Tag: indie author

ARC Book Review: Royal Gone Rogue (Sweet Royal RomCom #2) by Emma St. Clair

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 345 pages
Author: Emma St. Clair
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: February 28th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

I need to find the perfect woman to be my queen. Love was never supposed to be part of the arrangement.

I’ve always done things by the book–that’s the burden of being the heir to the Elsinorian throne. So when my father grows ill and my coronation seems imminent, I intend to find my future queen the same way … with logic and a list of eligible women who fit a detailed set of data points.

My brother agrees to cover for me at the court, and I set out to offer a common woman the chance to be something more.

Only … nothing goes according to plan.

Alessia is far more than she seemed on paper, and she stirs feelings I never imagined having. The next thing I know, I’m washing dishes in her grandfather’s restaurant, hoping to win her hand and her heart.

Meanwhile, my absence in Elsinore has been noticed and the whole kingdom is wondering if I’m abdicating the throne. Though I love the simple village life, I need to return home, and I won’t do so without Alessia.

The only problem: I might not have mentioned the fact that I’m the crown prince of Elsinore.

Royal Gone Rogue is the second in the Sweet Royal RomCom series with laugh-out-loud humor, heart-warming love stories, and sizzling chemistry that keeps the bedroom door closed.

Thank you to Emma St. Clair for an eARC.

CLASSIC.

Ohhh I needed this read. I ADORED IT. It very much has that classic fairytale vibe that used to be super popular and that was easily one of my favorite aspects of it. The commoner and the royal getting a whirlwind romance and all the goodness in-between.

There’s an undeniable connection between Phillip and Alessia from the get-go. I thought it was just the SWEETEST. Hanging out in a small town, sea-side, talking late into the night and falling in love? Absolutely smitten over here. They had some ups and downs (of course) but I appreciated the way you could see the growth in both of them as each had to cope with a different life before them.

The side characters made this book. I loved them all. All of the close sibling dynamics, the group of grandpa’s, even the Queen played her part well too. Everyone was well written out and only added to how much I was enjoying reading this.

I am always here for forced proximity and lots of kissing, and oh there was LOTS of kissing. This whole book was incredibly romantic. I’ll be here swooning for the foreseeable future.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: a father with liver failure, loss of parents (off-page)

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Book Review: First to Fall (Lost Story Bookshop #2) by Jenny B. Jones

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 427 pages
Author: Jenny B. Jones
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: January 31st, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

When I woke up this morning, I became aware of two things:
One, I felt hungover, and I knew I hadn’t had a drop of liquor.
And two, I was pretty sure I had accidentally married someone.

I, Olivia Sutton, have a Ten Year Plan. It’s air-tight and written in permanent ink. You know what’s not on the plan? Getting married to the man I used to love to hate. But when my sister’s pre-wedding trip goes horribly wrong, I find myself legally bound to my old nemesis, tech sensation Lachlan Hayes. Lachlan pitches a plan to temporarily stay married. It is absolutely insane? Yes. But it has the potential to fix so many problems for both of us—and create even bigger ones.

As secrets unravel between us, I discover there’s more to my nerd husband than arrogance and a party-boy reputation. Falling for this guy is definitely not on the Ten Year Plan, but living in the same house? Acting like I’ve given my heart to my husband? Public kisses that make me forget my name? When our fake marriage becomes all too real, Lachlan and I find ourselves crossing lines we swore we wouldn’t. It has me wondering if I can walk away from Lachlan when our time is up.
Or if I’ll be the first the fall.

Grab the second book in the hilariously swoony A Lost Story Bookshop series. Perfect for fans of closed-door romantic comedy.

THE FEELS.

I’ve been waiting for this book for a long time and it flat out DELIVERED. I loved it so much.

The main characters, Olivia and Lachlan had the best chemistry. I could feel the heat from miles away. Some fantastic banter intermixed with a bit of an enemies to lovers vibe AND THEN you throw in marriage of convenience?? SOLD. Perfect blend.

I love the slow build between them. The burn is long and low and really allowed both characters to come to turn with the past grievances and where they are now. I LOVED all of the tiny little moments. I was going to combust from the heat of the kissing scenes. Good heavens, closed door romances can still bring it the steam y’all.

It took Olivia a little longer than I hoped for to come around to her work issues BUT I liked how that ended up playing into the third act. Yes, there’s a third act conflict, and you might be surprised but it didn’t phase me much. I was here for the emotions, the need for growth and the separation that had to occur.

Loved this book. Read it.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: poor workplace situations (abuse of power), parental neglect

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Book Review: Terms and Conditions (Dreamland Billionaires #2) by Lauren Asher

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 496 pages
Author: Lauren Asher
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: February 24th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Declan
I’m destined to become the next CEO of my family’s media empire.
The only problem? My grandfather’s inheritance clause.
Fulfilling his dying wish of getting married and having an heir seemed impossible until my assistant volunteers for the job.
Our marriage was supposed to be the perfect solution to my biggest problem.
But the more we act in love for the public, the more unsure I feel about our contract.
Caring about Iris was never part of the deal.
Especially not when breaking her heart is inevitable.

Iris
My plan to marry Declan was simple in theory.
Move in together. Throw a wedding. Have a baby.
We set rules to prevent any kind of issues.
Ones that were never meant to be broken, no matter how much Declan tempts me.
But what happens when our fake relationship bleeds into our real one?
Falling in love was never an option.
At least not for me.

BETTER THAN THE FIRST.

Marriage of convenience owns me. Another book with this trope that I adored. And it was even better than the first one that left me wanting more in certain aspects.

I LOVED these two together. Declan is such a grumpy recluse but getting his POV you can slowly see those walls come down only for Iris (my favorite). I love a guy falling first, and falling hard scenario. It is the bees freaking knees. I love that his moves were much more subtle and focused on specific things Iris mentioned. Declan showed a willing heart that brought me to a puddle by the last grand gesture.

Iris putting Declan in his place over and over? The best. Strong female characters are kryptonite. I liked that she realized what her worth was and how to untie it from the pieces that were starting to pull her apart. There’s so many good moments here between the Kane brothers, Iris and her Mom and more.

I doooooo think this was a bit long. I started to notice in the second half how some of it was dragging. There were times that scenes carried on too long, or just didn’t seem necessary. A bit on condensing would have made this book ultimate gold.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: three open door
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: physical altercations, parental abuse, asthma, anxiety attacks

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Book Review: Pretending At Love (Greenbank Romances #2) by Karen Thornell

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 280 pages
Author: Karen Thornell
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: April 2nd, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A stalker, a Hawaiian wedding, and attraction that should NOT exist between friends.
Friends who are pretending to date, that is.

A random run-in at a restaurant brings high school friends April and Jackson back together. A not so random run-in with April’s new stalker starts a VERY short charade of Jackson pretending to be April’s boyfriend.

That is, until he needs a date to a destination wedding. And who can say no to a free Hawaiian vacation?

But when feelings beyond friendship start to develop, can these two separate the fake from the real? And if they can… Is it worth the risk?

OH SO SWEET.

I love romances like this. Where the fake dating trope is on top of its game and the couple is clearly starry eye for one another. Adding the Hawaiian vacation and wow do I wish I were somewhere tropical right now.

Dual POV in romance should be mandatory. I love the back and forth with April and Jackson. They had a plethora of sweet moments that showed off all of the chemistry they had. I liked all of the antics from horse back riding, to eating on the beach, meditation and more.

I don’t know quite why the stalker was involved? I don’t think it flowed as well because it came in at the beginning, then only randomly showed up in the middle and end *shrugs*. I guess it was a catalyst to get them to Hawaii together at least. I wish Jackson and April didn’t stand in there own way so much about officially committing to each other. That dragged the book out a little bit. I did like how everyone responded with positivity and didn’t blow things out of proportion. It was handled incredibly well and made the ending all the sweeter.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: stalker

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