Tag: julie christianson

Book Review: My Own Best Enemy (Apple Valley Love Stories #2) by Julie Christianson

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Rating: ★★☆ (2.5)
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 313 pages
Author: Julie Christianson
Publisher: Self published
Release Date: September 23rd, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

This isn’t a wedding. This is war …

I get it. We were in elementary school. Just a couple of kids on the playground. But after Nash Hendrix called me Enemy instead of Emily, his stupid nickname ruined my life.

Now our best friends are getting married, and they expect me to stand across the aisle from Nash the Ruiner without killing him?

Whatever. I can survive being maid of honor. It’s only for one weekend.

Until it’s not.

When I get roped into wedding planning at the same places Nash is fundraising, I’m ready to blow up our temporary truce.

All I wanted was to start over. New job. New permanently-single status.

But the more time we spend together, the more I feel like … not murdering him.

Is it possible Nash and I don’t hate each other?

No way. He’s still my enemy.

My big, dumb enemy.

My big, dumb, gorgeous, sweet-talking, dog-loving —

Emi, you’re doomed.

DIDN’T CLICK.

You know when you don’t get off on the right foot with a romance and then it just never clicks into place as you keep going? That’s basically what happened here.

My biggest issue was that the “enemies” aspect of my favorite trope wasn’t the strongest. I thought it was kind of a weak excuse for why Emi didn’t like Nash for 20+ years. To hold a petty grudge THAT long didn’t work. And I never recovered.

I spent most of my time wishing Emi had some growth sooner rather than later. Randomly kissing Nash and then deciding she was still angry with him sent me through whiplash. One of the few times I don’t think this trope worked in the most favorable way.

I’ll stop here, because my star rating indicates exactly how I felt about this one. I hope to try another book by this author because I adored book one, but we’ll see!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses

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Book Review: The Mostly Real McCoy (Apple Valley Love Stories #1) by Julie Christianson

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 283 pages
Author: Julie Christianson
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: April 30th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Single-dad Mac needs a temporary nanny for his daughter, Daisy. I need a second job until my promotion kicks in. Since our arrangement is only for one month, I am positive I won’t get attached. Medium positive. Okay, I’m negative.

This is a terrible idea.

Because I can’t give Mac and Daisy what they need, and I won’t risk breaking their hearts, but his green eyes and her crooked pigtails have me dreaming about forever. And who can resist a dad buying pink ballerina tights after a day spent in a hard hat?

The thing is Mac is a fixer, and I need to repair my own life. Better yet, I don’t want to feel broken. So it’s a good thing the worst has already happened to me. Nothing will hurt more now. Water can’t get wetter. That’s what I keep telling myself.

Too bad I’m all wrong.

CHARMED BY APPLE VALLEY.

What a great read! I’ve been seeing this making the rounds on bookstagram and it did not disappoint.

The chemistry and pacing worked really well for Brooke and Mac. With a month time frame I felt the draw between them and the nature of which the story was built on. It was easy to be swept away into Apple Valley. I found myself smiling and chuckling at a handful of scenes. I love a single-dad trope and Mac and Daisy were so precious and just trying to make it through what life had handed them.

Some [spoilers] related matters felt a bit out of nowhere. This wasn’t necessarily a deal breaker for me, but I hate when a twist feels like it’s added purely to push the plot rather than fitting into the story nicely.

It’s a very sweet romance, some swoony kisses and quiet moments. I would have loved even more moments where Brooke and Mac could have had more alone time together. I thought the conflict was handled mostly well. Half of it I was cool with, the other I was about to flip a table with. So you win some, you lose some on that matter. I look forward to the next book in the series with Emi!!!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: infertility, parental abandonment, separation and divorce

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