courtney walsh – GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Sports Romance
Length: 373 pages
Author: Courtney Walsh
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: February 8th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A chance meeting. A hunky hockey player. A fake romance.
Hardly an ordinary day in the life of Poppy Hart.

My days usually consist of agonizing over my failing restaurant, worrying about my mountain of debt and nursing my broken heart.

Everything changes when I bump into a man in the coffee shop and claim him as my new boyfriend. To my absolute horror, he turns out to be hockey’s most renowned bad boy, Dallas Burke. To my absolute delight, he goes along with my story.

When his no-nonsense manager and meddling grandmother jump in the picture, they see a win-win solution for my failing restaurant and Dallas’s less-than-stellar reputation.

A full-fledged fake romance complete with contract negotiations, pretend dates and phony PDA.

But as I get to know the real Dallas Burke, who is not the man the press says he is, it becomes clear that if this isn’t real. . . someone better tell it to my heart.

PERFECT FOR THE HOLIDAY.

Well this was just real dang sweet. If you’re looking for low angst, closed door, reformed bad boys and hockey? Read this. Easy.

I liked a lot of this book, more-so the second half. There was good chemistry between Poppy and Dallas and there were some prime moments that I am ALWAYS here for (protective heroes are my jam). I truly thought they got along well and I liked the fake dating aspects too. AND that they both were vocal about their wants and needs as well. There’s a very light hearted vibe to this that made me feel good and I love books that do that.

There’s some tiny tidbits here and there I didn’t love. I don’t love gossip-type magazine chapters. I really can’t stand mean girl side characters. And the grand gesture at the end left me with a little bit of second hand embarrassment (and didn’t fit the MMC’s character throughout the book).

Besides those small things I like the fluttery butterfly feeling this book gives. They’re some GREAT kissing scenes and I officially want to go on a binge read of all things sports romance. I loooove when I can find a closed door sports romance.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Sports Romance
Language: none
Romance: kisses
Violence: low
Trigger/Content Warnings: incarcerated parent, car accident

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ARC Book Review: Merry Ex-Mas by Courtney Walsh

October 25, 2022October 23, 2022 GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Holiday Romance
Length: 322 pages
Author: Courtney Walsh
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: October 25th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

I haven’t been home for Christmas in eight years.

But that’s about to change. This year, I’m traveling to my small hometown to convince my producer to make me the permanent host of Good Day Denver.

The plan: Charm viewers by sharing my favorite family Christmas traditions, and in turn, get the likes, clicks and shares to land the job.

Not the plan: Running into my ex-boyfriend.

In my house.

For Christmas.

But here he is, a guest of my mother, who apparently had more trouble letting go of Max Weber than I did.

Unfortunately, he is as handsome and charming and talented and annoying and frustrating and flirty as ever.

Even more unfortunately, he seems to have a plan of his own—to convince me to give him a second chance.

Which is not happening.

There’s just one problem—my viewers love him. More than that, they love us. Me and Max. My ex.

The boy who broke my heart.

The boy I now have to fake flirt with to win over the hearts of my viewers.

But it’s not their hearts I’m worried about. . . it’s mine.

Merry Ex-Mas is a sweet, small town, second chance romance with a dash of not-so-fake flirting, a tiny bit of enemies to lovers and just enough forced proximity to make things sizzle.

Thank you to the author for an eARC.

FINDING JOY.

I love Christmas books, and I love that I can easily add this to my recommendations list for the season.

We’ve got a really great set-up of lovers to enemies to lovers and I enjoyed the banter and rehashing of all the things that occurred then and what was happening in the present. And talk about Christmas CHEER. I LOVED the baking, decorating, picking out trees, walking the town, craft shows, alllllll the things that truly brought the entire spirit into this book. I feel so in the mood for everything holiday based, ’tis the season!

There’s plenty of family drama (but the good kind) and a lot of laugh out loud worthy awkwardness as Marin and Max clash a few times before realizing they love they once shared is still clearly there. I do think the change of heart came a bit late for me because Marin really held on to being stubborn about a tough situation. The resolutions afterwards led to some beautiful conversations that warmed my soul and made me love these characters.

Perfect for the season. Great swoony moments, hilarious banter and just a truly good time of a read.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Holiday Romance
Language: none
Romance: kisses
Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of parents (from a car wreck, off page), grief and loss depiction, depression

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Book Review

Book Review: If For Any Reason (Nantucket Love Story #1) by Courtney Walsh

June 7, 2022January 20, 2022 GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 408 pages
Author: Courtney Walsh
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Release Date: February 3rd, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Emily Ackerman has traveled the world, her constant compass and companion a book of letters her mother left for her when she died. With no father in the picture, her mom’s advice has been her only true north. But when professional failure leads Emily back to Nantucket to renovate and sell the family cottage she inherited, she wonders if her mom left advice to cover this . . . especially when her grandmother arrives to “supervise.” And especially when her heart becomes entangled with Hollis McGuire, the boy next door-turned-baseball star who’s back on the island after a career-ending injury.

As sparks fly between her and Hollis, Emily is drawn to island life, even as she uncovers shocking secrets about the tragic accident that led to her mother’s death. With her world turned upside down, Emily must choose between allowing the voices from her past to guide her future or forging her own path forward.

A GOOD READ.

Sometimes I feel like I need more to say in my tag line about why you should read this review, and then read this book. But other times, a good read, is just truly where it stands. I enjoyed this book. I want to read the next one. Those are good things!!

This does read a bit more Christian fiction / Women’s fiction and then add some romance in there. That was my only struggle with it because it was a much slower paced nature for everything I was trying to follow. I liked the character growth of everyone involved (except for Grandma, I’m still salty there) and how time changes perspectives.

I loooove multi-POV romance reads and you betcha this was fantastic getting both Emily and Hollis’s sides as their relationship grew. I did feel more attached to the other romance weaving through with the flashbacks. I spent plenty of time on the edge of my seat then up in my feels over how things fell apart.

There’s a lot to unpack here and I loved the way God was woven into the story. I would be experiencing many of the same emotions as these characters were in these situations. While frustrated with some of the decisions they at least felt authentic to the plot. Can’t wait to read the next book!

Overall audience notes:

Christian Fiction / Romance
Language: very little
Romance: kisses
Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a mother (by a car accident), parental abandonment, depression/guilt

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Book Review

Book Review: A Cross-Country Christmas by Courtney Walsh

December 23, 2021November 13, 2021 GoodeyReads

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 256 pages
Author: Courtney Walsh
Publisher: Sweethaven Press
Release Date: October 26th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Lauren Richmond isn’t a fan of Christmas.

Which is why she rarely makes the trip home to the Midwest for the holidays. After all, she has plenty to keep her busy—namely, her duties as a set decorator on a TV sitcom.

But this December, Lauren‘s brother and his wife are expecting a baby, so her brother arranges a ride home for her with his good friend, Will.

Unfortunately for Lauren, she’s been trying to forget college baseball coach and childhood crush Will Sinclair for more than ten years.

Now, thanks to her fear of flying, she’s stuck in a car with him from California to Illinois.

She’s circumspect and organized. He’s flirty and spontaneous.

She’s convinced that people don’t change. He’s trying to prove to her (and himself) that he has.

On this cross-country road trip, they’ll both discover that history doesn’t exactly repeat itself. . . but like any good Christmas carol, it does have a second verse.

PULLED AT MY HEART.

This is one of those five stars that even when you noticed some flaws, the read still pulled at your soul in so many ways that it deserves the highest rating. What a great Christmas-time read and put me into the spirit of the season.

I love how even over the course of just a few days I felt drawn and attached to Lauren and Will’s second chance romance. A lot comes out when you’re stuck on the road for long periods of time, and wow did it! They were both deep and nuanced characters who I resonated with. I felt for them, I wanted to hug them, and I really wanted them to JUST KISS ALREADY. Don’t worry, I got that too.

Filled with holiday goodness I highly recommend this one for your TBR. Couldn’t get enough. It’s fast paced and easy to fly through. I love the theme of grace and choosing your own story, even when you need to rewrite a few pages. There’s hope in the future.

Overall audience notes: