Tag: berkley romance

ARC Book Review: The Marriage Method (The Crinoline Academy #2) by Mimi Matthews

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Historical Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Mimi Matthews
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: November 25th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The Academy always comes first . . . which makes marriage to its most formidable adversary an exceedingly inconvenient arrangement.

Well removed from London’s more curious eyes, the Benevolent Academy for the Betterment of Young Ladies strives toward one clandestine to distract, disrupt, and discredit men in power who would seek to harm the advancement of women—by appropriate means, of course.

When intrepid newspaper editor Miles Quincy starts to question the school’s intentions, the Academy appoints Penelope “Nell” Trewlove, one of their brightest graduates, to put this nuisance to rest. An easy enough mission, she supposes. Or it would be, if Miles wasn’t so fascinating—too fascinating to resist—and if Nell’s visit to London didn’t perfectly coincide with the murder of one of Miles’s reporters.

When the inexorable claws of fate trap Nell and Miles in a compromising situation, they agree to an arrangement that will save their reputations while enabling them to investigate the story that led to a man’s death, as well as the surprising chemistry between them.

Thank you to Mimi Matthews and Berkley for the gifted copy and PRH Audio for the audiobook.

MY LATEST OBESSION.

Oh this EASILY is now in my top five favorite book from Mimi Matthews. I was OBESSED from the first chapter. I don’t think anyone does marriage of convenience romances better. I will be unable to think of anything else for the foreseeable future.

Miles. Miles. Miles. I could have highlighted half of this book just listening to him talk. The man was so far gone and all sorts of protective and could not be a step away from Nell and I LOVED IT ALL. And I loved Nell too. I loved seeing her find her strength and inner fire from having to be away from the academy. Miles helped her genuinely blossom and grow and I loved the way they played off of each other.

Matthews also writes some of the best romantic scenes everrrrr. The way emotion and love is conveyed through every moment. It’s heated and sensual and lights my kindle on fire every time.

I loved the suspense elements and mystery. The plot is engaging and balanced just right. It’s a book worth devouring.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: vague fade to black
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content warnings: kidnapping, murder, attempted murder, physical and weapons based altercations, near death experiences

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: A Reign of Rose (The Sacred Stones Trilogy #3) by Kate Golden

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 500 pages
Author: Kate Golden
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: October 8th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From Kate Golden, author of viral phenomenon A Dawn of Onyx, comes the seductive, action-packed conclusion to her sweeping Sacred Stones trilogy.

They must save the world—but can they also save each other?

Kane Ravenwood, King of Onyx Kingdom, would go to the ends of the continent for Arwen Valondale, but what if she’s beyond even that? Broken in ways he never imagined he could be, Kane must find a way to fulfill the prophecy and kill his father, Fae King Lazarus. And after what he’s endured, he’s willing to save Evendell by whatever means necessary—even if that spells his own death.

Little does Kane know, he’s not the only one fighting for revenge. Arwen is no longer afraid to fight—no sacrifice is too great, no enemy too daunting. Now, nothing will stop her from destroying Lazarus and his allies, because she knows if she fails, both realms will be doomed forever.

I’LL TAKE IT.

This is one of those five stars where I could pick at the plot a bit but I was in a good mood and had such an enjoyable time reading this conclusion that I’ll let it slide. I loved how romantic this book is. The romance is the focus and it plays together so well. I love Kane. I love how protective and brooding he is while also showing that soft side to Arwen. It’s really charming and brought the swoon. I enjoyed Arwen’s character too. She had some amazing sentiments I would have loved to have highlighted in a kindle copy because they were very resonating.

The plot took some unexpected turns and I liked watching this story unfold. The audiobook production is great and I appreciate having dual POV. I thought most everything wrapped up well and I felt happy with how it came together. This world was cool to explore and I liked the magic system too. I will definitely be reading whatever Kate Golden writes next.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy Romance
  • Language: moderate – high
  • Romance: multiple open door
  • Violence: high

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: Only and Forever (Bergman Brothers #7) by Chloe Liese

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Chloe Liese
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: April 2nd, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

It’s a room-mance for the books in this tender, steamy story about unexpectedly finding love and being brave enough to let it revise life’s narrative in the final book in the beloved Bergman Brothers series.

Viggo Bergman, hopeless romantic, is thoroughly weary of waiting for his happily ever after. But between opening a romance bookstore, running a romance book club, coaching kids’ soccer, and adopting a household of pets—just maybe, he’s overcommitted himself?—Viggo’s chaotic life has made finding his forever love seem downright improbable.

Enter Tallulah Clarke, chilly cynic with a massive case of writer’s block. Tallulah needs help with her thriller’s romantic subplot. Viggo needs another pair of hands to keep his store afloat. So they agree to swap skills and cohabitate for convenience—his romance expertise to revive her book, her organizational prowess to salvage his store. They hardly get along, and they couldn’t be more different, but who says roommate-coworkers need to be friends?

As they share a home and life, Tallulah and Viggo discover a connection that challenges everything they believe about love, and reveals the plot twist they never saw happily ever after is here already, right under their roof.

IT’S OVER.

I thought that overall, this was a good conclusion to the series. This family is one of my favorites and I love all of their dynamics and the way they take care of each other. There’s such hope and tenderness in the Bergman family that soothe something in my soul every time.

The romance was better for me in the second half. I felt the chemistry was lacking a bit in the start and it took me awhile to love Viggo and Tallulah together. I enjoyed them as separate characters and I wish the lust aspect wasn’t so heavily leaned on. The themes of jumping into scary things and being open to new experiences and relationships was beautifully woven in. I loved the therapy conversations and how Viggo and Tallulah truly found each other.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 4+ open door; moderate innuendo

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

ALC Book Review: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

GoodeyReads1 Comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Emily Henry
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: April 22nd, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping new novel from Emily Henry.

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years–or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century.

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.

One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.

Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication

Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad…depending on who’s telling it.

Thank you to LibroFM for the gifted audiobook.

SO MANY THOUGHTS.

I am kind of all over the place on this one. I did end up enjoying it a lot more than I was expecting (I am a fan of Emily Henry but not a FANNNNN, if you know what I mean).

It did almost lose me in the first half. I am notably not a dual timeline/flashback kind of woman. I love one timeline an every time this went into the past I could feel myself slipping out of the book. I just didn’t feel invested in Margaret’s story. NOW. In the second half, this does finally come together and I am very thankful it did. Things started to click and made sense and I thought it brought the plot to a close beautifully…even if it took too long to get there.

And for the romance! I actually was smitten from the get-go with these two. This is the second book I have recently read that has an instant attraction vibe that I have found works really well??? Who am I? There’s something about the magnetic way EH wrote Alice and Hayden that was insanely dynamic and the perfect banter between a grump x sunshine. There were all of these incredibly soft moments, heated passion, and wanting to shake my book (aka phone) for the audacity. Gosh I love them.

I can absolutely see why this will probably be a more polarizing book for EH readers. It’s not her usual, but I do think it had many hallmark type of things that I have expected in her stories too. Maybe my lower expectations helped this succeed too????

Catch me with everyone else waiting on her next release information.

(and to gauge my feelings from all of her books, my favorites are still PWMOV and BR)

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: multiple open door
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content warnings: loss of loved ones, infidelity (side characters), eating disorders, miscarriage, grief

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph