Tag: contemporary romance

ARC Book Review: The Knockout Rule (Showmen #4) by Kelly Siskind

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 340 pages
Author: Kelly Siskind
Publisher: CD Books
Release Date: February 24th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Siskind’s latest slow-burn romance is stay-up-all-night addictive and proves love hits when you least expect it…

Growing up with an adoring father for a boxing legend isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. It looks more like hospital visits, bloody noses, and cracked ribs.

Isla Slade now works as a physiotherapist, helping athletes heal their bodies. Except for boxers. She has no interest in reliving the stress of her teen years. Dating someone in the boxing world? She’d rather snort wasabi powder.

Until she meets Preston Church.

Preston manages heavyweight boxing darling Brick Kramarov. A brute who’s built tougher than his name, with a cocky attitude to boot. She wants nothing to do with either man, but her father begs her to help them prepare for a huge Vegas fight.

She doesn’t expect Preston to recite romantic poems and slowly break her resolve. His fascinating mind gets under her skin, even if his star athlete reminds her how much she hates boxing.

Too bad it’s Brick coaching Preston how to woo Isla, falling for her from the sidelines. Once she finds out, she’ll have to decide if she can risk loving another man who puts it all on the line for the knockout.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own!

BEAUTIFUL STORY.

Oh I adored this! A sports romance gem.

What I loved most was the truly real feeling of the characters. There are some raw and tender moments as over and over our main characters come to terms with the situations around them. I loved the dialogue and conversations that occurred because of this. It exponentially brought another level to the novel by creating beautifully flawed humans who saw some true growth.

Isla and Eric were such a match!! I loved their chemistry and banter. The absolutely precious moments between them. It was spicy and romantic. Even better, I did like how the conflict and resolution came out between them. It worked perfectly for the story and allowed for an adorable ending. I did think [for me] the romance was a bit heavy-handed and I did have to skip over a few scenes, but if you like higher steam, this is definitely a read for you!

I love that this was a sports romance. I found it really insightful actually to boxing. I don’t like boxing at all, but was impressed with seeing another side to it than just fighting. Even when the big match came up I wasn’t quite sure who would win. The way Siskind wrote out this narrative was on point and I’m happy it went the way it did!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: some strong throughout
  • Romance: kisses to a few very open door scenes
  • Violence: boxing matches
  • Content/Trigger Warnings: depictions of anxiety and panic attacks, coping with learning a loved one has a degenerative illness

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Book Review: The Enemy (It Happened in Charleston #2) by Sarah Adams

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary romance
Length: 258 pages
Author: Sarah Adams
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: August 29th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

It’s been twelve years since I’ve seen him. Twelve years since he won our war of wits by outsmarting me with a tactic I didn’t even know was allowed. But tonight…I resurrect the battle.

Ryan Henderson is back in town for our best friends’ wedding, and I plan on showing him exactly how much I don’t care about him—or the almost kiss he ruthlessly dangled over me after graduation.

A lot has changed since our feuding days. I’m a successful bakery owner now, and I plan to rub every delicious detail of my life in his ugly face.

Just one problem: his face is gorgeous.

He wasn’t supposed to look like this or pursue me like a sexy guided missile. I must stay strong until the wedding is over and Ryan scurries back into whatever alternate universe he escaped from.

His interest in me is nothing but a continuation of the games we played in high school…right?

But the longer he stays, the more I wonder if I’m wrong and his tender smile and heated attentions are genuine. Maybe it’s not a game.

Ha! Who am I kidding? This is Ryan we’re talking about. Of course it’s a game. A game called war. And this time, I will win.

I WANT A DOUGHNUT NOW.

I wasn’t originally planning on reading this because I didn’t love the first one in this series. A few friends reviews convinced me this was better, and they were RIGHT. I loved this one so much more and I’m happy that I read it. I may have enjoyed it enough to read it in one day. I was that smitten with Ryan.

This enemies to lovers romance took a bit different spin that most I’ve seen. Instead of *fighting the love* until closer to the end, Ryan especially, worked towards making things worked out sooner. With their past laid out well I love how this flowed and progressed. What made me even more happy was that the conflict (that you can always expect in a contemporary romance) fit into the story and instead of taking a turn for the ridiculousness, actually worked out beautifully. Some communication between Ryan and June turned the tables and solidified a great romance.

I struggled with June’s character for at least half the book. I understood why she was written in such a matter, but maybe it was pushed too hard? I don’t know, she just rubbed me the wrong way about how she chose to treat Ryan initially and a few other things. It was nice to see her character growth over the book.

The Enemy was entirely a different story than The Match. And one that I felt had a lot more to it. You don’t necessarily need to read The Match first, but the main characters do show up in this book and it may spoil a few things.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses / make-outs
  • Violence: physical
  • Trigger warnings: cheating fiance

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Book Review: The Beat Match (Showmen #3) by Kelly Siskind

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 318 pages
Author: Kelly Siskind
Publisher: CD Books
Release Date: September 16th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Treat yourself to this friends-to-lovers romance reviewers are calling “heart-melting” and “swoony” and “packed with heat and chemistry.”

Two DJs. One beat. An off-limits romance neither of them expected.

Weston Aldrich is known for his devastating looks and crisp Italian suits. He’s been groomed to take over his family business and is on the brink of closing a massive merger. Only two wild cards can derail him.

Wild Card One: If anyone learns he moonlights as a masked DJ, his credibility will be toast.
Wild Card Two: Annie can’t-hold-a-job Ward.

The Annie Ward he promised to help raise after her brother died. The scatterbrained girl who makes it her mission in life to drive him crazy. The gorgeous woman he’s not supposed to fantasize about, let alone kiss.

Annie hates Wes’s insanely overprotective nature, and how his ridiculous bone structure makes him look like a Greek god. His jokes about her plethora of jobs are beyond irksome. She has no plans to tell him about her latest aspiration, to match beats as a budding DJ. Until she learns what Wes does at night. Now she plans to prove Weston Aldrich has met his match.

CUTE & FAST-PACED.

I’ve been enjoying the Showmen series! I still think New Orleans Rush is my favorite, but I really had a good time with this story and loved how quickly I flew through it. There’s something about the way Siskind writes her characters that make the books hard to put down for long.

I thought Annie and Wes were pretty adorable. A long time friends to lovers situation where it was total opposites attract. Kind of a grump and sunshine situation. They both stumbled a bit and how to find their footing within the relationship and I liked watching this growth and maturity that occurred.

Sometimes the plot went a little too dramatic or that it some pieces just weren’t necessary? I did like the exploration of grief and how it’s different for everyone involved. No two people experience a situation the same way and this was clearly shown.

What kind of sealed the deal on the adorableness of these two was that epilogue. OH I LOVE A GOOD EPILOGUE. It was absolutely precious and I just became completely smitten with Wes all over again. A charming addition to the Showmen series!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: some strong throughout
  • Kisses to open door scenes
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: depictions of grief, mentions of going to therapy, homelessness, loss of loved ones, gun violence

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Book Review: Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Young adult contemporary romance
Length: 391 pages
Author: Jenn Bennett
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: April 4th, 2017
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Classic movie buff Bailey “Mink” Rydell has spent months crushing on a witty film geek she only knows online by “Alex.” Two coasts separate the teens until Bailey moves in with her dad, who lives in the same California surfing town as her online crush.

Faced with doubts (what if he’s a creep in real life—or worse?), Bailey doesn’t tell Alex she’s moved to his hometown. Or that she’s landed a job at the local tourist-trap museum. Or that she’s being heckled daily by the irritatingly hot museum security guard, Porter Roth—a.k.a. her new arch-nemesis. But life is whole lot messier than the movies, especially when Bailey discovers that tricky fine line between hate, love, and whatever-it-is she’s starting to feel for Porter.

And as the summer months go by, Bailey must choose whether to cling to a dreamy online fantasy in Alex or take a risk on an imperfect reality with Porter. The choice is both simpler and more complicated than she realizes, because Porter Roth is hiding a secret of his own: Porter is Alex…Approximately.

In this delightfully charming teen spin on You’ve Got Mail, the one guy Bailey Rydell can’t stand is actually the boy of her dreams—she just doesn’t know it yet.

I LIKED THIS ONE.

This was a cute read, tackling some difficult topics, and really giving me the dreamiest ending. The audio was a great way to read this too!

I liked Bailey as a protagonist. I am very much like her, with dodging awkward conversations and the like. She was quirky, knew herself, and really grew over the book. Enter dreamy Porter and we have a sweet match. I adored Porter. With his banter and softness. Oh goodness, I was smitten right off the bat.

Everything was predictable and cheesy, and that’s something I occasionally need from a book so I didn’t mind. Yes, the romance-y sections still make me cringe a bit, but I found mostly less in your face as Bennett’s newer books [sidebar: I’ve read 3 of her newer books and came back to this back list one].

Maybe towards the end the unbelievable way Bailey was the last person to know about Porter was a bit ridiculous, but I don’t think this would have had the same umph at the end if it wasn’t dragged out a bit. I remember anxiously waiting for her to see him so things could finally start clicking together.

I liked the friendships and most of the side plots. Getting to know her Dad better, making new friends (and learning to be a good friend), allowing oneself to let go of the past. Lots of good nuggets even amongst the comical.

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult contemporary romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: kisses / heated make-outs, nudity, little detailed closed door scene
  • Violence: shark attack, physical altercations
  • Trigger warnings: underage drug use/addiction; shark attack, attempted armed robbery

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