

I just really had a great time reading this! 

Bride – Ali Hazelwood

My goodness did I love this book! I didn’t necessarily think I would but man was I wrong (again.)

It’s a marriage of convenience romance between a werewolf alpha and the vampyre daughter of a councilman. Misery’s best friend has gone missing and the only clue points to her new husband so she agrees to marry to try to find out what happened, while he agrees to the marriage for political reasons. 

Misery has long been neglected by her family unless she can be used to their advantage, and I just loved her. She was alone in enemy territory, doing whatever she could to try to find her bestie and I loved her journey as she navigated that. She was so snarky, so funny, and her walls were up so high in a very believable way with her history. I loved her romance with Lowe but I loved her relationship with Lowe’s little sister even more. They genuinely had me giggling with their interactions.

Lowe was the new alpha to his pack, and did everything he could to keep a distance from his new bride but just couldn’t stay away. He was a great character but the star for me was really Misery.

I loved the angst and longing between these two strangers who meet for the first time at their wedding.The romance is a bit of a slow burn due to Misery’s circumstances but I loved how they eventually built a relationship and it did get good and steamy eventually.

I have a long history with vampire and werewolf romance so I will say parts of it were pretty easy to guess what would happen but the author’s voice felt fresh and it was honestly such a joy to read! I loved it and look forward to more in this world. 

The Spider and the Storm – Kelsey Kingsley

The Spider and the Storm was recommended to me by a friend and I just had to read it because I love a loner hero. I don’t know why, but something about a solitary, isolated man who finds the right partner to finally love, to finally have a person, just melts my cold heart every time. 

Much like Saving Rain, this is also told just from the MMCs POV. Charlie also had a rough childhood but at least he always had his brother. He was an anxious kid, to the extent they had to pull him from school for his mental health and because of bullies, and we follow his story, which is full of tragedy and heartbreak, into adulthood. 

It’s told in dual timelines with the present, where we find Charlie has become a fully isolated adult, living alone in the cemetery where he’s also the caretaker. One day he bumps into the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen, a woman who likes him for him, even if he’s quiet and anxious. He’s also tall, tatted, bearded, and drives a motorcycle so I’m sure that helped. 

Also much like Saving Rain, the romance is the lesser plot but I still really enjoyed it. Charlie and Stormy were pretty much instantly into each other, and I was so glad he finally found someone who loved him in return. 

This one is a whopper of a book (691 pages) but please don’t let that deter you. I binged both Saving Rain and The Spider and the Storm in about two and a half days and was entirely captivated the entire time. I love the extra time we got to really root around in the Spider’s head and honestly could have kept reading.

I really just thought this was a great story, it is angsty and sad but never TOO angsty and sad for me. Just the right amount! I really enjoyed pretty much everything about this book (and Saving Rain) and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. 

*This book can 100% be read as a standalone but if you think you’re going to read both books, I would start with Saving Rain since the characters do overlap and you’ll really appreciate seeing Soldier from Saving Rain here. 

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!) 

Northern Twilight – Samantha Young

Northern Twilight is out today! Thank you the author for the ARC. 

I always love returning to Ardnoch! 

In this we get Lewis and Callie’s story, who we first met in their respective parents’ stories, and now it’s their turn to shine. This is a second chance romance, they were childhood friends to teenage lovers, but wanted different things post school. They reunite briefly and their one night stand results in an accidental pregnancy.

This was very much an “it’s always been you” kind of romance, you just knew these two were meant to be and I loved all the angst and longing this brought. They’ve had seven years apart, and neither managed to quite move on successfully so suddenly being back in each other’s lives is quite an adjustment – at least for Callie.  

Lewis was more all-in, and what’s not to love about a tatted, man bun wearing, motorcycle riding architect who knows what he wants (and has quite a dirty mouth on him!)

I loved how their relationship progressed and that we got flashbacks to where it all went wrong. It was sweet, it was steamy, there was some angst, and we got to revisit some of the other characters from previous books, so I loved it!

The Truth According to Ember – Danica Nava

The Truth According to Ember is out now! Thank you to the publisher for the ARC.

I was very excited to dig into this romcom from Danica Nava – I don’t think I’ve ever seen a traditionally published contemporary romcom from a Native author with two Native main characters. 

Ember is our main character, she’s working at a bowling alley cleaning toilets and serving nachos, desperate to get a job as an accountant but no one wants to hire her.

She makes a few creative adjustments to her resume, which leads to a new career based on a bunch of lies. She starts at her new office and runs into Danuwoa, the IT guy who she’s immediately attracted to but the office has a no-dating policy so the two start off as just friends which turns into more, though she has to keep lying to him to uphold her original lies.

I love that we get a book about Native joy and love. I enjoyed the exploration of microaggressions Native people face in a mostly white workforce, though not pleasant to read, it is so important.   

I’m not always a fan of books where the central plot is based on lies, and there were certainly times where I just wished Ember would be honest. So many of her lies were pointless, but I did understand the desperation that led to the first lie and how it can easily snowball from there. I spent most of the time worrying about when the other shoe would drop and all her lies would be found out (because they always are!)

Overall though it was a cute romcom from a fresh new voice and I love that I got to read a different perspective than I ever h

The Best of All

The Best of All is out today!

I really enjoyed this! This is book two in the series though I think it could totally be read as a standalone. 

This follows Liam and Zoe, who are named co-guardians to their best friends’ daughter Mira after their best friends tragically pass away. Zoe is immediately there for Mira, moving her in and accepting this adorable toddler into her life. Liam struggled a bit more, he never felt he should have a family or children after his own terrible childhood so a lot of the growth in this story is his, to accept love and family into his life. I loved watching his walls eventually fall down, all due to the little girl who melted his heart. 

Liam is a grump, football is his life and he doesn’t need any other distractions, especially living with the woman he’s pined for for a decade. The forced proximity works its magic and the sexual tension between the two of them was intense, though this is a sloooowwwww burn. 

Zoe was an easy character to love, she’s wanted her fairy tale ending ever since she was a kid and though this certainly didn’t follow the traditional path I love that she found her HEA in that broody football player who has secretly had feelings for her for years. 

Much like book one, this is a story of grief alongside the romance, though this one didn’t feel as heavy to me. Both Liam and Zoe (and Mira) were grieving the loss of their best friends but they had Mira to look after which helped keep them afloat. I’ve been looking for a good romance like Life As We Know It and this is the first one I’ve ever read that I thought really worked.

I loved it!

Just My Luck

Happy Monday! Just My Luck is out today, thank you to the author for the ARC. 

There’s not much I love more than a grumpy/sunshine marriage of convenience romance and this one was so good! I think this might be my favorite Lena book yet. 

We know Abel from previous books, he owns the local brewery, and is very grumpy. Sloane is his employee, a sunshiney single mom who overhears that Abel is having trouble securing a business loan to buy out his evil father’s stake in the brewery, so she concocts the perfect plan – they’ll marry so she can get her trust fund early and give him the money he needs in exchange.

The forced proximity of living together worked its magic and the tension between them was so great. Sloane was so upbeat and fun and I loved how grumpy Abel melted for her and her kids. He was so soft for them when he generally didn’t allow softness in his life – due to his heartbreaking past. 

I loved being back in Outtatowner! It was so great seeing both the Sullivans and the Kings and how their overall relationships have changed throughout the series. The subplot that has run through the background of both series continues to grow and I’m dying to see what happens next! Royal’s book is coming and I’ve been waiting not so patiently for him.

Golden Touch

Happy Tuesday! Golden Touch is out today, I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love going back to Vermont! This is book two in the Giltmaker series, which is a spin off of the True North series, but tbh I think you could read this one as a standalone with no problem.

This brings us Livia and Nash’s story, and it was such a fun close-proximity, opposites attract romance. Nash is back in town to keep his father’s brewery afloat while his dad is in the hospital, while Livia is his dad’s right hand woman. They end up bunking together so both can be close to the brewery and while they’ve met before and had a brief flirtation, their second meet cute doesn’t go quite as well and I do love a meet disaster. 

I loved them both. Livia is a total black cat heroine, which is my fave. She’s super competent at her job but doesn’t always make the absolute best choices in her personal life so her walls are up. She’s on the run from a bad ex which brought an element of suspense to the book I wasn’t expecting (but obviously loved.)  Nash was such a fun MMC, he’s so charismatic and flirty.He was very very into Livia and I loved his confidence in trying to win her over. The chemistry between them was so great.

The book overall was pretty lighthearted and funny and I really enjoyed myself while reading it! This is easily one of my favorite fictional worlds and I just loved being back. So so good! 

Side note – I reread Good as Gold in preparation and still really loved it! I did the audio and Jason Clarke is forever my favorite male narrator.