Tag: berkley romance

ARC Book Review: The Love Wager (Mr. Wrong Number #2) by Lynn Painter

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 320 pages
Author: Lynn Painter
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: March 14th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Two people make a wager on who can find love first, not realizing what they should be betting on is each other, in this new romantic comedy by Lynn Painter, author of Mr. Wrong Number.

Hallie Piper is turning over a new leaf. After belly-crawling out of a hotel room (hello, rock bottom), she decides it’s time to become a full-on adult. She gets a new apartment, a new haircut, and a new wardrobe, but when she logs onto the dating app that she has determined will find her new love, she sees none other than Jack, the guy whose room she snuck out of.

After the joint agreement that they are absolutely not interested in each other, Jack and Hallie become partners in their respective searches for The One. They text each other about their dates, often scheduling them at the same restaurant so that if things don’t go well, the two of them can get tacos afterward.

Spoiler: they get a lot of tacos together.

Discouraged by the lack of prospects, Jack and Hallie make a wager to see who can find true love first, but when they agree to be fake dates for a weekend wedding, all bets are off. As they pretend to be a couple, lines become blurred and they each struggle to remember why the other was a bad idea to begin with.

Thank you to Berkley Romance for the eARC.

ON FIRE.

That’s how this book made me feel. The banter was immaculate perfection and every single interaction made me giddy and weak in the knees. While I was initially hesitant from the one night stand starting point, I LOVE the way Lynn Painter turned this. One of the best strangers to friends to lovers book I have read to date.

Hallie is my favorite type of contemporary main character. A little rough around the edges but wholly understanding of who she is and being that person always. She was pure fun and light, while maintaining that sense of realness. JACK, stop right now, he was the swooniest and sweetest guy EVER. I loved how he just there. The texts, phone calls, showing up to help, traveling, you name it, Jack made an effort to be apart of Hallie’s life. I thought they had fantastic chemistry and I could feel the tension from miles away. The slow burn will absolutely put you in a chokehold. Everything was ramped up in harmony waiting for that final breaking point and ohhhh how I loved it.

There’s a small dash of miscommunication that surprisingly didn’t bug me all that much. It’s moved through pretty quickly and is overall reasonably dealt with. I actually thought it made those last few scenes even more rom-com magnificent.

THIS BOOK WAS JUST SO GOOD. READ IT.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: strong throughout
  • Romance: light innuendo; 2-3 brief scenes (low-medium explicit)
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: brief mentions of a loss of a loved one

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Book Review: The No-Show by Beth O’Leary

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Beth O’Leary
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: April 12th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Three women who seemingly have nothing in common find that they’re involved with the same man in this smart new rom-com by Beth O’Leary, bestselling author of The Flatshare.

Siobhan is a quick-tempered life coach with way too much on her plate. Miranda is a tree surgeon used to being treated as just one of the guys on the job. Jane is a soft-spoken volunteer for the local charity shop with zero sense of self-worth.

These three women are strangers who have only one thing in common: They’ve all been stood up on the same day, the very worst day to be stood up–Valentine’s Day. And, unbeknownst to them, they’ve all been stood up by the same man.

Once they’ve each forgiven him for standing them up, they let him back into their lives and are in serious danger of falling in love with a man who seems to have not just one or two but three women on the go….

Is there more to him than meets the eye? And will they each untangle the truth before they all get their hearts broken? 

WHOA.

Can we just marvel at O’Leary’s writing ability? To weave this story with so many moving parts and to leave you in the dark just enough to keep going. AND THEN to rip your heart out?! before putting back together? Oh my, what a read.

I devoured this audio in a day because I needed to know what exactly was happening. I loved how things came together and all of these subtle stories. While it was a romance, each of the women’s lives was also enriched by much more. Making new friends, finding new paths, working through mental health concerns, there’s a lot here.

The major trigger for this story is actually one of the few I don’t love reading about and may have not picked this up had I know about it. Luckily it was held off to almost the end that I was fine, but I wanted to note that in my review.

I loved getting Joseph’s story in-between everyone else’s. We never realized the ways that someone might alter our course when they’re apart of our lives. This was a great read and the audio was solid too. I would say you might pick up on more of the little clues if you’re reading physically though.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: medium
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a partner, sexual harassment, cheating, dementia, panic attacks, self-harm, pregnancy, miscarriage, stalking

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ARC Book Review: Do I Know You? by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka
Publisher: Berkley Books
Release Date: January 24th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

When a couple starts to feel like they’re married to a stranger, a flirtatious game of pretend becomes the spark they need to reignite their relationship.

Eliza and Graham are anticipating an anything-but-sexy, weeklong getaway to celebrate their five-year anniversary. Nestled on the Northern California coastline, the resort prides itself on being a destination for those in love and those looking to find it. For Eliza and Graham, it might as well be a vacation with a roommate.

When a well-meaning guest mistakes Eliza and Graham for being single and introduces them at the hotel bar, they don’t correct him. Suddenly, they’re pretending to be perfect strangers and it’s unexpectedly…fun? Eliza and Graham find themselves flirting like it’s their first date, and waiting with butterflies in their stomach for the other to text back.

Everyone at the retreat can sense the electric chemistry between Eliza and Graham’s alter egos. But when their scintillating game of roleplaying ends, will they still feel the heat?

Thank you to Berkley Romance for the eARC.

ABSOLUTELY LOVED.

You know what got me off on the perfect foot with this book? That Graham and Eliza weren’t two bitter, mean characters where you didn’t even want to cheer them on to fix their marriage. These two LOVE each other and WANT deeply to make things work and that made me love them immediately and want the best for them.

I thought it was a fun idea to kind of “role play” to get out of their own way. It led to some good banter and to some moments that truths could be revealed. For a book set at only a resort I thought there were ample opportunities for activities that didn’t feel forced and allowed major character development.

Side note to David? CAN HE HAVE HIS OWN BOOK PLEASE? I loved him so much and how good of a friend he was! He was the perfect side character touch that brought some lightness and helped Graham by being someone he could talk too.

Eliza took the most time to really break down some barriers. What I loved though is that Graham talked and approached things with such love. There was no condemning and call outs. He voiced his thoughts and Eliza started to truly reflect on how she handles conflict and tough situations. Same went for Graham’s growth. Once Eliza was aware of what was happening for him, she went out of her way to make obvious remarks to build his confidence. I LOVE THAT SO MUCH.

There’s a beautiful focus on the fact marriages aren’t perfect, but two people who want badly enough to try and work together and stay open to communicating can make it perfect. I loved many of the dialogue surrounding communication and asking questions and finding new ways to keep loving the person that changes over time with you.

This is there best adult book yet.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: two brief open; low explicit
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: strained familial relations

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Book Review: The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

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Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Ashley Poston
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: June 28th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A disillusioned millennial ghostwriter who, quite literally, has some ghosts of her own, has to find her way back home in this sparkling adult debut from national bestselling author Ashley Poston.

Florence Day is the ghostwriter for one of the most prolific romance authors in the industry, and she has a problem—after a terrible breakup, she no longer believes in love. It’s as good as dead.

When her new editor, a too-handsome mountain of a man, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye. But then she gets a phone call she never wanted to receive, and she must return home for the first time in a decade to help her family bury her beloved father.

For ten years, she’s run from the town that never understood her, and even though she misses the sound of a warm Southern night and her eccentric, loving family and their funeral parlor, she can’t bring herself to stay. Even with her father gone, it feels like nothing in this town has changed. And she hates it.

Until she finds a ghost standing at the funeral parlor’s front door, just as broad and infuriatingly handsome as ever, and he’s just as confused about why he’s there as she is.

Romance is most certainly dead . . . but so is her new editor, and his unfinished business will have her second-guessing everything she’s ever known about love stories.

GREW ON ME.

I spent the first 30-40% of this book wondering if I had made a mistake in picking it up. Not that it was bad, just thinking it might not be for me? It was a tad slow and I wasn’t sure when the romance was going to come into play.

BUT. I ate some of my words because past that point I fell in love with so much of this book. There were beautiful conversations surrounding loss, grief, and life. My heartstrings were pulled continually as these characters wrapped themselves around my heart. The power that words have over us is incredible and many of these statements weaved there way into me.

The romance was so sweet!!! The paranormal ghost aspects played out exactly as I hoped (blessed be or I might have thrown my book at anyone who told me I should read it). I thought Florence and Ben clicked. The chemistry was undeniable and the slow burn of watching them get to know each other was precious.

Lots to love about this one. It made good on the hype surrounding it and I look forward to future books by this author.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Paranormal Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: brief open door
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a parent, grief depiction, bullying (mentioned)

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