The Christmas You Found Me

The Christmas You Found Me released today. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC.

Oh wow did I love this. This now ranks up there with my all time favorite Christmas romances, for sure.

This is a marriage of convenience romance between Sienna, a recent divorcee whose friend places a joke Husband Wanted ad to find her a new man, and Guy, a single dad with a chronically ill daughter who responds to the ad in hopes securing work will help him afford his daughter’s life-saving medications.

Sienna was a great character, she’s clinging to her family’s ranch by her fingertips post-divorce and she still has it in her heart to help out this stranger and possibly help save his daughter’s life. She was kind and compassionate and I want to be as nice as her when I grow up.

Guy was also great, a devoted dad willing to do anything to save his daughter in the hellscape that is the US healthcare system. Their romance was both insta-love and a slow burn and a very sweet one at that (by that I mean they both immediately liked each other but it took a while for things to actually develop romantically.)

I loved the forced proximity of them living together in her little cabin. There’s a pervasive sadness to both of their lives due to what they’re going through and I loved that they could bring a little light to each other. I also loved both their relationships with Guy’s daughter.

The tone in this is definitely different from that of the Moose Springs series, which is not a complaint. Those weird delightfully weird romcoms, while this is a straight up contemporary romance with angst and serious tones. I feel like both have hit at the right time to be exactly what I want at that time.

I really think this would be a great Hallmark movie, but specifically the Hallmark Miracles of Christmas variety. Overall I thought this was just a really great romance. It made me cry (a lot!) so I’m giving it five stars!

Ashes of You

Hey! Happy Thursday. Ashes of You is out today. I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this addition to the Lost & Found series! Lawson is officially my favorite Hartley (sorry Roan). I am forever a sucker for the single dad/nanny trope. The forbidden vibes are just the best, along with the close proximity and throw in an age gap and I am a goner!

Lawson is the oldest Hartley sibling, a single father with his hands full not only with his three boys but also as a small town chief of police. He finally agrees to hire a nanny to help out at home, but he didn’t expect his best candidate to be someone he helped rescue years ago.

Hallie has a lot of trauma in her past and is trying to live her life again unafraid, and I loved her relationship with Lawson and how supportive he was, but I also really loved her relationships with his boys. Lawson fights the good fight to ignore his attraction to his much younger nanny, but eventually the close proximity wins (though this is definitely a slow burn!) and the two can’t fight their feelings anymore.

The romance was so well developed and the suspense portion will have you thinking everyone is a suspect! I loved this book, I love this series, I love the Hartley family. I’m so sad it’s over but can’t wait to see what comes next!

I Wish You Were Mine

Happy Thursday! I Wish You Were Mine by Jessica Peterson is out today 🎉 I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is book two in the Harbour Village series but can easily be read as a standalone.

I loved this! It’s got all my favorite things including:

*single dad/nanny

*age gap

*surprise pregnancy

*close proximity

*small town

*all the spice

Maren is hired to be nanny to Tuck’s young daughter, and the two are immediately attracted to each other. I loved how their relationship progressed. Tuck tried not to be a creeper to his much younger nanny but the lust eventually won out. It wasn’t an easy path to HEA for them but I’m always glad when a book discusses mental health issues and therapy.

It was sweet, it was spicy, it was charming, it had a cute kid, and all my favorite tropes! I really enjoyed it.

In A Jam

I love this book. I loved it last year when it was my first read of 2023, and I loved it this year as my first read of 2024. I did it on audio this time around and it was so so so good (Jason Clarke 🥵)⁣
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It’s easily become an all time favorite for me. It has literally everything I love in a romance – small town, marriage of convenience, a grumpy MMC who falls first and hard, pining (my GOD, the PINING). It had me laughing and swooning in equal parts. Even the tagline makes me swoon – “She was the one who got away. She just didn’t know it.”⁣
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My review from last year still holds true – ⁣
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Noah, Daddy Bread Baker for those in the know, is a serious dreamboat. He’s pined for his former neighbor/high school crush for years, so when she shows up back in town to claim an inheritance, he immediately throws out a marriage proposal to help her out – despite the fact that he’s very grumpy she left him behind in the first place. ⁣
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He’s raising his niece all on his own and doesn’t really have time for a marriage, what with single handedly saving his family’s farm, helping out everyone in town, and perfecting his jam recipes but he just can’t help himself. His niece was an absolute hoot- I want to be Gennie when I grow up. Even though he’s grown up physically since high school, he can’t help but blush and panic when Shay gets close, which of course makes him even grumpier.⁣
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Shay is a bit lost, her seemingly perfect life has come crashing down around her and she doesn’t know who she is or what she wants anymore. She was an interesting if not a bit frustrating at times character, but I think I actually understood her more the second time around. It’s so obvious Noah is gone for her, but she just got out of a really long and toxic relationship so immediately jumping into something new can’t be easy.⁣
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The sparks between Shay and Noah were immediate, and though it was a slow burn, when things got physical oh boy did dirty talking Noah have me blushing. I loved how these two balanced each other out.⁣
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I love this book. ⁣

Peaches and Dreams

Happy Thursday!

Today kicks off a new Smartypants launch and starting it off is Peaches and Dreams by Juliette Cross! I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought fall started today which is why I took this autumnal colored picture but it turns out it starts Saturday. Regardless, this is a great fall read!

This was such a sweet (and spicy) small town romance! This is technically book four in the Green Valley Heroes series but could absolutely be read as a standalone, or even just after Parks and Provocation also by Juliette Cross.

Marly, also known as Mad Marly for her wild and sometimes crazy behaviors, meets her match in Wade, a very grumpy rule following single dad(dy bear.) Their opposites attract grumpy/sunshine dynamic was a joy to watch as they balanced each other out.

I loved how supportive and caring Wade was. Such a dad in the best possible way! I also loved how great Marly was with Wade’s son Jake, they had such a cute relationship.

Overall a great low drama read and great addition to this universe!

One Look

I really enjoyed this grumpy/sunshine single dad romance!

It’s a fun, easy reading light hearted story with lots of steam and a quirky small town. I love a grumpy single dad and his relationship with his daughter was just adorable.

I honestly don’t have much else to say about it other than it was a fun read and I enjoyed it! It’s a great summer read, taking place during summer in Michigan along the lake so the setting is perfect.

I hesitated to pick this up, because tbh I didn’t love the first book I read by the author (not the one pictured) and the premise of a professional mourner sounded a little too “quirky” for me, but I’m really glad I read it! The Andrew cover convinced me to give it a try.

I’m looking forward to the rest of this series, the next book is out next week and I’m excited for it.

15 Single Dad Romance Recommendations

Happy Father’s day! In honor of the holiday, here are some of my favorite fictional daddies. I am such a sucker for this trope, especially if you throw in a small town setting and a blue collar profession.

Do you have any favorites? I need all the recommendations.

Ignite – Melanie Harlow

Broken French – Tasha Boyd

One Hot Italian Summer – Karina Halle

Single Dad Seeks Juliet – Max Monroe

In A Jam – Kate Canterbary

The Least Amount of Awful – Jennifer Millikin

There With You – Samantha Young

Flirting With Forever – Claire Kingsley

The New Guy– Sarina Bowen

Heartless – Elsie Silver

The Last One You Loved – LJ Evans

Make Me Yours – Melanie Harlow

Until You – K. Bromberg

Wrong For You – Harloe Rae

One Look – Lena Hendrix

Saving the Single Dad

Saving The Single Dad is book three in the Mount Macon series, which is an age gap nanny/single dad romance.

I was pretty excited for this one (I mean there is a forehead kiss cover and a single dad) but it ended up being my least favorite of the series. The cover is still gorgeous though!

The series so far has been very soap opera-ish in some ways. I don’t mean that in a bad way necessarily, just that the characters are dramatic and the plots can be pretty messy and vice versa. While the first two weren’t exactly new favorites, they were very entertaining and I flew through them and just enjoyed the ride.

This was mostly true for this one as well but I really didn’t like the hero here 😬. He is actively pretty mean to the heroine (though to be fair, the blurb does say he’s bossy and rude, so that’s on me for being surprised when he is). He also made some very questionable parenting decisions and acted less mature than the heroine even though he is a lot older.

The steam is still great and it was still very entertaining like the other two! The heroine was my favorite of the series and I really enjoyed her relationship with the kids.

Melanie Harlow

Flirting With Forever

What a sweet ending to this series! I have thoroughly enjoyed this romcom series about a group of ladies brought together by their love of running and dirty martinis.

This one is an opposites attract/neighbor/single dad romance between Nora, the last single member of the dirty martini running club. Though all her friends have recently fallen in love, Nora isn’t looking for that in her own life. She wouldn’t mind a fling with the hot tattooed single dad next door, though. Dex doesn’t need the complication of a fling, not while he’s raising his impressionable teenage daughter alone, but his attraction to Nora is too much to resist – however, he wants more than a fling.

Nora was a strong,confident, independent woman and I appreciated the way she stood up for what she believed in. I love when the heroine is the commitment-phobe! Dex is a dream – gruff, but with a heart of gold. He’d do anything for his daughter and there’s nothing hotter than that for me. He’s also not afraid to put himself out there and make a grand gesture (swoon.) The chemistry between them was fiery melt-your-kindle hot and I couldn’t tear my eyes away to see how they were going to work out their differences.

I loved Nora and Dex together but even more I loved each of their relationships with Dex’s daughter Riley! The tween years can be rough and we should all have been so lucky as to have Nora Lakes on our side at that time.

This one is perhaps less of a romcom and more of a regular contemporary romance than the others in the series, which is totally fine, just worth mentioning that the tone is a little more serious I think.

Overall a great end to a great series that I’m so sad has come to an end!

Romance Reviewed

reviews from an indie romance fangirl

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