Tag: contemporary romance

Book Review: The Extra (The Extra #1) by Megan Walker and Janci Patterson

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2
Audience: Contemporary romance
Length: 265 pages
Author: Megan Walker and Janci Patterson
Publisher: Garden Ninja Books
Release Date: April 6th, 2019
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Gabby Mays wishes she had her future figured out, like her gorgeous roommate Anna-Marie, who has just landed a role on the hit soap opera Passion Medical. Gabby would give anything to find a career she’s half as passionate about as Anna-Marie is about acting—and a love life that isn’t comprised of nights with a party-sized bag of Doritos and her Netflix account.

When Gabby becomes a recurring extra on Passion Medical, she finds a job she’s surprisingly great at. Even better, her old crush and ex-boss—the sexy, sweet Will Bowen—is writing the scripts, allowing Gabby lots of quality flirting time at the craft services table.

But between feuding divas, fake Emmys, and Gabby’s growing concern that Will might not see her as anything more than a friend, her life on set is quickly becoming a drama worthy of the soaps.

Thank you to the author, Megan Walker, for a copy in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own!

ENTERTAINING.

I had a good time with this one! I didn’t know much going in but found myself easily drawn in to the writing style and the story at large.

Gabby was a well thought out main character. She had a lot of struggles and over a small amount of pages really showed some growth. I liked that she started to take charge of her life and didn’t rush into what she wanted to do. It’s so hard to pick out what you want to do with your life (hello, I still have no idea) that I felt and have thought the same things Gabby has.

The romance was sweet! It didn’t take up as much page time as I thought it would (or hoped), but it’s cute nature easily charmed me. The emotional cheating aspect was one of the harder things to read. I did like the way the authors addressed this though and thought it was handled much better than I’ve seen in other books (where it’s not even addressed at all, it is a form of cheating!).

You have to lean into the drama in The Extra. Knowing the synopsis and the general idea of the book helped me know it was going to be a bit dramatic, and I ended up really loving the flair of it all. Yes, a bit over the top, yet was the right kind of quirk this story needed. The soap opera plot line was humorous and totally ridiculous, and I was all in for it.

I’m curious about the other books in this series and look forward to checking those out some time!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: kisses / make-outs; a lot of mentions of off-screen sex
  • Trigger/Content warnings: divorce, emotional cheating, physical cheating, bullying, a loved one with a drug addiction

Instagram || Goodreads

Book Review: My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Christina Lauren
Publisher: Gallery Books
Release Date: December 4th, 2018
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Millie Morris has always been one of the guys. A UC Santa Barbara professor, she’s a female-serial-killer expert who’s quick with a deflection joke and terrible at getting personal. And she, just like her four best guy friends and fellow professors, is perma-single.

So when a routine university function turns into a black tie gala, Mille and her circle make a pact that they’ll join an online dating service to find plus-ones for the event. There’s only one hitch: after making the pact, Millie and one of the guys, Reid Campbell, secretly spend the sexiest half-night of their lives together, but mutually decide the friendship would be better off strictly platonic.

But online dating isn’t for the faint of heart. While the guys are inundated with quality matches and potential dates, Millie’s first profile attempt garners nothing but dick pics and creepers. Enter “Catherine”—Millie’s fictional profile persona, in whose make-believe shoes she can be more vulnerable than she’s ever been in person. Soon “Catherine” and Reid strike up a digital pen-pal-ship…but Millie can’t resist temptation in real life, either. Soon, Millie will have to face her worst fear—intimacy—or risk losing her best friend, forever.

AMUSING.

What a quick, cute, simple read. I’ve had this one sitting on my TBR stack for awhile and in interest of clearing out some of those books picked up an audio version from my library to read it (which I highly recommend, I enjoyed the audio book!).

One of the things I loved was that there was a guy’s perspective in this book. We got to see the story from Reid’s point-of-view and I felt that help me understand him and Millie more. Millie’s group of friends were funny, a bit ridiculous, and caring all rolled together. I laughed at their text/IM interactions and the amusing charade of everyone using a dating site together.

I didn’t know how I was going to feel about Half-Night Stand starting off with a half-night. I’m not a fan of too steamy books and these scenes were definitely a bit much for me. While that bothered me a bit, it didn’t take away from the story and especially the clear chemistry between Reid and Millie. I actually really liked this friends to lovers trope and how the catfishing issue worked out too. I wasn’t sure what to expect because I’m not a fan of lying online like that (who is?), but I thought it allowed for some great character development in Millie. She went to him, honestly apologized, and was able to have a constructive conversation about her inability to let other people in. It made me appreciate her character all the more.

The setting was perfect. I love the idea of professor friends hanging out and the older ages of the group (late 20’s, early 30’s). All-in-all this was a great Christina Lauren pick and I’m enjoying slowly going through their backlist, while keeping up with their new releases.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: some strong throughout
  • Romance: kisses/make-outs; three very detailed/explicit love scenes
  • Trigger warnings: loss of a parent at a young age, coping with a parent with dementia

Instagram || Goodreads

Book Review: A Temporary Marriage: The Fake Love Series by Summer Dowell

GoodeyReads1 Comment

Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary romance
Length: 171 pages
Author: Summer Dowell
Publisher: Self-published
Expected Release Date: January 21st, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

“Kylee, will you marry me?”
If she hadn’t still been breathing, she would’ve checked for a pulse.
“M-marry you?”
“Not for real, of course!”

Struggling graphic designer Kylee Morgan would do just about anything to help Ryan Hudson, her very attractive friend she’s been harboring feelings for for way too long. But, marry him? That might be taking things a little too far even for her.

Ryan is on the cusp of success with his new product line when things come to a crashing halt. He needs cash fast and his grandparent’s trust fund is the perfect solution. However, there’s one small requirement to get the money, he has to be married.

Will Kylee and Ryan play a convincing married couple? Or will things fall apart when Ryan’s family gets involved?

Don’t miss A Temporary Marriage, the first of The Fake Love series by Summer Dowell. If you like fake relationships and swoon worthy moments, than this clean romantic comedy will have you turning pages!

QUICK AND CUTE.

This is the second book I’ve read by Summer Dowell and I gotta say, this was much better than the first one I tried. I really enjoyed this light, quick read. Made me smile and all the happy feelings. It reminded me of the movie, The Proposal (with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds).

I love the relationship between Kylee and Ryan. I thought they clearly had chemistry and were both clearly fighting feelings for one another. Each time they got to hang out or needed to show some PDA had me excited for them. I thought the story line was written well and I liked the plot as a whole. The ending was tooootally cliche and Hallmark movie status, and I had no problem with that. Sometimes those are the best endings! I wanted all the mushy-cheesiness because this book called for it.

I thought the writing was significantly better than Love is an Art. There was a lot less telling and more showing through characters actions and words what was happening. I didn’t get as much unnecessary information and was able to really relax into the story. Occasionally the inner monologues of Ryan and Kylee would seem a bit repetitive (we get it, y’all like each other, but won’t admit it), but other than that I had no major complaints.

This would be a great full fledged story. With more background and lead-up to Ryan and Kylee getting together. Things ran pretty quickly and I found myself wanting more from them. At least this was cute. Really cute. And I’m satisfied with that.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: some kisses

Instagram || Goodreads

Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: July 2020

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

REVIVAL.

I have come back from the depths of morning sickness + reading slump to read EIGHTEEN books for July! And I even had some five stars and some really great four stars and this sentence is running on because I’m so relieved to have some “normalcy” right now.

Below are my reads! I read lots of ARCs this month that will have reviews soon and I recommend all of them for your TBR!

Favorites: Clap When You Land, The Empire of Gold, and Far From Normal
Least Favorites: Once More Upon a Time, What I Like About You, and Unravel the Dusk

  • [ARC] Where Dreams Descend (Kingdom of Cards #1) by Janella Angeles – (☆☆☆☆)
  • Clap When You Land by Elizaveth Acevedo – (☆☆☆☆☆)
  • [ARC] Miracle Creek Christmas by Krista Jensen – (☆☆☆☆)
  • The Happy Ever After Playlist (The Friend Zone #2) by Abby Jimenez – (☆☆☆☆)
  • [ARC] Fable (Fable #1) by Adrienne Young – (☆☆☆☆)
  • Once More Upon a Time by Roshani Chokshi – (☆☆☆)
  • [ARC] Well Played (Well Met #2) by Jen DeLuca – (☆☆☆☆)
  • The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata – (☆☆☆☆)
  • The Empire of Gold (The Daevabad Trilogy #3) by S.A. Chakraborty – (☆☆☆☆☆)
  • Not Like the Movies (Waiting for Tom Hanks #2) by Kerry Winfrey – (☆☆☆ 1/2)
  • What I Like About You by Marisa Kanter – (☆☆☆)
  • [ARC] The Hunter and the Mage (The Raven and the Dove #2) by Kaitlyn Davis – (☆☆☆☆)
  • Unravel the Dusk (The Blood of the Stars #2) by Elizabeth Lim – (☆☆☆ 1/2)
  • [ARC] Far From Normal by Becky Wallace – (☆☆☆☆☆)
  • Party of Two (The Wedding Date #5) by Jasmine Guillory – (☆☆☆☆)
  • The Distance Between Us by Kasie West – (☆☆☆☆)
  • The Match (It Happened in Charleston #1) by Sarah Adams – (☆☆☆ 1/2)
  • A Song of Wraiths and Ruin (A Song of Wraiths and Ruin #1) by Roseanna A. Brown – (☆☆☆☆)

Instagram || Goodreads