Tag: forever

Book Review: Can’t Get Enough (Skyland #3) by Kennedy Ryan

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 448 pages
Author: Kennedy Ryan
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: May 13th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Hendrix Barry lives a fabulous life. She has phenomenal friends, a loving family, and a thriving business that places her in the entertainment industry’s rarefied air. Your vision board? She’s probably living it.

She’s a woman with goals, dreams, ambitions—always striving upward. And in the midst of everything, she’s facing her toughest challenge caring for an aging parent.

Who has time for romance? From her experience, there’s a low ROI on relationships. She hasn’t met the man who can keep up with her anyway. Until…him.

Tech mogul Maverick Bell is a dilemma wrapped in an exquisitely tailored suit and knee-melting charm. From their first charged glance at the summer’s hottest party, Hendrix feels like she’s met her match. Only he can’t be. Mav may be the first to make her feel this seen and desired and appreciated, but he’s the last one she can have. Forbidden fruit is the juiciest, and this man is off limits if she plans to stay the course she’s set for herself.

But when Maverick gives chase—pursuing her, spoiling her, understanding her—is it time to let herself have something more?

Thank you to LibroFM for the gifted audiobook.

OH I LOVED THIS SO MUCH.

This was FANTASTIC. What a conclusion. Gosh I am in loooooove. I loved the audiobook too. The narrators are incredible and bring this story to life. BLESS DUAL POV ROMANCES.

I loved the loyal and loving friendships. The bond these women have is incredible. I love the way they raise each other up and show up during the hard and easy moments.

AND THE ROMANCE? Maverick was a man OBESSED and I am here for it. I loved his pursuit that was not over done. He cared and showed that time and time again. The trust and build was swoony and heated. And I loved that he was this strong support for Hendrix. Hendrix can do all the things and is fiercely independent and intimidating so the push and pull between them really brought out so many layers to their relationship.

All of the Alzheimer’s content was deeply moving and brought out all of the emotions. I wasn’t expecting this book to hit as hard as it did and I am blown away.

(My only small thing was that the spice was SPICY, I had to skip more than I like).

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: 5+ open door
  • Violence: mild
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: a parent with Alzheimer’s (strong theme throughout story)

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ALC Book Review: Not Safe for Work by Nisha J. Tuli

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Nisha J. Tuli
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: May 20th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Rival engineers dabble in personal chemistry while at a tropical company retreat in this smart, zippy romcom.

Engineer Trishara Malik once dreamed of being the first woman of color to smash the glass ceiling at WMC Purcell, but after years of dealing with white male privilege and blatant nepotism, she watches her hard-earned promotion go to her nemesis, Rafe Gallagher—the boss’s son. Teetering on the edge of burnout, Tris is stunned when she’s picked to attend WMC’s corporate leadership retreat in Hawaii. It’s a chance to revive her stalled career and compete for a coveted spot in an executive training program—plus, three weeks in paradise! The only downside? Rafe is her co-attendee.

Tris plans to avoid Rafe entirely, but when she arrives in Maui, a booking error has them stuck sharing the honeymoon suite. Sure, it’s not all torture. Rafe is a smoldering ten—okay fine, an eleven—but after years of competition, they can barely stand being in the same time zone. As they vie against each other during aptitude tests and team-building exercises, Tris begins to realize Rafe might not be the villain after all. With her dreams at stake, can she learn to trust the man who might have been standing in her corner all along?

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ALC.

WELL I AM SURPRISED.

I did not like the fantasy series by this author. And so picking up the contemporary made me hesitant, but you know what, I’m not mad I read it. I actually liked more of this than I thought. A soft four stars feels like an apt rating for me.

It’s very much a summer romance type of read. On location in Hawaii there were many beach activities, hanging out on boats and more. The idea behind having a three week work conference seemed a little far fetched, but I could be wrong, maybe they are that long. At least there was an intense amount of forced proximity thanks to a hotel snafu (IYKYK).

I did find the FMC quick to complain a lot (mostly about the hotel situation, it got repetitive. But I did love her tenacity in other areas. Trishara had a great character arc where she found the best ways to fight for what she deserved and the way to do so. I thought the themes were very obvious but I didn’t think they were heavy handed.

The romance was super swoony. I loved the slow burn (though when the spice hit, watch out). I just adored Rafe. He communicated [mostly] well and was sweet and protective and broody while rolling out good banter and heat too. The ex-girlfriend drama though? I hated it. It’s just a plot device that I don’t love seeing and I also find goes a step too far. That was my biggest gripe.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 4ish open door
  • Content warnings: sexism, misogyny, racism, nonconsensual touching, blackmail

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ARC Book Review: Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Abby Jimenez
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: April 1st, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Just for the Summer comes a new playful yet deeply emotional contemporary romance.

There might be no such a thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes—all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediately yes. That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there’s nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong…

. . . unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake. But after one incredible and seemingly endless date—possibly the best in living history—Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be.

Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life—and even a love—worth remembering.

Thank you to the publisher for an eARC from Netgalley.

YUP. I’M CRYING.

Why do Abby Jimenez books hit so hard every time????? I am an emotional wreck after this one.

As someone who did long distance for a year, I felt the roller coaster of emotions and situations that come up when you can’t be physically present. It’s tough and seeing Samantha and Xavier work through that was really something. They wanted their relationship so deeply that they almost sacrificed too much and I loved seeing them communicate the hard things and find balance and peace.

The care giving aspects (to Samantha’s mom who has dementia) hit on so many levels. The raw and often desolate waves of situations and feelings that come out you when every day feels one step closer to permanently cracking. It’s trauma heavy but I think worked well in the story (I don’t qualify this as a rom-com, there’s some humor but it is settled around heavy themes).

AND HANK??? BLESS THAT MAN.

I binged this faster than I could blink and you could catch me crying in my reading chair waiting for those final moments to come together at last.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: mild
  • Romance: 1-2 brief open door
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content warnings: taking care of a loved one with advanced dementia, abusive parents (recounted and some on page depiction), mentions of animal abuse and neglect

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Book Review: All Fired Up by Dylan Newton

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Dylan Newton
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: May 17th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

After one wild night together, two complete opposites plan to stay firmly in the friend zone, but life has other plans in this delightful romantic comedy, perfect for fans of Emily Henry and Abby Jimenez.

As a successful book publicist, Imani Lewis works night and day to promote her authors.  It’s her dream job, but she’s become a total workaholic. So when her grandmother invites her to stay for the summer as she recovers from surgery, Imani happily agrees. But being back in the same small town as her one-night stand may not be quite the relaxing break she envisioned… 

Zander Matthews wakes up every day determined to enjoy the present because he knows from his time in the Marines that tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. But he’s never gotten over the beautiful woman who blew through town a year ago, then disappeared. And he doesn’t want to be hurt again. So they agree to a deal: he’ll help Imani fix up her grandmother’s house as long as they stay firmly in the friend zone.

Whether it’s repairing tiles in his ceramics studio, dodging nosy neighbors, or soothing the most obnoxious parrot ever, Zander never fails to make Imani laugh. And soon their friendly banter is turning ever flirtier. But since Imani’s stay is temporary and Zander can’t be tied to anything beyond the most tenuous plans, will she be able to handle it when things get all fired up?

BETTER THAN THE FIRST.

Ohhh I loved this so much more y’all. New favorite of these brother books (because we get a third one right??!).

Zander never game up on Imani and I LOVE A MAN WHO FALLS FIRST. Probably my biggest highlight because I was full on smitten with everything he was doing to woo Imani.

I really liked a lot of the conversations throughout about growing up, stability, loss, and more. While I about found myself frustrated with the conflict, the conversations after were much more needed than I realized and I liked the switch up in the drama that usually plays out in these scenarios.

There were small tidbits throughout the plot I didn’t jive with. Nothing to go on about, but it drew me out enough to lower my rating. It was still much more enchanting than book one to me and I’m glad I took a chance on picking it up.

Fast paced and full of sweet moments (and a small dash of steam), I would easily recommend this as a good summertime romance read.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: one open door
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: PTSD, grief depiction, childbirth, loss of parents recounted

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