Tag: contemporary romance

Book Review: Love & Olives (Love & Gelato #3) by Jenna Evans Welch

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Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 506 pages
Author: Jenna Evans Welch
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: November 10th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Santorini felt like an island holding its breath. As if it were keeping in a secret…

Liv Varanakis doesn’t like to think about her father much, which makes sense—he fled to Greece when she was only eight, leaving her with just a few painful memories of their shared love for the lost city of Atlantis. So when teenage Liv suddenly receives a postcard from her father, who explains that National Geographic is supporting a documentary about his theories on Atlantis—and asks if she will fly out to Greece and help—Liv is less than thrilled.

When she arrives in gorgeous Santorini, things are just as awkward as she’d imagined. There are so many questions, so many emotions that flood to the surface after seeing her father for the first time in years. Liv doesn’t want to get sucked back into her father’s world. She also definitely doesn’t want Theo, her father’s charismatic so-called protégé, to witness her struggle.

Even so, she can’t help but be charmed by everything Santorini has to offer—the beautiful sunsets, the turquoise water, the sun-drenched villages, and the delicious cuisine. But not everything on the Greek island is as perfect as it seems. Because as Liv slowly begins to discover, her father may not have invited her to Greece for Atlantis, but for something much more important.

TAKE ME TO SANTORINI.

Oh wow. I read Love & Gelato years ago and adored it. I ended up skipping book two after seeing less than stellar reviews. I HAD NO IDEA THERE WAS A BOOK THREE??

I’m so glad I read it because it was the charming quintessential young adult contemporary that I love reading. This gave me major wanderlust about traveling and now I have officially added Santorini to my bucket list. I loved all of the Atlantis theories and lore. I remember a time when I was really into this fabled city and it was fun exploring that too. The ending made me tear up with the discussions on mental health and doing the best you can.

Olive held a lot of pieces I love about teen girls. I liked her bravery in going to see and confront her father, but also her willingness to see what’s been happening in his life. She had a great balance of (deserved) anger and finding new joys while overcoming personal anxieties. I thought the sweet romance with Theo was so stinkin’ cute. It continually made me smile. My only tiny issue was that I hate when a main character dates someone off page for 95% of the book (he really didn’t have a point past the first 15%).

Anyways, LOVED THIS. A great edition to the series.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: bipolar disorder, panic attacks, smoking

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Book Review: Complete (The Sweet Rom”Com” #3) by Kortney Keisel

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 315 pages
Author: Kortney Keisel
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: August 24th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Ben and I are just friends.

We’ve tried to be more, but it never works. There’s no chemistry between us.

At least that’s the story I tell everyone.

Truth is, I’m pining for Ben. HARD. Like Taylor Swift, You Belong With Me, hard. I don’t know what happened. Suddenly, his casual touch is fire, and his easy smile stops my heart.

But Ben has put me in the friend zone. Permanently. His supermodel girlfriend and him setting me up with a pro football player confirm this.

It’s time to bury these feelings. Lock them up. A famous pro athlete is exactly what I need to get over my infatuation. Except Ben isn’t making things easy. He’s leveled up his touching and flirting—all good stuff unless you’re trying to move on with your life.

So what’s a girl to do? Confess my feelings and risk losing my best friend? Or keep on pretending and end up with the wrong man?

Complete is a friends-to-lovers, laugh-out-loud love story that keeps the romance closed-door. It’s book three in The Sweet Rom “Com” Series but can be read as a standalone.

GOOD HEAVENS.

I am a puddle after this one y’all!! Let me era of friends to lovers romances commence. This is one of the best renditions of this trope I’ve read.

Ben was such flirty hot mess and I loved it. I actually burst out in true laughter multiple times (aka the yacht scene IYKYK). There were many genuinely funny scenes that are the reason I love this romcom genre. Keisel did an amazing job at creating a book filled with serious subjects combined with the happiness I need when I read. I loved seeing Ben work through his parent issues. He definitely needed shaken a bit to get the point across, but when that aha moment hit you here the chorus shouting, FINALLY.

I adored Brooke!! She was a fantastic FMC that was filled with love and hope and I want to be her friend. The subplot with Trey actually worked out better than I could have hoped for. I was nervous that he’d get tossed aside, and I love how Keisel handled that. Not to mention, I am so here for the jealousy. I realized that I do love some jealous aspects (on both sides) to really push those feelings, when you know they are just IN LOVE.

Clearly I loved this. It’s my new favorite Keisel book and makes me excited for whatever she has in store next.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: death of a parent mentioned, recounting of home life (with yelling and indifferent parents)

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Book Review: Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Sarah Dessen
Publisher: Viking Books
Release Date: June 16th, 2009
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live.

A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their friendship, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother. Then she meets Eli, an intriguing loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal world of the town. Together they embark on parallel quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she’s been denied; for Eli, to come to terms with the guilt he feels for the death of a friend.

In her signature pitch-perfect style, Sarah Dessen explores the hearts of two lonely people learning to connect.

TEAM STEPMOM.

These were some tough parents to read about. A Dad who brought me to rage induced rants because of his lack of care for his wife and new baby. A Mom who was incredibly stubborn and seemed incapable of seeing other’s view points and was constantly passive aggressive. And they honestly brought the story down for me. I was expecting to see some growth from them (and for Auden to talk it out) but I don’t feel like that happened enough at the end to be satisfied.

I enjoyed the story overall. It’s very much classic/older YA and that’s part of it’s charm. I purely picked this up to watch the movie and am not upset that I did. I liked the friendships that Auden was able to develop. I especially loved her step-mom. Instead of being the usual trope of awfulness, she was a woman stuck in a rough post-partum situation and I liked that they leaned on one another (even if Auden wouldn’t recognize it).

The romance was very lackluster. Honestly it almost felt as if there wasn’t one? It’s a slow burn with little page time. I would have loved a lot more of Eli and how he could have better factored into the story.

A formulaic YA contemporary that is, ya know, perfectly fine.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: make-outs
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: teacher/student relationship mentioned (side character), cheating, alcohol consumption, post-partum depression, loss of a friend (side character, but plays central role)

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Book Review: Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 320 pages
Author: Lia Louis
Publisher: Atria
Release Date: July 14th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

At sixteen, Emmie Blue stood in the fields of her school and released a red balloon into the sky. Attached was her name, her email address… and a secret she desperately wanted to be free of. Weeks later, on a beach in France, Lucas Moreau discovered the balloon and immediately emailed the attached address, sparking an intense friendship between the two teens.

Now, fourteen years later, Emmie is hiding the fact that she’s desperately in love with Lucas. She has pinned all her hopes on him and waits patiently for him to finally admit that she’s the one for him. So dedicated to her love for Lucas, Emmie has all but neglected her life outside of this relationship—she’s given up the search for her absentee father, no longer tries to build bridges with her distant mother, and lives as a lodger to an old lady she barely knows after being laid off. And when Lucas tells Emmie he has a big question to ask her, she’s convinced this is the moment he’ll reveal his feelings for her. But nothing in life ever quite goes as planned, does it?

Filled with heart and humor, Dear Emmie Blue “beautifully captures the heartache and frustrations of carrying our teenaged selves with us wherever we go” (Anstey Harris, author of Goodbye Paris) that is perfect for fans of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and Evvie Drake Starts Over.

MY HEART.

Well this book turned me into an absolute puddle and is now my favorite Lia Louis book to date.

I absolutely loved Emmie’s story and the progress she made in loving who she is and where she is and recognizing the love around her. Having to walk through a lot of personal fires to get to where she is at the end had me cheering her on the whole way.

And that romance??? OMG. I was a misty eyed woman reading those last few scenes. Even if you realize what’s happening it’ll still squeeze your heart in the most beautifully painful ways. I love how those things worked out and that Emmie got to know the WHOLE truth of things. It only made the ending that much sweeter.

A fantastic audiobook that I couldn’t put down. A story that will melt your soul and I cannot recommend this one enough. I’m not big on backlist reading, and I am grateful I dove back for this one!!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: slut shaming, victim shaming, sexual assault of a minor, cheating

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