Tag: contemporary romance

Book Review: Some Mistakes Were Made by Kristin Dwyer

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 400 pages
Author: Kristin Dwyer
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: May 10th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

You can’t always go home again.

Ellis and Easton have been inseparable since childhood. But when a rash decision throws Ellis’s life—and her relationship with Easton— into chaos she’s forced to move halfway across the country, far from everything she’s ever known.

Now Ellis hasn’t spoken to Easton in a year, and maybe it’s better that way; maybe eventually the Easton shaped hole in her heart will heal. But when Easton’s mother invites her home for a celebration, Ellis finds herself tangled up in the web of heartache, betrayal, and anger she left behind… and with the boy she never stopped loving.

HOLY WOW.

I have officially become a Kristin Dwyer fan and I’m going to need all of y’all to hop on this debut train.

I think the biggest vibe I got from reading this was a CoHo book but without the grocery list of triggers (though they’re definitely some, please check below!). It was raw and angsty. Rough characters that you just wanted to hug. Moments where I felt ALL THE EMOTIONS and where I stayed up wayyyyy too late because I needed to know everything will be okay (and it will be, no awful ending here!!).

Ellis and Easton meet in this clash of differences. Ellis being from a home where her parents don’t even look her way, too wrapped up in their own vices. Easton with caring brothers and parents who look after one another, even when it’s hard. There’s major themes of social class, determination and mental health. Combined with self-destructive tendencies that stem from trauma. This book hit. It was a messy love story that wasn’t perfect in any sense of the word, but it was Ellis and Easton’s story and I’m so wrapped up in its telling.

Capturing first love and everything that comes with it as chapters rotate between the past and present you won’t be able to put this one down. It was an INCREDIBLE debut. I am shooketh in the best possible ways and I want alllll the Dwyer books now.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: one brief & vague open door
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: underage drinking, mentions of drugs, child neglect, incarcerated parent

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Book Review: Roomies by Christina Lauren

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Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Christina Lauren
Publisher: Gallery Books
Release Date: December 5th, 2017
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From subway to Broadway to happily ever after. Modern love in all its thrill, hilarity, and uncertainty has never been so compulsively readable as in New York Times bestselling author Christina Lauren’s romantic novel.

Marriages of convenience are so…inconvenient.

For months Holland Bakker has invented excuses to descend into the subway station near her apartment, drawn to the captivating music performed by her street musician crush. Lacking the nerve to actually talk to the gorgeous stranger, fate steps in one night in the form of a drunken attacker. Calvin Mcloughlin rescues her, but quickly disappears when the police start asking questions.

Using the only resource she has to pay the brilliant musician back, Holland gets Calvin an audition with her uncle, Broadway’s hottest musical director. When the tryout goes better than even Holland could have imagined, Calvin is set for a great entry into Broadway—until his reason for disappearing earlier becomes clear: he’s in the country illegally, his student visa having expired years ago.

Seeing that her uncle needs Calvin as much as Calvin needs him, a wild idea takes hold of her. Impulsively, she marries the Irishman, her infatuation a secret only to him. As their relationship evolves and Calvin becomes the darling of Broadway—in the middle of the theatrics and the acting-not-acting—will Holland and Calvin to realize that they both stopped pretending a long time ago?

CONFLICT ISSUES.

The crux of any good romance is the conflict. That thing that dives into the couple’s lives and either brings them together or makes us all roll our eyes shouting, COMMUNICATE.

I felt COMMUNICATE was the fatal flaw the last 25%.

I’ll move with some positive details first. I really adored this plot and initial set-up. A marriage of convenience? Heck to the yes. I thought that Holland and Calvin had some solid chemistry and cute banter. Things get heated pretty quickly, and I didn’t love the spice. But the flow of the relationship moved with the story and I liked the fast paced nature of it all. Even if some of the stalker portions had my eyes widening.

Baaaaack to my COMMUNICATE rant. The main character, Holland, even acknowledges she’s acting ridiculous, but instead of saying, Hey Calvin, this is how I’m feeling. She goes in the complete opposite direction and I couldn’t believe what I was listening to. By the time the “grand gesture” rolled around I was glad that this was almost over because I was through myself.

The writing as usual, was great, even if I struggled with different aspects. There was a lot of research done to put this book together and I appreciate that as well. Though frustrating, I had a hard time putting it down because it’s easy to get wrapped up in a CL novel.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: kisses to multiple open door scenes
  • Violence: being pushed onto a subway rail

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ARC Book Review: Exactly Where You Need to Be by Amelia Diane Coombs

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 320 pages
Author: Amelia Diane Coombs
Publisher: Simon Schuster
Release Date: June 7th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Turtles All the Way Down meets Love and Luck in this romantic road trip story about a teen girl’s last chance to have an epic summer with her best friend before everything changes.

Florie’s OCD and her mother’s worrying have kept her from a lot of things, like having an after-school job and getting her driver’s license. And now that she’s graduated high school, while her best friend Kacey is headed off to Portland in the fall, Florie’s taking a parent-sanctioned gap year off before starting college. When the decision was made, Florie was on board, but now she can’t ignore the growing itch to become the person she wants to be and venture outside the quaint, boring Washington town she grew up in.

Winning tickets to see her favorite true crime podcast’s live show in California gives her the opportunity to do just that, if only for a few days. So—unbeknownst to their parents—Kacey and Florie set off on a road trip to San Francisco. The only downside in Florie’s opinion? Sam, Kacey’s older brother and Florie’s forever crush, is their ride. The Samson Hodge, who Florie hasn’t seen since winter break, and who she’d prefer to never see again, if possible. But Florie is willing to put up with Sam if it means one last adventure with her best friend.

Making it to San Francisco and back to Washington without their parents catching on isn’t a given, but one thing is for sure: this trip will change everything.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC.

GROWTH.

I could not put this book down. I adored it.

Florie absolutely just melted my heart and captured my soul. I loved her ability to acknowledge her strengths, but also where she could do better. Florie took so many steps to get to where she was by the end of the book and I was cheering her on the whole way. When she finally stood up to her Mother? HERE FOR IT. I think these intense and deep conversations (at times with the help of a therapist) were exactly what this book needed.

Kasey, Florie’s best friend, was another favorite. I loved her charming nature and acceptance of who Florie is, as she is. Even when the conflicts came up (and Kasey had a right to be upset), the fact that both sides LISTENED and found ways to move through this bump in their friendship was soul soothing. I loved their bond and definitely teared up at the end when the inevitability of college came around.

Now the romance? How adorable was Sam? VERY. I do wish there was a bit more time between them (because I didn’t think the love scene was necessary for these two?) for me to see a bigger connection between them, but let’s face it. I thought all of the times they were together as the two of them were so sweet. Sam also met Florie where she was and I liked that even though miscommunication was apart of their story it wasn’t there for drama. It brought them together and actually opened up more channels in their romantic relationship.

This has already gone on a lot longer than expected because apparently I’m in a gushing mood. If you love a good road trip with some antics along the way, mental health rep, close friendships, first love and finding exactly where you need to be, then this one is for you.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: one vague open door
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety, therapy sessions, brief marijuana use, underage drinking

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Book Review: Reckless Memories (Wrecked #1) by Catherine Cowles

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 330 pages
Author: Catherine Cowles
Publisher: Pagesmith LLC
Release Date: May 12th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

I loved him before I knew what the word meant.
From skinned knees to first dates and everything in between.
But he was never mine to love.
I settled for friendship, even though I always wanted more.

That was before.
Before he ripped my world apart and didn’t bother sticking around to help me pick up the pieces.
I knit every last shred back together all on my own.
And I’ve all but forgotten his name.

Now, he’s back, and everything is torn apart once more.
But he’s not the only one doing the tearing this time.
And there might be no stopping the person who has it out for us both.

THE SUSPENSE.

This was a pretty good read! A new small town romance series to me. It’s set on an island in the Pacific Northwest so if you’re looking for small town, but not on a ranch, this might be for you!!

I didn’t know how I would feel about the relationship based off of the first few chapters. Over the book I felt there was a nice progression with some necessary conversations to help ease the transition. There’s a lot of talk about processing grief and the non-linear format it resides in.

Bell and Ford were definitely a match for me. I’m soft for a protective love interest and For was that for me. I liked the heat between them and the slow burn romance. I enjoyed the side characters that I know we’ll see in future books so I’m excited for their stories as well.

The suspense aspect was a bit…odd? Out of place? I don’t know why it necessarily needed to be there. I will say it did keep me on my toes, and I didn’t guess who it was going to be until just a few pages before (but I think that’s because I thought they were a random choice……). ANYWAYS. It’s well written, a bit darker, but also full of a lot of hope and light for the future.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: kisses to brief open door scenes
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: car wreck resulting is loss of life, losing a sibling, stalking behavior, break-in and physical altercations, attempted murder, parental neglect

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