Book Review: Exes Don’t (Fall in Love #3) by Leah Dobrinska

March 4, 2025December 26, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: Christmas Sports Romance
Length: 292 pages
Author: Leah Dobrinska
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: October 8th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A fast-paced and fun sports and spy romantic comedy…let the games begin!

Rose Kasper has a secret. A big one. She’s a spy. Okay…not exactly. She works as an undercover security specialist. For a decade, she’s used dry humor, deflection, and self-deprecation to keep herself distanced from her sisters and friends in order to hide her double life. But when a man she dated for the job years ago—the same man she foolishly let herself get close to—is in danger, she must place herself in his playing field yet again. Whether he likes it or not.

Anton Bates has a full life juggling his roles as star quarterback of the Green Bay River Foxes and Prince of Penwick, a small island nation off the coast of Norway. He’s slow to trust, having been used for his position—both of them—on more than one occasion. So when Rose Kasper, a woman whom he loved and lost, sweeps back into his life, he wants nothing to do with her. Or does he?

Anton audibles and decides to use his unexpected reunion with Rose as an opportunity to prove to her that the two of them together are a touchdown. Rose knows she doesn’t deserve Anton—not with all the lies and deceit. But his gameplan is working, and she starts to believe that if she’s honest with him, maybe things between them can be different this time. But when the truth comes out and Anton’s life is at risk, their second chance looks like it’ll end in a loss.

Because exes don’t fall in love…do they?

MY KRYPTONITE.

I don’t know what it says about me that one of my favorite tropes is a man obsessed. But it is what it is and it’s really easy to win me over at that point. I loved this book, it’s my current favorite of the series and I had such a blast with it (especially after just finishing Wind and Truth, IYKYK).

The quarterback/prince dynamic took a little more suspension of my reality than I prefer, but the author made this work. It’s quirky and you don’t have ALL the information, yet the romance really shines and I loved that this had just the right amount of flashback chapters to add to the history between Rose and Anton.

Also, praise dual POV. I loved seeing both of their mindsets and personalities behind all of the hard decisions that were being thrown at them. I loved all of Anton’s teammates and Rose’s sisters. Strong support systems make a book really sing for me.

The confession of love about melted me through the FLOOR. Oh gosh it was perfect. I loved all of the heated kisses and mounting tension that broke away for a second chance and a true relationship. The drama played well into the finale and it’s a quick, lighter read that even has a little bit of holiday cheer.

Overall audience notes:

Sports Romance
Language: none
Romance: heated kisses
Violence: mild
Content Warnings: brief gun violence

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Book Review: All Out of Love (Boys of Riverside #3) by Gracie Graham

January 7, 2025September 11, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: NA Contemporary Romance
Length: 548 pages
Author: Gracie Graham
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: February 27th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Book three in the Boys of Riverside series takes off where book two leaves off, bringing you an epic love story for the boy Mackenzie Hart did not choose.

A GOOD CONTINUATION.

I’ve been wanting to see where this character’s story was going to go and I liked seeing his development! I also am purposely not naming him because he’s a part of the love triangle from the previous two books and the suspense is key!

I liked the romance. It had a lot of good swoon and conversations. I loved seeing both of the main characters grow and change and grasp what they wanted to do with life. It’s perfectly heated and I loved the tension.

I did struggle with suspending some belief about one of the main plot lines. It seemed a little farfetched in the end. And I don’t love a third act martyr situation.

OTHERWISE. I am still very much loving this series and can’t wait to continue.

Overall audience notes:

NA Contemporary Romance
Language: low
Romance: closed door
Violence: moderate
Content Warnings: physical altercations, child abuse, mentions of infidelity (side characters)

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Book Review: Love How You Love Me (Boys of Riverside #2) by Gracie Graham

October 5, 2024July 26, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: NA Contemporary Romance
Length: 392 pages
Author: Gracie Graham
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: May 31st, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

All I wanted for so long was to remember the car crash that killed my mother. Like it might somehow chase away the guilt and grief that followed her death.

But now I remember, and everything has changed.
I should be relieved.
Instead, I’m angry at the world. My mother. Father. And especially the boy who stole my heart and crushed it beneath his palm.
Everyone warned me to stay away from Atlas Scott–the bad boy football star, with a reputation for trouble.
Maybe I should’ve listened.
But our bond was seemingly unbreakable, forged in the fire of tragedy.

Until it wasn’t, and everything fell apart.
Now the memories that haunt me are so much harder to manage on the heels of heartbreak.
Graham, my best friend, is, once again, picking up the pieces while I search for vindication in all the wrong places.

Because there’s only one catalyst for healing and redemption.
Love.

HERE FOR THE DRAMA.

Oh my goodness. I binged the first book and this one back to back and I have zero regrets. I loved the high level of drama and the NEED I felt the entire time reading that I had to know what happens next. This was the angsty tension filled love triangle I didn’t know I needed and I will now be forever recommending it to others.

I loved the continuation of this story. I thought the plot points came together well and I left feeling satisfied with part of the story and excited for the continuation of the other. This does finish Mackenzie’s romance and who she ends up with. There’s plenty of swoon and quotable moments and I will ABSOLUTELY be continuing this series.

Overall audience notes:

NA Sports Romance
Language: moderate
Romance: one closed door
Violence: moderate
Content Warnings: loss of a father from suicide, mentions of drug/alcohol addiction, attempted assault, gambling addiction, underage drinking

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ARC Book Review: It’s Always Us (The Abandoned Brothers #3) by Stacy Williams

October 3, 2024September 14, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 476 pages
Author: Stacy Williams
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: October 7th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

What if you give your whole heart away? Do you ever really get it back?

Lex has just been going through the motions for years, trying to let go of the one man she can’t seem to forget. When she finds herself getting ready to take on a life she’s never wanted, she realizes she’s stuck in the same place she was at sixteen—heart stolen and fully belonging to another. Now, Lex is determined to move forward and finally face reality—life without him.

But when the past returns, making declarations she’d never thought she’d hear again, will Lex take a chance to finally go after what she’s always wanted?

Mark has been living the high life…at least, that’s what the media believes. Reality is, he’s spent the last eight years thinking of the one who promised to love him always. For Mark, time has passed and damage was done, but he just can’t convince himself that her devotion wasn’t real. When time is running out—or so he thinks—he takes a shot to find out once and for all if her words were honest and true.

When the fun-loving, professional quarterback makes his play, will he find that the hope he’s held onto is everything he needed it to be? What if it’s so much more than he ever could have imagined?

It’s Always Us is a touching love story that reminds us when all hope is lost…love lasts.

This story is part of a series but if you don’t mind a few spoilers, it can be read as a stand-alone.

Thank you to the author for an eARC.

THE JOURNEY.

This book made me have to stare down some things I don’t generally like when I’m reading a romance book. But the pure chaos of this journey and the up and down roller coaster had me flipping page after page never able to guess where this story would turn next. And that had it’s own wonderful quality too.

I loved how much Mark and Lex showed that soul mate level quality of connection. How when you feel like you’re hitting the end of what you can handle, love finds a way. Love creates a path. Love finds a way to fight with you.

Both characters had a lot of walls they had to hit a few times over before they found a way around. I loved the supporting cast and how they helped Mark and Lex get through their journey’s. The ending came together so sweetly and squeezed my heart strings.

This book has been a long time coming for this series and I loved all the truths it held and the satisfying conclusion it was for the all three brothers.

Overall audience notes: