Tag: contemporary romance

Book Review: Loyally, Luke (Skymar #3) by Pepper Basham

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Pepper Basham
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: May 14th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Sometimes love means embracing the good, the bad . . . and even the impossible.

Dear Reader,

My name is Luke Edgewood, and there are few things in life that I require. Mainly black coffee. And flannel. And lots of solitude. And my dogs, Chewy and Indie. What I don’t need is romance, so I have no plans to change my thirty-year-old bachelor status anytime soon.

But my youngest sister thinks that by accepting a short-term construction job in the small European country of Skymar, I’m going to follow along in her footsteps and discover my own romantic adventure. Nope. Bah humbug. The End. This time, her rom-com-movie senses are totally wrong.

Or maybe not. Because I’ve met a Grace Kelly look-alike who is annoying . . . until she isn’t. But she is impossible. As in, nothing can happen between us because she is a literal princess. Even though that’s easy to forget when we’re working together to restore a castle-like orphanage in a secluded mountain town and “forced proximity” includes a small closet, a secret one-hundred-year-old journal, and the tactile memory of an off-limits royal in my arms.

Basically, the whole situation has turned into an ooey gooey magical snow globe of romantic tropes complete with cute kids and an actual ball. Now, even my sentences are starting to sound like mush. Ugh. Send high levels of testosterone my way—I’m going to need it.

Loyally,
Luke

Thank you to Thomas Nelson for the gifted copy.

MUCH BETTER.

After having a lot of mixed feelings about book two in this series, I’m happy to see I easily enjoyed this one much more. It was a sweet romance. I loved the hidden identities and all of the renovation work. The audiobook did these characters justice and blessed be that there were a loooot less texting/email conversations. I still didn’t find those necessary to the story, and I really liked when it was just Luke and the princess.

There’s good banter and that edge of forbidden romance. The setting has castles and beautiful country sides. The light faith elements didn’t overwhelm the story and I liked how the ending came together and where this couple ended up. It’s light and charming and I look forward to trying another Pepper Basham book.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low

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Book Review: The Blonde Who Came in Form the Cold (Blonde Identity #2) by Ally Carter

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Ally Carter
Publisher: Avon Books
Release Date: August 5th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Ten years ago, they joined the CIA.

Six years ago, he left the game.

Five years ago, they fell in love.

One year ago, she ran out into the cold with absolutely no intention of ever coming back.

And two minutes ago, they woke up, bloody and bruised and handcuffed together in the dark.

They don’t know where they are. They don’t know how they got there. And they have absolutely no idea who is after them or what this nameless, faceless villain wants.

The only thing that’s clear is that, after ten years of covers and chemistry, secrets and lies, these two rival spies have been sucked into their greatest mission yet, and now they’re going to have to team up to stay alive. (If they don’t kill each other first.)

Thank you to Avon Books for the ARC and LibroFM for the gifted audiobook.

OH I WAS OBSESSED.

OH MY GOSH THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD. Frankly that’s all you need. ALL THE DANG STARS GO PICK IT UP.

I am such a puddle for a man SO DOWN BAD. The MMC (who gets his own narration!!!!) was incredible. I love him. I love him. I love him. I could give you a list of scenes that had me swooning non-stop and obsessing over his every move. And I adored the FMC too. The banter was off the charts and you could feel their chemistry from the first moment. These flashbacks were AMAZING. I’m not a flashback chapter fan and appreciated that these only added and shaped the story.

It’s fast paced, full of action, heat, romance and allllll the things. I loved the audiobook. I loved the book. I LOVED IT ALL.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance Mystery
  • Language: low
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: moderate

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Book Review: Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other by Bethany Turner

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Bethany Turner
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: September 5th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

She’s a sunny morning-show host. He’s a cynical ex-reporter. They’re destined to hate each other . . . Aren’t they?

Brynn Cornell has to be stuck in a nightmare. Just last week, she was riding high as cohost of the popular morning show Sunup. She’s America’s Ray of Sunshine—the girl-next-door beauty who drives up TV ratings while never exuding anything but her trademark positivity and poise. All it took was one huge on-air mistake to expose her snarky side to the world and make it all come crumbling down. Now she’s back in her hometown of Adelaide Springs, Colorado, in a last-ditch attempt to convince viewers she’s not the mean girl they think she is. All she has to do is apologize and capture some feel-good footage reminding everyone she’s just a girl from humble beginnings who’s grateful for her big break, and she might manage to preserve both her career and her image. But this town holds painful memories that she’s not ready to face.

Sebastian Sudworth was on the fast track to the journalist hall of fame. A superstar reporter with a reputation for being in the center of the action, his fearless, relentless coverage of major events around the globe was winning him awards and accolades—until something snapped inside him and he vanished from the scene under mysterious circumstances. Sebastian sought refuge in tiny Adelaide Springs, working odd jobs and trying to blend in as a scruffy mountain town citizen.

When Sebastian is assigned to chauffeur Brynn around town, Brynn is sure he can see right through her carefully cultivated, sunny persona. But she’s determined to do what it takes to maintain her image and save her career—so she’ll just have to charm the socks off Sebastian the same way she charmed her viewers. Easier said than done. It’s no picnic to play nice around someone you hate . . . especially when you might be crazy about them.

Author’s Note: This slow-burn, low-spice/clean enemies-to-lovers rom-com is set in a small town full of quirky citizens and is packed with pop culture, witty banter, and a guaranteed Happily Ever After–provided they can resist the urge to throw each other off a Colorado mountainside first. After all, Brynn (you probably won’t like her at first) is desperately trying to save her career and Sebastian (who’s hiding from his own demons) really just wants to be left alone to sing karaoke in peace.

Thank you to Bibliolifestyle and Thomas Nelson for the gifted copy.

I LIKED IT?

This book has pretty low ratings on Goodreads (3.5) but since this was a part of a tour I read it anyways, y’all I liked it? I did struggle with the FMC. She was a bit uppity and the name dropping was annoying, BUT I did like the general growth over the book.

And I also liked the romance. I wish it had more romance because the pieces that were there were nice. I thought Sebastian and Brynn had a good connection and even when they started off on the wrong foot, found a way to communicate and move forward rather than holding on to grievances.

I thought the audiobook was a great way to read this book and it has definitely inclined me to pick up another by this author!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low

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Book Review: Wandering Wild by Lynette Noni

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Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 304 pages
Author: Lynette Noni
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Release Date: May 20th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

She hates him. He needs her. Can they survive when all they have is each other?

Zander Rune was the darling of Hollywood until he fell from glory and was labelled a problematic bad boy. His public image needs fixing—fast—or he’ll lose the role of a lifetime, and all his dreams with it.

Charlie Hart is a regular teenage girl who despises everything Zander represents. But thanks to her scheming best friend and an ill-timed social media competition, Charlie finds herself pretending to be Zander’s biggest fan on a four-day reality TV adventure led by renowned survivalist Rykon Hawke.

When their trip goes horribly wrong, Charlie and Zander are left stranded in the wilderness. No Rykon, no film crew, no rescue. The only way they’ll survive is if they trust each other. But in order to do so, both will have to let go of the ghosts of their pasts, and just maybe find themselves—and one another—in the process.

SURPRISINGLY A HIT.

I’ve seen some mixed reviews from friends on this one, but I’m happy to report that waiting for the audiobook was the way to go and I am happy to report I thought that this was a gem. It has some heavier themes that I thought were handled well and I felt all the emotions during those closing scenes after the full truth was explained and friendships were reunited.

I don’t quite know how I feel about the reveal for the wilderness trip. It seemed a bit shady (which I guess reality shows kind of are??), but rubbed me wrong on a few levels.

Otherwise though, I don’t have any major complaints. It was dual POV (with two narrators!!) so I felt really engaged in the story. The romance isn’t at the forefront, but it is there and had a genuinely sweet quality to it. There were a lot of little nuanced moments that struck home for me and I had a good time with this one.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: low
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: mild
  • Content warnings: wilderness excursions that result in life threatening situations, mentions of suicide, driving under the influence of drugs

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