romance – Page 3 – HEA or GTFO

Review – Somebody to Love

I received an e-ARC of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I really hate writing negative reviews. I like squeeing over books and it bums me out when I don’t like something. But I really did not like this book. All of the characters were stupid and mean. That sounds really harsh, but it’s true! The main characters meet when the heroine mistakes the plumber (hero) for her new psychologist, and he realizes her mistake and pretends to be the doctor. She feels like he’s probably full of shit but agrees to another session (I guess because she’s self-hating and curious??) and then continues seeing him for coffee and other activities while still pretending she thinks she’s getting therapy. At first, I thought she mistook him for a prostitute she had hired and that would have been less ridiculous, or at least less offensive. But then she starts spilling her guts to him and I realize she thinks it’s therapy. Maybe it’s my extensive history with mental health care services, but I couldn’t believe someone would pretend to be a therapist. And it’s not a funny meet-cute to me.

The heroine has this cousin/best friend who’s a total monster and makes the heroine feel like shit all the time. Both MCs screw around with other people over the course of the book. The hero’s girlfriend is another mega-bitch crazy woman. It just felt really woman hating. Although the heroine was plus size and mostly happy about it, there was fat-shamey language throughout the book from other characters. Including the hero. The mega-bitches get their comeuppance in the end, but the heroine sinks to their level too much for my liking by publicly humiliating them.

I didn’t get the feeling that this author truly likes romance novels. It felt more like she was trying to subvert tropes and mocking them instead. There were some funny lines though. And the cover is adorable.

Flash Review: Create a Life to Love

CW: This book has some explicit m/f domestic violence.

I received an ARC of Create a Life to Love by Erin Zak from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a sweet f/f romance with an adorable side story of a teenager falling in love as well. The book opens with 16-year-old Beth arriving at the doorstep of her birth mother, Jackie, after tracking her down with a private investigator. Jackie is shocked but agrees to drive Beth home where she meets Susan, Beth’s adoptive mother. Susan is married to Beth’s adoptive father and he is abusive. There is abuse on the page and it was really disturbing. I can imagine it would be very triggering for anyone with this in their history and it was not indicated in the blurb for the book so be warned. Susan takes Beth and leaves her husband. They want to go somewhere he won’t think to look for them and Beth suggests Jackie’s house. While there, Susan becomes more open to her attraction to Jackie and they fall in love. Beth meets some local teens and hits it off with a girl and realizes she’s bisexual. I was not surprised that there was a confrontation with the ex-husband, but it went much smoother than I expected.

Again, this book was really sweet. Jackie and Susan were both likable and I was rooting for them. I give this book 3.5 stars.

Review: 28 Dates

28 Dates by Stacey Lynn was cute and sweet. Caitlin and Jonas are friends with benefits but Jonas wants more. Caitlin is afraid of commitment and breaks it off. They remain friends, sort of. Caitlin’s boss asks her to test his dating app and Jonas joins without her knowing. They get matched and Jonas tries to win her heart via text, while watching her go on 28 dates with random dudes. Eventually Caitlin finds out the dude she likes from the app is Jonas. She’s not pissed that he sort of lied. She’s very wooed. Then HEA, baby. (Actually babies. Nice epilogue. I know a lot of people think baby epilogues are unnecessary. And they are. But I still like them.)

I felt like the book kind of glossed over Caitlin’s issues. She has parental problems and she just kind of magically gets over it after one conversation with her friend. And Jonas dates another girl after Caitlin rejects him at the beginning. He breaks up with the other woman before he starts going after the Heroine again, but I just don’t like any other woman drama.

I give this book 4 Stars. I enjoyed the writing style and the side characters. I will probably track down the other books in this series.

Oh, and I have to say, I freaking hated the cover on the ARC. I don’t know if it will end up being the final cover, but I’m guessing it will because it has the same look as another book in the series. It made me expect a very different book. I was happily surprised that the book didn’t deliver on the promise of the cover.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Reading this Week – June 9

Hardcore by Dakota Gray – m/f, workplace, sort of second chance. This was first person narration from the hero’s point of view, which I feel like is hard to do well. First person of anyone is hard to pull off, but I’m always impressed when the hero’s POV is done well and it was here. He was a dirty dude though. Wow.
Want Me by Neve Wilder – m/m, college. Definitely the most explicit m/m I’ve ever read, but it also had these moments of true sweetness from the two alpha bros who fell in love. Typically, I don’t love an alpha bro, much less two, but seeing these guys come together was lovely. So.Much.Sex. though. So if you’re looking for lots of plot and dialog, probably want to skip this one. I loved it though. I’ve already read it two more times.
Dedicated by Neve Wilder – m/m, workplace, friends to lovers – Another sweet one from this author. This one had more conflict and less sexytimes, but it was still really good.
Knight’s Fire by SJ Himes – m/m, paranormal, DRAGONS! I fucking love dragons. I don’t know why, but I do. This mythology was a little different. Rather than a human/dragon shifter, the dragon was a true shape shifter and could assume any shape. He preferred to assume the human shape so he could get it on with the knight. I’m looking forward to the next in the series, about their wedding and resolving the Big Bad.
Jericho Candelario’s Gay Debut by R. Cooper – m/m, friends to lovers, virgin hero – This was the sweetest, most precious (in the best sense of the word) love story. Jerry is my favorite. And I loved Lincoln’s dad bod.

Reread this week:

Band Sinister by KJ Charles – My #1 go-to comfort read. And fitting my theme of only reading LGBT books the rest of this month for Pride.

Flash Review: The Highlander’s Improper Wife

This was a light, fun, m/f read. Very steamy, even though the author used some of my least favorite euphemisms for sexy things. The resolution of the big misunderstanding was anticlimactic, and I wish there had been more character development. I liked the hero, but I really wanted to know more about him. I also liked that the focus was on the couple, although there was a side story. It just wasn’t very fleshed out, which might annoy some people. I give it 3.5 stars but rounded down to a 3 for excessive use of the word “cream”.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Teach Me

I received an e-ARC of Teach Me by Olivia Dade from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Teach Me is a fantastic m/f that falls under “seasoned romance” because the hero and heroine are in their 40’s.

Rose is a teacher with a twenty years of experience at her school, and Martin is a new teacher who is brought in and assigned to her favorite class to teach. Martin is immediately drawn to Rose, but he grows on her slowly. She makes the first move and he turns her down due to insecurities, not lack of interest. Then he realizes what a dumb move that was and goes about trying to thaw her out. They both work on their insecurities. They let each other in. They find happily ever after.

What I loved about this book was the ease and gentleness of it. There was no dramatic gestures or big romantic overtures or aggressive pursuit, just a grown ass man respecting and listening to a grown ass woman. Blurbs bill it as an ice queen and a cinnamon roll and that’s accurate. But he’s not a sickly sweet cinnamon roll covered in too much icing. He’s iced just right. I loved the writing from his perspective when he realized he loved her. I would quote it but I don’t want to spoil it.

I give this book 4.5 stars and I highly recommend it. They both accepted each other and appreciated each other for being exactly themselves. I think that’s my biggest romance catnip — respect and acceptance and seeing someone for who they really are.

Reading this Week – May 27

The Learning Hours by Sara Ney (m/f, college) – I don’t usually like stories about douchey college students, but in this one, the girl was the douchebag and the guy was a sweetheart. It was a nice change. And I always enjoy Sara Ney’s writing.
American Fairytale by Adriana Herrera (m/m, billionaire) – Second in the series and I love it! Camilo and Tom are the cutest and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. I will probably have to buy this book in paperback as well for my keeper shelf. It’s sooooo good. Squee!
Create a Life to Love by Erin Zak (f/f, cw: domestic violence) – I have a full review of this one coming up soon.
The Major’s Welcome Home by Tessa Bailey (m/f, virgin hero) – I love a contemporary virgin, especially the hero. And Tessa Bailey writes steam and dirty talk so well. This one was fun. And it’s on Kindle Unlimited!
A Slice of Honeybear Pie by Jacqueline Sweet and Eva Wilder (m/f, paranormal bear shifters, plus size heroine) – I heard about this sweet series through #RomBkLove and it is fun! And it’s on Kindle Unlimited.
A Taste of Honeybear Wine by Jacqueline Sweet and Eva Wilder (m/f, paranormal bear shifters, plus size heroine) – Second in the series. Another cute one.
Thirsty by Mia Hopkins (m/f, contemporary) – This is the first in a series and I have an ARC of the second one so I wanted to read this first. I don’t usually go for gang stories, or mob or motorcycle club or any other organized group devoted to nefarious purposes, but I’m so glad I read this. It’s a sweet, very sexy story about a man trying to change his life and he falls in love with a good woman who encourages him to be his best self. But she doesn’t take any shit either. Great book.
Wrapped: A FIT adjacent Christmas Novella by Rebekah Weatherspoon (m/f, plus size heroine, ginger hero) – This story was catnip on catnip. So much fun. I loved it.
The First Sinners Club by Kate Pearce (m/f, historical, erotic) – This novella was enjoyable.

Flash Review: Just Past Two

I received an e-ARC of Just Past Two by Elia Winters from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read the first book in this series and enjoyed the story of three people falling in love with each other. This book is more of a married couple becoming an open relationship couple. It gave me mixed feelings, and at the end of the day, I probably will avoid books about this type of relationship because I prefer commitment and exclusivity in my happily ever afters.

However, I think the author did a great job of exploring the emotions and feelings around going into an open marriage. And the married couple very obviously love each other. There’s a lot of sexytimes in this book and they were well written. If you are into poly-romance, you will probably really like this book. It’s just not my thing.

I give it three stars because I can tell it’s a good story, but it just wasn’t the book for me.

Reading this Week – May 19

Playing with Fire by RJ Blain – m/f, urban fantasy. This was a bananapants crazy world with shifters and gorgons and phoenixes and angels and succubi and basically every paranormal creature I’ve ever heard of. The romance was very low heat so that was my only complaint. The banter between the main characters was funny and I laughed out loud at least once.
Teach Me by Olivia Dade – m/f, workplace romance. I’ve got a full review of this one coming next week.
Launch the Hunt by Mia West – m/m, shifter. This was a fun read. An eagle shifter who can turn humans into shifters with his magical sperm.
Surrender the Chase by Mia West – m/m, shifter, age gap, second in this series. This one was two wolf shifters. It was good too. Also the first romance I’ve read where one of the heros had a less than perfect body. Dadbod for the win!
Embrace the Beast by Mia West – m/m, shifter, more dadbod! This friends to lovers was another fun read.
Smitten by the Brit by Melonie Johnson – m/f, sweet, funny romance. I’ve got a full review of this one coming soon.
So Sweet, So Right, So For Real by Rebekah Weatherspoon – m/f, series of novellas, age gap. I love this author and I loved this series. Kayla is a great heroine.
Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure by Courtney Milan – f/f, seasoned romance. This one took me a long time to finish. I just never got into it. But it was really well written and I wanted to like it more than I did. Which is usually how I feel about this author’s books. I can see she’s good at what she’s doing and I enjoy it, but the magic isn’t there for me.
The Principle of Desire by Delphine Dryden – m/f, dadbod, bdsm. I will forever sing the praises of dadbod in romance! We get heroines with less than perfect bodies, why not heros too!

Reading this Week – May 12

Sinner by Sierra Simone – m/f, fake relationship, age gap. I didn’t like this as much as I wanted to.
Just Past Two by Elia Winters – m/f, open marriage. I’ve got a flash review on this one coming closer to release date.
Raze by Roan Parrish – m/m, age gap, so sweet. I’ve got a full review of this one coming closer to release date.
Feels Like Summer by Six de los Reyes – m/f, cute story.
Alpha Awakened by Piper Scott – more m/m, dragon, mpreg craziness. I can’t resist.
Alpha Ablaze by Piper Scott – m/m, dragon, mpreg, second in this series. This was probably my favorite of the four.
Alpha Deceived by Piper Scott -m/m, dragon, mpreg, third of the series. unexpected omega.
Alpha Victorious by Piper Scott – m/m, dragon, mpreg, age gap. I probably would have abandoned this one if I hadn’t been curious about what happened with the bad guy. I don’t like it when the hero is called “daddy.”
My Lady’s Choosing by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris -m/f and f/f. Choose your own adventure meets romance. This was such a fun book! It took me back to reading those choose your own adventure books, which I loved. All the HEAs were satisfying.