Tag: berkley romance

ARC Book Review: The Truth According to Ember by Danica Nava

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 382 pages
Author: Danica Nava
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: August 6th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A Chickasaw woman who can’t catch a break serves up a little white lie that snowballs into much more in this witty and irresistible rom-com by debut author Danica Nava.

Ember Lee Cardinal has not always been a liar—well, not for anything that counted at least. But her job search is not going well and when her resumé is rejected for the thirty-seventh time, she takes matters into her own hands. She gets “creative” listing her qualifications and answers the ethnicity question on applications with a lie—a half-lie, technically. No one wanted Native American Ember, but white Ember has just landed her dream accounting job on Park Avenue (Oklahoma City, that is). Accountant Ember thrives in corporate life—and her love life seems to be looking up Danuwoa Colson, the IT guy and fellow Native who caught her eye on her first day, seems to actually be interested in her too. Despite her unease over the no-dating policy at work, they start to see each other secretly, which somehow makes it even hotter? But when they’re caught in a compromising position on a work trip, a scheming colleague blackmails Ember, threatening to expose their relationship. As the manipulation continues to grow, so do Ember’s lies. She must make the hard decision to either stay silent or finally tell the truth, which could cost her everything.

Thank you to PRHAudio for the audiobook and Berkley for the gifted book.

SO MANY LIES.

I desperately wanted to love this book, but I could not get past all of the lying. It was rampant, it was over done and I felt like Ember deserved what was coming to her because of it, some I understood, and then it just spiraled. I do think there were a lot of important topics and discussions throughout and I felt like I learned a lot.

I had kind of the same thoughts about the romance. I liked some pieces of it, I thought Danuwoa was sweet and endearing and easily my favorite person in this book. I loved his honest demeanor and the way he cared for Ember.

The audiobook is well done and if you’re interested in trying this book I would easily recommend that format. While everything didn’t come together for me, I would like to read another book by this author. I think the potential is there for future books.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 2-3 open door
  • Content Warnings: racism, racial slurs, cultural appropriation, abandonment, classism

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Book Review: A Promise of Peridot (The Sacred Stone Trilogy #2) by Kate Golden

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Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 481 pages
Author: Kate Golden
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: April 11th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A prophecy of death. A weapon of hope. A sacrifice of love.

Arwen Valondale is sailing for the mysterious Kingdom of Citrine after the battle of Siren’s Bay. Reeling from shocking revelations and her newfound powers, Arwen directs all of her pain and rage toward the man who betrayed her: King Kane Ravenwood.

Kane’s presence is unavoidable as he travels with Arwen and her friends to seek the Blade of the Sun, a legendary weapon inextricably tied to her fate and the future of the realm. Even an uneasy truce proves difficult as Arwen fights against her unresolved feelings for Kane, who is willing to become darkness itself to protect her.

As Arwen faces creatures, foes, and magic beyond her wildest imaginings, she must discover the secrets of her past to defeat the monstrous Fae king Lazarus. But finding the light within might mean the death of her and everyone she loves.

HELD UP.

I have been anticipating this release since I read A Dawn of Onyx when it was an indie book. This did not disappoint! I thought it was a really solid book two. I added a half star back because of the ending, I love a chaotic and wild cliffhanger. All the intense action and me shouting WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

I liked most of how the romance went throughout this. I didn’t understand the necessity of adding a brief love triangle. Besides that, I liked the push and pull between Arwen and Kane. Some good groveling and heated moments between them. And with the ending I think I’m going to love what book three holds for them too.

The plot takes a long time to truly move forward, but there was plenty of action and politicking mixed in with creature clashes. The audiobook was fantastic and I love that I can just enjoy this series.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 2-3 open door
  • Violence: high

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Book Review: The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Kristina Forest
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: February 28th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In this heart-fluttering romance by Kristina Forest, a shy bookworm enlists her charming neighbor to help her score a date, not knowing he’s the obscure author she’s been corresponding with.

Shy, bookish, and admittedly awkward, Lily Greene has always felt inadequate compared to the rest of her accomplished family, who strive for Black excellence. She dreams of becoming an editor of children’s books but has been frustratingly stuck in the nonfiction division for years without a promotion in sight. Lily finds escapism in her correspondences with her favorite fantasy author, and what begins as two lonely people connecting over e-mail turns into a tentative friendship and possibly something else Lily won’t let herself entertain–until he ghosts her.

Months later, still crushed but determined to take charge of her life, Lily seeks a date to her sister’s wedding. And the perfect person to help her is Nick Brown, her charming, attractive new neighbor, whom she feels drawn to for unexplainable reasons. Little does she know that Nick is an author–her favorite fantasy author.

Nick, who has his reasons for using a pen name and for pushing people away, soon realizes that the beautiful, quiet woman from down the hall is the same Lily he fell in love with over e-mail months ago. Unwilling to complicate things even more between them, he agrees to set her up with someone else, though this simple favor between two neighbors is anything but–not when he can’t get her off his mind.

MEH.

This got off to a slow start for me. I usually love epistolary romances but these emails went on a bit long for me and the abrupt ending made my head tilt. When Lily and Nick run into each other again I was hoping to vibe off of their chemistry, and I’m not sure that I ever did.

There’s some cute scenes and it’s a good slow burn. I liked Nick helping Lily find a date and the fun things they went and did together to. Yet Nick, CONTINUALLY kept pushing Lily away and I got CONTINUALLY frustrated that it kept happening for the sake of stretching out the plot.

I did like the meddling sisters and their books are something I’m somewhat interested in giving a go (I’m hopeful we get those stories too!). I loved that Lily worked in publishing and enjoyed seeing her pursuits there and finding the niche she could settle in long term.

Kind of meh for me, but I do see that it could be a hit for others.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Lanugage: some strong
  • Romance: a couple open door; moderate explicit
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: cheating (side character), alcoholism mentioned, car accident mentioned

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ARC Book Review: Happily Never After by Lynn Painter

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 304 pages
Author: Lynn Painter
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: March 12th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Their name? The objectors.

Their job? To break off weddings as hired.

Their dilemma? They might just be in love with each other.

When Sophie Steinbeck finds out just before her nuptials that her fiancé has cheated yet again, she desperately wants to call it off. But because her future father-in-law is her dad’s cutthroat boss, she doesn’t want to be the one to do it. Her savior comes in the form of a professional objector, whose purpose is to show up at weddings and proclaim the words no couple (usually) wants to hear at their ceremony: “I object!”

During anti-wedding festivities that night, Sophie learns more about Max the Objector’s job. It makes perfect sense to her: he saves people from wasting their lives, from hurting each other. He’s a modern-day hero. And Sophie wants in.

The two love cynics start working together, going from wedding to wedding, and Sophie’s having more fun than she’s had in ages. She looks forward to every nerve-racking ceremony saving the lovesick souls of the betrothed masses. As Sophie and Max spend more time together, however, they realize that their physical chemistry is off the charts, leading them to dabble in a little hookup session or two—but it’s totally fine, because they definitely do not have feelings for each other. Love doesn’t exist, after all.

And then everything changes. A groom-to-be hires Sophie to object, but his fiancée is the woman who broke Max’s heart. As Max wrestles with whether he can be a party to his ex’s getting hurt, Sophie grapples with the sudden realization that she may have fallen hard for her partner in crime.

Thank you to Berkley Romance for the eARC.

HILARIOUS.

This book made me LAUGH and I love when that happens. Lynn Painter hands down writes some of the BEST banter and that was still prevalent here. I really loved the chemistry between Max and Sophie. And the shenanigans they found themselves wrapped up in were charming.

I did think this book had a LOT of language (especially for it being only 300 pages). It started to take me out of the story, as did the extra romance scenes towards the end. I would have rather seen more relationship development other than physical because Sophie made me want to shake her a few times.

I love how fast these books are and that they bring joy to my day. I thought the objector idea was hilarious. And I adored Sophie’s roommates. They were the perfect snarky addition. There were a lot of fantastic swoony moments and the kissing scenes were some of my favorite. There was plenty of goodness here and I will keep waiting to hear about Painter’s next book.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: very high
  • Romance: 3+ open door; moderate explicit
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: cheating

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