Tag: contemporary romance

Book Review: Caught Up (Windy City #3) by Liz Tomforde

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Sports Romance
Length: 400 pages
Author: Liz Tomforde
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Release Date: October 10th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Kai.
I’m a single dad and starting pitcher for Chicago’s MLB team.I’m stretched too thin, but I don’t want help raising my son.Each of his previous nannies only lasted a few weeks before I let them go.Now, my coach is putting his foot down by hiring the one person I can’t fire—his daughter.Miller Montgomery is the last woman I should fall for. Too wild, too young, and too unattached. Chicago is just a quick stop for her. I thought I’d be counting down the days until she left, but summer feels too short when I start thinking about forever.
Miller.
As a high-end pastry chef who recently won the most prestigious award in my industry, I’m desperate to prove I deserve it. But with a new title comes new pressure, and I can’t create a fresh and inspiring dessert to save my life.With only two months to get back on track, I should be focusing in the kitchen, but instead, I let my dad talk me into using my time off to nanny for his star player’s kid.Kai Rhodes forgot how to have fun, and I’m eager to jog his memory. But when he and his son start to feel like home, I have to remind us both that my time in Chicago ends with the summer.Besides, I’ve always been a runner, and the last thing I want is to get caught.

GOOD.

This is the first baseball romance I can recollect recently reading and genuinely enjoying. I loved Kai so dang much and he was the sweetest Dad. I loved the level of baseball content throughout and getting to see teammates and Isiah. All of the friendships were some of my favorite aspects. I love seeing strong bonds. Oh!! And Miller and Monty’s relationship made my heat squeeze multiple times. They had a special bond I was endeared to from the beginning.

I enjoyed most of the romance. I didn’t love the summer fling aspects as it came to be a fairly repetitive dynamic, especially for Miller. After a medium-ish burn and some good angst I thought the needed relationship conversations would happen and I felt like those kept getting dragged out. I was tired of Miller repeating herself.

So while not my favorite of the series (The Right Move maintains all supremacy), I am still liking this series plenty. There were some fantastic scenes in here and I found the spice to be pretty easy to skip. Looking forward to book four!!

Overall audience notes:

  • Sports Romance
  • Language: high
  • Romance: 3-4 open door
  • Violence: low
  • Content Warnings: parental abandonment mentioned, sexual assault (on-page), death of a parent mentioned

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ARC Book Review: Maid for Each Other by Lynn Painter

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Lynn Painter
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: July 15th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A millionaire and a house cleaner are a match maid in heaven in this sparkling new romantic comedy by Lynn Painter, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Happily Never After.

As a professional cleaner, Abi Mariano never thought her apartment would have any sort of infestation, but because of a building-wide outbreak, she now needs somewhere to stay for a week. As a part-time student with two jobs, she doesn’t have many options. Then the solution presents itself: the owner of the penthouse she cleans is out of town for the week. She normally wouldn’t consider it, but he’s literally never around (she hasn’t even met him). It goes great…until one morning she finds two strangers in the kitchen. They’re the parents of the penthouse owner and they seem to think they’ve heard all about Abi—not as their son’s maid, but as his girlfriend.

Declan Powell has always put his career first, working his way up to become an executive at his company, but he still has his sights set on the next level. When his parents mention that they met his girlfriend, “Abby,” he all but chokes on his escargot. As wonderful as it sounds that she was just darling, he doesn’t actually have a girlfriend—he made her up to get everyone off his back. When Dex finds out who Abi really is, he makes her a proposition: pretend to date him, and he’ll provide everything she needs during their little arrangement. What harm would it do? It’s purely business, no pleasure…right?

Thank you Berkley Romance for the gifted eARC.

OH I ADORED THIS.

It’s not a secret that I’m a big Lynn Painter fan. They just give me that shot of dopamine that I am always needing and I had a blast reading MFEO. It had me laughing and smiling and swooning all over the place. Is it totally cheesy? YOU BETCHA. Go for the vibes, it’s a delight.

I might be able to nitpick a few things about the plot but by the end I thought certain points were circled back to and answered and I was good with those conclusions.

The banter was, as always, top tier between Abi and Declan. I was a sucker for the nicknames and made up stories. All of the fake dating and millionaire aspects were incredibly fun. It felt unrealistic in a realistic way that made it one of those perfect picks for a summer romance. I loved the charm and heated moments. AND THE SWEET TENDER ONES SENT ME. Gosh these two were flipping adorable. Declan is a man who fell HARD. Loved it. Loved it all.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 2ish open door; low/vague explicit

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ARC/ALC Book Review: Roll for Romance by Lenora Woods

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Lenora Woods
Publisher: Dell
Release Date: July 15th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Two fledgling tabletop gamers find themselves falling for each other—both in and out of their weekly D&D sessions—in this charming, fantasy-tinged romance.

For years, Sadie Brooks has declined her best friend’s standing invitation to join his Dungeons & Dragons campaign. But when she unexpectedly loses her marketing job and flees New York City to spend the summer with him in small-town Texas, she also runs out of excuses to say no.

In the game, she becomes Jaylie, a powerful and self-assured human cleric blessed by the Goddess of Luck with spells to heal her companions. But in real life, Sadie believes her luck has run out, and she hopes the distraction will give her time to clear her head and plan next steps.

She never expected Noah Walker—the handsome, outgoing bartender roped into joining them—to factor into that plan. Like Sadie, he’s new in town. But with a taste for adventure, Noah never stays in one place for long. He’s something of a traveling bard—just like his character Loren, the charismatic, lute-strumming elf. While Jaylie finds herself succumbing to the bard’s charms over the course of their party’s travels, Sadie also begins to fall under Noah’s spell.

As their relationship progresses in both worlds, Sadie can’t help but wonder if they might last beyond the game. But when a surprising new opportunity opens in New York, she must face the truth about why she lost her job in the first place—and whether she and Noah have found something in Texas worth staying for. Torn between her career dreams in the city and the exciting uncertainty of a new adventure, she will have no choice but to roll the dice.

Thank you to Dell Romance and PRH Audio for the gifted ARC and audiobook.

IT WAS SWEET.

I love reading romances set in Texas so I had to have my hands on this one. It was cute! If you’re looking for a low angst, low tension, easy kind of romance, this would fit that bill. There’s not a lot to it and that’s kind of the charm? The plot isn’t heavy and sometimes that’s exactly what you need. I liked seeing Sadie learn what direction she wanted to take and finding the way to get there. Her chemistry with Noah was solid and they were both sweet one each other.

The one thing I struggled with was the multiple D&D/role playing scenes. I felt they kind of took over the story and I wanted more connection and build in the real time story rather than being stuck in the game for maybe 30%? or so of the book.

I liked it enough to read another by this author though. It was a genuine slow burn and the third act didn’t make me want to rage and I appreciate that.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: mild – moderate
  • Romance: 2-3ish open door
  • Violence: low

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Book Review: The Long Way Home (Magnolia Parks Universe #3) by Jessa Hastings

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Rating: ★★★.75
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 608 pages
Author: Jessa Hastings
Publisher: Dutton Books
Release Date: November 7th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

How many loves do you get in a lifetime? And are Magnolia and BJ each other’s one and only? 

It’s been nearly a year since everything happened between Magnolia Parks and BJ Ballentine on the steps of the Mandarin Oriental, and since then it seems like everything has changed.

Magnolia has a life in New York now and BJ appears to have finally let go and moved on.

But when they both wind up back in London and are thrust together once again, they find themselves asking their age-old How many loves do you actually get in a lifetime, and, most important—are they each other’s?

I’M STILL MAD.

I think this is my least favorite of the series so far (and I have seen that book four will possibly be my favorite?? So I’m going to report back on that). For someone (BJ, I AM LOOKING AT YOU) who claims that they have worked on themselves to go around and do the same things he was from book one about made me throw my phone. Same with Magnolia honestly. There were definitely were some moments where I could feel sympathy and the plight of going through hard things but some things they bring upon themselves and I am shouting WHYYYYYYYY.

I did like the second half more. And there were a handful of memorable scenes that pulled at my emotions. I liked some of the situations happening and it makes me want to know what’s going on in book four ASAP.

And that ending????

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: fade to black; brief open; innuendo throughout
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content Warnings: miscarriage, grief/loss depiction, physical violence, car accident

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