ARC Book Review: Rebel Summer (Falling for Summer) by Cindy Steel

July 31, 2024July 23, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 364 pages
Author: Cindy Steel
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: July 31st, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Every good summer has a little bad…

I wasn’t supposed to be in Sunset Harbor for more than a weekend. But thanks to, let’s just call it—an unforeseen act of stupidity on my part—I’m here for the whole summer. And for the first time in my life, I’m in a whole lot of trouble.

The sentence? Community service paid toward the person I accidentally wronged.

The problem? That person happens to be Dax Miller. The guy who always spent more time fighting the law than obeying it. He’s also the guy I once told to have a nice life amounting to nothing.

So…it’s been fun being court-ordered to serve him now.

Except the more time I spend with Dax fighting and fixing what was broken, the more I remember that sizzling…something…that’s always been between us. Or that smile of his that can get me to do just about anything. Let me be clear, with a politician for a father, I don’t do trouble. But what happens when the temptation to embrace that inner rebel becomes too strong to resist?

And what do I do when the guy who has only dated trouble his entire life, has his sights set on me?

Thank you to the author for an eARC.

*INCOHERENT SCREECHING*

I wish y’all could have seen me read this book. I truly had a giddy little grin on my face the entire time (sorry to those who watched me reading at the gym). BUT IT WAS TOO GOOD NOT TO ENJOY WITH MY WHOLE HEART. Cindy Steel is one of my favorites and she delivered another swoony romance again.

There were many key moments in here that will make you squeal. I loved the immediate banter and chemistry between Dax and Ivy. They are EVERYTHING. The tension filled push and pull will bring you to your KNEES. Every single interaction felt tangible. I melted at each kissing scene and I loved how they brought out another side in each other. You can see the growth from their separation Dax and Ivy have had a for a few years and I loved the slow dismantling of their walls and seeing all the love that was between them.

This was the perfect adult summer romance book. I can’t beg y’all enough to pick it up. It is swoony and heated (kisses only!), has this perfectly tuned nostalgic quality and gosh dang DAX Y’ALL. I am not over this man. I’m just not over this book. The soft and tender moments combined with the fun and joy of falling in love squeezed my heart. A new all time favorite.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: none
Romance: kisses

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Book Review: Play Along (Windy City #4) by Liz Tomforde

July 31, 2024July 12, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Sports Romance
Length: 385 pages
Author: Liz Tomforde
Publisher: Golden Boy Publishing
Release Date: July 11th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Kennedy

I’m the only woman on staff for the Windy City Warriors, and after years of putting up with a sexist lead doctor, I’m desperate to land my dream job with a new team next year. All I have to do is maintain my professional reputation for my final season in Chicago.

But a Las Vegas run-in with the team’s shortstop threatens it all, leaving me with a fuzzy memory and a ring on my left hand.

Now, not only am I legally bound to the most persistent man I’ve ever met, but thanks to Isaiah’s scheme to save my job, I have to pretend the whole thing was a planned elopement and not a drunken mistake.

Isaiah Rhodes is reckless, impulsive, and frustratingly charming. He’s also my brand-new husband.

They got the saying wrong. What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas… sometimes it follows you right back home.

Isaiah

As the shortstop for Chicago’s professional baseball team, I’ve had my fair share of fun. But that all ended the day Kennedy Kay became a single woman.

I’ve crushed on the team’s athletic trainer for years. I’ve flirted to no avail, so imagine my surprise when I woke up in Sin City with a ring on my finger and my favorite redhead in my bed.

We agree to stay married for one baseball season, just long enough to keep her job safe, but in my mind, I’m using our time together to prove to her I’m husband material.

Kennedy might be reluctant to join in on our game, but it’s one I refuse to lose.

So come on, wife… play along.

KNEW IT.

I had a feeling from the get go this was going to be a winner for me. I LOVE books where the man is absolutely gone for her and Isaiah Rhodes DELIVERED. I have not recovered. I think The Right Move is still my top, top favorite, but this absolutely competes. I have been waiting for this story after the perfectly drawn out tension.

This marriage of convenience had me in a chokehold. I loved Kennedy!! She was fierce and capable and I just wanted her to feel the love that was surrounding her after being in a deficit for so long. The slow build for her and the character growth she showed was top tier. I loved her journey.

AND ISAIAH? Y’all can already tell I’m obsessed. I loved getting his POV and seeing the deeper workings of his thoughts and decision making processes. He’s a hopeless romantic with a huge heart who just wanted someone to want him. And that hits on a whole other level.

I loved the baseball content, the found family, the soft and sweet and the hard and fast. There’s not one moment I wasn’t glued to my kindle trying to read this.

Overall audience notes:

Sports Romance
Language: moderate-high
Romance: 4+ open door
Violence: low
Content Warnings: loss of a mother recounted, anxiety attacks (brought on by thunderstorms), misogyny and sexism in the workplace

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Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: July 2024

July 31, 2024July 29, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

IT’S HOT OUT THERE. And I am back on to having zero two stars for the month! BLESS.

Favorites this month:

Summer Romance
Reckless
Winning Winnie’s Hand
The Offer
Colton Gentry’s Third Act
Lady of Conscience
The Spy Coast
Play Along
Until Next Summer
Past Present Future
The Summer of Yes
Rebel Summer
Love the Way You Lie
Love How You Love Me
The Ex Vows
House of Thorns

The Curse of Sins (The Curse of Saints #2) by Kate Dramisis
Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan
[ARC] Illusion of Stars by Sarah Marie Page
Redemption (Infinity Blade #2) by Brandon Sanderson
Beautifully Broken Spirit (Sutter Lake #3) by Catherine Cowles
Reckless (The Powerless Trilogy #2) by Lauren Roberts
Winning Winnie’s Hand (Men of the Isles #1) by Deborah M. Hathaway
[ARC] The Offer (Scoops #3) by K. Sinko
Colton Gentry’s Third Act by Jeff Zentner
[ARC] Lady of Conscience (Somerset Stories #5) by Mimi Matthews
The Spy Coast (The Martini Club #1) by Tess Gerritsen
[ARC] Gilded Wicked Mirrors (Wicked Mirrors #1) by Hazel St. Lewis
[ARC] Iron Rose by Abigail O’Bryan
[ALC] The Break-Up Pact by Emma Lord
Summer Tease (Falling for Summer) by Martha Keyes
A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston
Play Along (Windy City #4) by Liz Tomforde
Until Next Summer by Ali Brady
Past Present Future (Rowan and Neil #2) by Rachel Lynn Solomon
The Rose in the Shadows (House of Hyrax #1) by Arcadia Rayne
The Summer of Yes by Courtney Walsh
[ARC] The Breaker of Stars (The Curse of Ophelia #3.5) by Nicole Platania
[ALC] A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
[ARC] The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava
The Backtrack by Erin La Rosa
[ARC] Ash & Feather (Flame & Sparrow #2) by S.M. Gaither
[ARC] Rebel Summer (Falling for Summer) by Cindy Steel
The Hanging City by Charlie N. Holmberg
Outshine (House of Oak #5) by Nichole Van
Love the Way You Lie (Boys of Riverside #1) by Gracie Graham
Love How You Love Me (Boys of Riverside #2) by Gracie Graham
The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce
The Hollywood Assisant by May Cobb
[ARC] House of Thorns by Isabel Strychacz
[ARC] The Monstrous Kind by Lydia Gregovic
Poison in Their Hearts (Castles in Their Bones #3) by Laura Sebastian
Asking for a Friend by Kara H.L. Chen
One Happy Summer (Falling for Summer) by Becky Monson
Sleep Like Death by Kalynn Bayron
The Viscount and the Vicar’s Daughter by Mimi Matthews

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ARC Book Review: Lady of Conscience (Somerset Stories #5) by Mimi Matthews

July 30, 2024July 7, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Historical Romance
Length: 230 pages
Author: Mimi Matthews
Publisher: Perfectly Proper Press
Release Date: July 30th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A Victorian bluestocking with a passion for lost causes attracts the unwilling attention of a frost-hearted viscount during her tumultuous debut season in Bath in USA Today bestselling author Mimi Matthews’s fifth book in her acclaimed Somerset Stories series.

West Country beauty Hannah Heywood may be quiet with fashionable strangers, but when it comes to animals in need, she has no trouble finding her voice. Newly arrived in Bath for her very first season, all she desires is to find one like-minded gentleman. A man of warmth and compassion, as sensitive to animals as he is to people. But if such a man exists, he dare not approach her. Not with the tall, blond, and menacing Viscount St. Clare standing in the way.

James Beresford, Viscount St. Clare has often been described as a sentient block of ice. A man so cold and dispassionate, he would never suit a young lady of Hannah’s disposition. And she would certainly never suit him. Focused on repairing his family’s infamous reputation, James requires a diamond of the first water. The daughter of a duke or a marquess, at least, not a simple country girl with a passion for four-legged creatures.

And yet, there’s something about conscience-driven young Hannah that draws James, first to Bath, and then into one increasingly hare-brained scheme after another. She confounds him at every turn, subverting his expectations and threatening to do what no lady has succeeded in doing before—thawing his ice-cold heart.

Thank you to the author for an eARC.

OH SO SWEET.

This was a short book that packed such a sweet punch. I loved Hannah and James’ love story!! It had a Pride and Prejudice vibe that I was smitten with and I loved seeing James grow over the book and he realized how blinded he’d been holding too much control in his life. James letting himself loosen was EVERYTHING. He’s easily one of my favorites.

I adored Hannah and how strong she felt in her convictions. I loved that she didn’t settle and waited for that love match she wanted. It was wonderful seeing a more shy character too and how that played into the plot. There’s a lot of cute animals and allllll the family member sightings you could want. Another fantastic read from Mimi Matthews!

Overall audience notes: