Book Review: A Class of Her Own (The Thornback Society #2) by Aspen Hadley

June 3, 2024May 3, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 216 pages
Author: Aspen Hadley
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: December 1st, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Meredith Atwood has been described as a lot of things.

Her friends call her determined, strong, and dedicated. Her enemies, well, their words are a little less flattering. But, Meredith doesn’t have time to worry about appearances, especially not when she finds herself locked in a life or death battle with her new HOA president – a man, incidentally, who didn’t even want the job that should have been hers.

Brooks VanOrman doesn’t have a lot of time or interest in fighting battles. However, when he finds himself unwittingly in the position of HOA president, he realizes he’s going to have to start caring, and soon. To complicate matters, his neighbor – the feisty, dark-haired woman of his nightmares – refuses to follow the rules and he’s the one called in to enforce them.

It’s an instant clash of wills.

Only the more Brooks gets to know Meredith, the more he realizes that there’s a lot more to the fierce warrior than meets the eye.

A Class of Her Own is a closed-door, kissing only, sweet and clean romance with all the swoon but no explicit content.

TEARS.

Uh, this made me tear up a whole bunch at the end so I gave it five stars and this is how my logic works.

I loved this story. I will say it did lean a little more women’s fiction than I was expecting when I picked it up but there was a lot of goodness in that side of the storytelling. I loved Meredith. I could relate to her on multiple facets. I think that’s what really got me. I understood her need for control and rules and some kind of a map to feel secure.

Enter in Brooks. This man is superior. I could not get enough of the way he handled everything. There was so much respect and caring for Meredith’s feelings while also voicing his own. I like that he didn’t hold back, and still gave space when needed. I loved watching this relationship come together and would have loved having even more romance throughout.

The friend group is great, the holiday antics were fun and it’s a pretty quick book to fly through. I can’t wait to read the next story.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: none
Romance: kisses
Violence: low
Trigger/Content Warnings: mentions of loss of a mother, an absentee father

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Book Review: Back to Class (The Thornback Society #3) by Aspen Hadley

September 10, 2023June 21, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 334 pages
Author: Aspen Hadley
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: June 1st, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Aryn Murphy loves her family and friends, sports, and teaching school. What she doesn’t love is all the wrong attention she receives from men who don’t know the first thing about her.

When her childhood friend Wesley moves to town and lands a job working at the same school where she teaches, she has the perfect idea – he can be the decoy that keeps all the men away while she focuses on her otherwise perfect life. After all, Wesley has always been someone she’s felt safe with.

Wesley Baker harbored a secret crush on Aryn in high school, and when he arrives at his new job to find Aryn there too, that crush comes raging back. Now she wants him to play the part of doting boyfriend by night, and forgotten coworker by day.

But he had enough of playing pretend all those years ago. This time, he’s looking to play a different game – one with high stakes, and the potential to make them both winners.

Back To Class is a kissing only, sweet and clean romcom, with all the swoon but no explicit content.

LOOOOVED.

First and foremost I have to talk about one of my favorite aspects of Aspen Hadley’s writing and the way she crafts a character. I love that we can see the flaws of her FMC’s. Aryn has things she needs to work on and issues that are weighing her down. And what I appreciate most is that when the conflict comes up in the end it doesn’t turn into miscommunication. It turns into an argument and talking and communicating needs and wants. Compromise and speaking with respect. IT IS MY FAVORITE. I love these kind of conversations and they make my heart absolutely melt.

I looooved the opposites attract, reverse jock/nerd tropes. They worked so well. I just adore Aryn and Wesley. The chemistry was continually flying and all of those little moments really added up to a wonderful romance. I love all of the friendships and family and traveling that happened. The volleyball games were fun and this book was a delight to read.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: none
Romance: kisses

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Book Review: Class Act (The Thornback Society #1) by Aspen Hadley

July 17, 2023August 2, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 288 pages
Author: Aspen Hadley
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: July 18th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

It started out innocently enough . . .

Hailey Thomas is perfectly content living a quiet life as a second-grade teacher. She’s definitely not looking for a husband. But when one of her students can’t stop bragging about her single dad, she decides to do some sleuthing and what she finds turns her into a part-time internet stalker, complete with daydreams she can never admit to.

When the object of her research shows up at her school and accuses her of scheming with his eight year-old daughter, she vows to put an end to all of it and avoid him at all costs. Ford Whittaker may be a wealthy businessman and ridiculously handsome single dad, but he’s definitely not the man she’d imaged he was.

Only, avoiding Ford is becoming impossible thanks to her honorary uncle, her four best friends, and the daughter that actually is a schemer. Every week it’s something new, and the more they get thrown together, the more Hailey wonders if maybe she’d been a little bit lonelier than she realized.

And maybe Ford was too.

Class Act is a closed-door, sweet and swoony romance, with all the sizzle and no explicit content.

SWOONY.

I looooove a good swoony love interest and Ford hit all of those marks for me. I could not get enough of every single time he and Hailey were forced together (because forced proximity is one of the best tropes out there). There was fantastic relationship development. And the best part? NO THIRD ACT BREAK-UP. We’re all adult here folks.

My one eh thing is that I basically skipped over any of the (too long) scenes of Hailey talking to her friends. It was setting up for the future books and I think when that is written more subtly it comes across better. This was a bit much and made things drag out too long.

I adored Ford’s kids too. They were a nice charming touch. This book had me smiling and chuckling at some of the scenes and I always adore a book that can bring out those kind of feel good emotions. I look forward to more stories!

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: none
Romance: make-outs
Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a spouse (off page, but recounted)

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Book Review: Simply Starstruck by Aspen Hadley

October 11, 2021February 15, 2021 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 256 pages
Author: Aspen Hadley
Publisher: Sweetwater Books
Release Date: November 13th, 2018
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Kate Evans never imagined she’d be a young widow and single mom, staying in her aunt’s guest cottage. She also never imagined she’d live next door to Jess Sullivan, an actual movie star. Struggling to put herself back together, Kate gets swept up in a whirlwind of dating, but can she keep ignoring what her heart really wants?

KINDA STARSTRUCK.

This book was neither here nor there. It’s a very positive three stars and I’m not upset I read it. There were just some pieces that missed the mark and caused me to lower my rating.

I liked Kate as the main character. She was witty and had a pretty funny inner monologue. What bothered me was how long some of her growth took until the very very end of the book. It was drawn out wayyy too much. Kate flounced around dating a bunch of different men (which was fine initially, but didn’t need to take up 75% of the book). So instead of feeling like this book was about her and Jess, it became an odd episode of a dating game.

I loved Jess. Really really did. Anytime he was on screen I was excited. Jess and Kate bantered well and had some tender moments that made me want to swoon. This was the best part of the book and I wish there was a whole bunch more. Jess and Kate were a great match and I loved how Kate’s son was apart of everything too.

Overall audience notes: