Tag: atria books

Book Review: The American Roommate Experiment (Spanish Love Deception #2) by Elena Armas

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 400 pages
Author: Elena Armas
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: September 6th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From the author of the Goodreads Choice Award winner The Spanish Love Deception, the eagerly anticipated follow-up featuring Rosie Graham and Lucas Martín, who are forced to share a New York apartment.

Rosie Graham has a problem. A few, actually. She just quit her well paid job to focus on her secret career as a romance writer. She hasn’t told her family and now has terrible writer’s block. Then, the ceiling of her New York apartment literally crumbles on her. Luckily she has her best friend Lina’s spare key while she’s out of town. But Rosie doesn’t know that Lina has already lent her apartment to her cousin Lucas, who Rosie has been stalking—for lack of a better word—on Instagram for the last few months. Lucas seems intent on coming to her rescue like a Spanish knight in shining armor. Only this one strolls around the place in a towel, has a distracting grin, and an irresistible accent. Oh, and he cooks.

Lucas offers to let Rosie stay with him, at least until she can find some affordable temporary housing. And then he proposes an outrageous experiment to bring back her literary muse and meet her deadline: He’ll take her on a series of experimental dates meant to jump-start her romantic inspiration. Rosie has nothing to lose. Her silly, online crush is totally under control—but Lucas’s time in New York has an expiration date, and six weeks may not be enough, for either her or her deadline.

SHE DID IT AGAIN.

I loved this y’all!!! Now, it didn’t top my obsession with The Spanish Love Deception, BUT this grew on me in a different way.

This was so dang soft. It’s low angst with lots of heart. I adored Lucas and Rosie. I felt like I connected with both of them about different things and it really sang to my heart as they found love with each other. It was pretty slow for the first half and you have to hang in there, but the foundation is being laid for all of the swoon!

I love a great romance where I’m sitting there reading it and all of a sudden realize how attached I am to everything that’s happening. Yes, this is a little bit on the cheesy side but it WORKS. The grand gesture(s) and fake dates, the chases through airports and more. It has the love story movie-esque vibe that worked well for me.

The surrounding plot was steady and I liked that it gave a chance for both Lucas and Rosie to evolve and exhibit there own personal character growth. This is why I love dual POV romance books!!! I have a super soft spot for Lucas and gosh dang he just MELTED MY HEART.

Bring on whatever Elena Armas is giving us next because I can’t wait.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: multiple open door; med-high explicit
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: Parent abandonment mentioned (off page), PTSD and trauma, panic attacks, nightmares

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Book Review: Head Over Heels by Hannah Orenstein

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Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Fiction + Romance
Length: 323 pages
Author: Hannah Orenstein
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: June 23rd, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The past seven years have been hard on Avery Abrams: After training her entire life to make the Olympic gymnastics team, a disastrous performance ended her athletic career for good. Her best friend and teammate, Jasmine, went on to become an Olympic champion, then committed the ultimate betrayal by marrying their emotionally abusive coach, Dimitri.

Now, reeling from a breakup with her football star boyfriend, Avery returns to her Massachusetts hometown, where new coach Ryan asks her to help him train a promising young gymnast with Olympic aspirations. Despite her misgivings and worries about the memories it will evoke, Avery agrees. Back in the gym, she’s surprised to find sparks flying with Ryan. But when a shocking scandal in the gymnastics world breaks, it has shattering effects not only for the sport but also for Avery and her old friend Jasmine. 

NOT WHAT I WAS EXPECTING.

The cute rom-com cover hides the fact that this a lot closer to women’s fiction (nothing against the genre, just now what I was expecting upon picking it up). When I was looking for a contemporary romance I found a bit more and it ended up being alright.

I really loved all of the gymnastics aspects. I think coming off of watching the Olympics recently really had me stoked for a book along the same lines. I liked learning more about training aspects, coaching and other pieces. From that world it dove deeper into the abuse and mistreatment of gymnastic athletes. That took over a good portion of the plot and didn’t always connect back to the main characters.

That lack of connection made the scenes where Avery and Ryan were together not mesh well. They didn’t have great chemistry, just kind of started dating, then not, then dating, then not. And it was wishy-washy nonsense for most of the book.

While it brought awareness to many important topics the addition of the romance actually didn’t fit in. I think it should have leaned one way or the other more and would have been a more solid story.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Fiction + Romance
  • Language: a little strong
  • Romance: kisses to little detailed open scene
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: sexual abuse, emotional abuse, bullying

Book Review: Until it Fades by K.A. Tucker

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: K.A. Tucker
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: June 27th, 2017
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Twenty-four-year-old truck stop waitress and single mother Catherine Wright has simple goals: to give her five-year-old daughter a happy life and to never again be the talk of the town in Balsam, Pennsylvania: population two thousand outside of tourist season.

And then one foggy night, on a lonely road back from another failed attempt at a relationship, Catherine saves a man’s life. It isn’t until after the police have arrived that Catherine realizes exactly who it is she has saved: Brett Madden, hockey icon and media darling.

Catherine has already had her fifteen minutes of fame and the last thing she wants is to have her past dragged back into the spotlight, only this time on a national stage. So she hides her identity. It works.

For a time.

But when she finds the man she saved standing on her doorstep, desperate to thank her, all that changes. What begins as an immediate friendship quickly turns into something neither of them expected. Something that Catherine isn’t sure she can handle; something that Catherine is afraid to trust.

Because how long can an extraordinary man like Brett be interested in an ordinary woman like Catherine…before the spark fades?

SUCKER FOR TUCKER.

Okay, can this be my new tagline for K.A. Tucker books? It just came to me as I sat down to write this and I think it’s such an apt description for how I feel about her books. ‘Cause I love ’em.

This was a backlist title for me that I picked up (thank you library!) on a whim. I was feeling a contemporary romance, I got a contemporary romance. I liked how unique the overall setting and characters were to books I’ve read before. This one features a single mom and a hot hockey player. Yup, haven’t read that combination before. Looooooved it.

There’s a lot of heaviness that surrounds this book. Catherine knows she’s made mistakes and has held on to that guilt and fear for so long. Taking care of her daughter, Brenna, becomes the only focus. After saving Brett from a car wreck they’re thrown together as the news of just how famous he is comes to light.

Y’all. I adored Brett. SO STINKIN’ MUCH. He was charming, kind, and full of real, raw emotions as he had to cope with his injuries. Catherine is a brave, soft, and heartfelt mom. Add them together and the chemistry was flying. I thought they worked great together. And I love how accepting they were of each other. Even as Catherine’s past came out, Brett never wavered and left the past, in the past.

I love how there was a big focus on rekindling relationships too. Catherine slowly worked with her family to be connected again and started to realize how much they were truly there for her. A lot of redemption and grace was given from everyone throughout this book.

The touch of mystery that I didn’t even know was happening until it all came out was a good touch too. I just loved the entire flow of the plot. I would usually find quicker love stories harder to love. This worked on so many levels I could not be bothered to put this down. I ignored my other reads because I needed this happy ending. It was a blissfully beautiful book and I’m forever a Tucker fan.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: kisses; heated make-outs; a few detailed almost scenes, a full detailed scene
  • Violence: details of a car wreck (resulting in someone dying)
  • Trigger warnings: a teacher having an inappropriate relationship with a student (brought up and discussed throughout the book; detailed back story)

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