Tag: contemporary romance

Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: September 2023

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THE BER MONTHS HAVE ARRIVED. Now if I could just get the weather to cooperate. I only had one absolute dud of a book this month and plenty of great reads. A little slower for me as I read some BIG fantasy books.

Happy reading!

Favorites of September:

  • Reign
  • Emma Lion Vol. 3
  • ACOTAR Reread
  • Mrs. Nash’s Ashes
  • The Goddess Eye
  • Heat of the Everflame
  • A Little Magic
  • Once Upon a Broken Heart Reread
  • Can’t Help Falling
  • Heidi Lucy Loses Her Mind
  • ACOMAF Reread
  • Things We Left Behind
  • Her Radiant Curse
  • Faking the Fall
  • Two Twisted Crowns
  • Shadow and Silence
  • Blade Breaker

Least Favorites:

  • Main Character Energy
  • Reign (American Royals #4) by Katharine McGee
  • The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion (Vol. 3) by Beth Brower
  • Best Friends, Back Ups & Something More by Ranee S. Clark
  • Just a Football Star (Tate Brothers #2) by Deb Goodman
  • [Reread] A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR #1) by SJM
  • Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler
  • The Goddess Eye (The Blood and Water Saga #3) by Cassidy Clarke
  • Hold Back the River by Ashley Dill
  • Neve A Hero (Monsters #2) by Vanessa Len
  • The Fall Back Plan (Sweater Weather #2) by Melanie Jacobson
  • Savage Bred (The Royal Rose Chronicles #3) by Victoria McCombs
  • [ALC] The Ex-Mas Holidays by Zoe Allison
  • [ARC] Heat of the Everflame (Kindred’s Curse #3) by Penn Cole
  • Knife of Dreams (Wheel of Time #11) by Robert Jordan
  • A Little Magic by Lindsey Lanza
  • A Multitude of Dreams by Mara Rutherford
  • [Reread] Once Upon a Broken Heart (Once Upon a Broken Heart #1) by Stephanie Garber
  • [ARC] Welcome to Fae Cafe (High Court of the Coffee Bean #1) by Jennifer Kropf
  • Can’t Help Falling (Sweater Weather #3) by Courtney Walsh
  • The Curse of Saints (The Curse of Saints #1) by Kate Dramis
  • [ARC] Heidi Lucy Loses Her Mind (Happily Every Homicide #2) by Gracie Ruth Mitchell
  • [Reread] A Court of Mist and Fury (ACOTAR #2) by Sarah J. Maas
  • Things We Left Behind (Knockemout #3) by Lucy Score
  • Codename Charming (Palace Insiders #2) by Lucy Parker
  • Her Radiant Curse by Elizabeth Lim
  • The Long Game (The Long Game #1) by Elena Armas
  • [ARC] Codes of Courage (Heirs of Falcon Point #1) by A.L. Sowards
  • Faking the Fall (Sweater Weather #4) by Julie Christianson
  • Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs
  • [ARC] Two Twisted Crowns (The Shepherd King #2) by Rachel Gillig
  • [ALC] Silence and Shadow (Blood and Moonlight #2) by Erin Beaty
  • Main Character Energy by Jamie Varon
  • How Jenna Became My Dilemma (Famously in Love #2) by Kortney Keisel
  • Blade Breaker (Realm Breaker #2) by Victoria Aveyard
  • Easy as Pie (Sweater Weather #5) by Carina Taylor

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Book Review: Play Your Part by Kathryn Kincaid

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Sports Romance
Length: 312 pages
Author: Kathryn Kincaid
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: August 3rd, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Three months. Two enemies. One goal. Zero time for distractions.

Kennedy Cole’s life stalled one year ago after she tragically lost her mom. She abandoned her plans to finish college and quit working for her family’s professional hockey team, the Palmer City Wolves. She’s finally ready to move forward with Wolves star player Justin Ward at her side, but when he’s traded to another team, he hightails it out of town, leaving Kennedy behind.

Alexei Volkov is known for his hotheaded reputation, on-ice antics, and rivalry with Justin. After being fired by his last team, the Wolves offer Alexei a one-year contract to prove he can stay out of trouble. When a misleading photo of Kennedy and Alexei in a compromising position goes viral, his career is in jeopardy, along with the team’s public image.

Alexei wants nothing to do with the sassy brunette who got him into this mess. Kennedy would rather avoid the arrogant hockey player. But pretending to date each other can fix the negative press. The agreement was simple: three months together, with clearly outlined rules. But the more time Kennedy and Alexei spend together, the harder it becomes to fight the sizzling chemistry between them, making it difficult to know where pretense ends and reality begins.

Fans of Elle Kennedy, Mariana Zapata, and C.W. Farnsworth will enjoy this dual-POV steamy contemporary romance featuring enemies-to-lovers and fake-dating tropes.

AWESOME DEBUT.

I admit, I am easily influenced by one well created reel that shows up when I’m mindlessly scrolling. This one was an absolute winner.

The fake dating was a lot of fun and I liked the enemies to lovers vibes banter that happened between Alexei and Kennedy. I continually smirked at my screen because I just KNEW THEY WERE FALLING IN LOVE. And that’s the best feeling.

I looooved that this was a slow burn. Really getting to see that build before the spice came into play. Better yet, it happened to be in my spice comfort level and worked well into the story. I loved both of these characters. Battling pasts, finding common ground, and realizing that they may have met their match.

The only thing I didn’t love was that Kennedy’s ex came back into the picture when I didn’t think he was needed to bring in any more conflict. He can get gone.

Fantastic writing and story telling. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Highly recommend for my hockey romance lovers.

Overall audience notes:

  • Sports Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: two brief open; low explicit
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: brief hockey fights, loss of a mother (recounted)

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Book Review: Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 432 pages
Author: Julia Whelan
Publisher: Avon Books
Release Date: August 2nd, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

For Sewanee Chester, being an audiobook narrator is a long way from her old dreams, but the days of being a star on film sets are long behind her. She’s found success and satisfaction from the inside of a sound booth and it allows her to care for her beloved, ailing grandmother. When she arrives in Las Vegas last-minute for a book convention, Sewanee unexpectedly spends a whirlwind night with a charming stranger.

On her return home, Sewanee discovers one of the world’s most beloved romance novelists wanted her to perform her last book—with Brock McNight, the industry’s hottest, most secretive voice. Sewanee doesn’t buy what romance novels are selling—not after her own dreams were tragically cut short—and she stopped narrating them years ago. But her admiration of the late author, and the opportunity to get her grandmother more help, makes her decision for her.

As Sewanee begins work on the book, resurrecting her old romance pseudonym, she and Brock forge a real connection, hidden behind the comfort of anonymity. Soon, she is dreaming again, but secrets are revealed, and the realities of life come crashing down around her once more.

If she can learn to risk everything for desires she has long buried, she will discover a world of intimacy and acceptance she never believed would be hers.

From the author of My Oxford Year, Julia Whelan’s uplifting novel tells the story of a former actress turned successful audiobook narrator—who has lost sight of her dreams after a tragic accident—and her journey of self-discovery, love, and acceptance when she agrees to narrate one last romance novel.

WHAT A GEM.

I don’t know why I didn’t pick this up sooner, IT WAS EVERYTHING I LOVE AND MORE.

The characters were all stunning. All of them. I love flawed souls who are sincerely trying their best. Working towards goals they have, doing the hard thing and making a path that’s best for them. Sewanee made me love her so easily. I like that this had a great fiction angle that was wrapped up in such a deep story.

BUT ALSO, the ROMANCE Y’ALL. Holy cow I was smiling like a loon the entire time. Whelan even made the dreaded one night stand trope (dreaded to me) work perfectly?! I AM IN AWE. I was smitten, swooning, loving every dang moment. Brought laughter, tears, the whole nine yards.

This book was intensely memorable and I will be thinking about it for awhile. Easily one of my favorites for the year. It was full of emotion and pure love through those hardest moments. Can’t recommend enough. READ IT.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: 2ish open door; low explicit
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: a loved one with memory loss, eye trauma and lost of vision, death of a grandmother

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Book Review: Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young

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Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: Magical Realism Mystery + Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Adrienne Young
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: September 27th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A deeply atmospheric story about ancestral magic, an unsolved murder, and a second chance at true love.

Emery Blackwood’s life changed forever the night her best friend was found dead and the love of her life, August Salt, was accused of murdering her. Years later, she is doing what her teenage self swore she never would: living a quiet existence on the misty, remote shores of Saoirse Island and running the family’s business, Blackwood’s Tea Shoppe Herbal Tonics & Tea Leaf Readings.

But when the island, rooted in folklore and magic, begins to show signs of strange happenings, Emery knows that something is coming. The morning she wakes to find that every single tree on Saoirse has turned color in a single night, August returns for the first time in fourteen years and unearths the past that the town has tried desperately to forget.

August knows he is not welcome on Saiorse, not after the night everything changed. As a fire raged on at the Salt family orchard, Lily Morgan was found dead in the dark woods, shaking the bedrock of their tight-knit community and branding August a murderer. When he returns to bury his mother’s ashes, he must confront the people who turned their backs on him and face the one wound from his past that has never healed—Emery.

The town has more than one reason to want August gone, and the emergence of deep betrayals and hidden promises spanning generations threaten to reveal the truth behind Lily’s mysterious death once and for all.

I THINK THIS IS HER BEST.

There was something about this writing style that fit Adrienne Young so perfectly that I had a hard time putting it down. From the first few chapters I was wrapped up in the wildness of Saoirse island and the stories it held.

I did like the multiple points of view. I think it works well for a story like this and gives those extra angles needed to fully understand motives and desires. I do wish there was a touch more from Lily. I had a hard time believing her reasoning behind her choices, but that’s a small complaint compared to how much I loved everything else.

The second chance romance brought the pain. I wanted these two to make up and move forward because I loved them so. They push and pull of that cord that finally snapped between them was everything I want in angst and slowburn style romances.

Mystery wise my inklings were on the right track but I liked that some stuff was still surprising too. I loved the atmosphere and the small town witchy vibes. I wanted a bit more closure in the ending (a personal preference), but otherwise, fantastic. Can’t wait for more.

Overall audience notes:

  • Magical Realism Romance + Mystery
  • Language: a little strong
  • Romance: 2ish scenes; low explicit
  • Violence: med-high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: multiple murders, arson, attempted murder, blackmail, loss of a parent(s) (recounted), grief depiction

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