Book Review: The Gravity of Us (Elements #4) by Brittainy C. Cherry

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 270 pages
Author: Brittainy C. Cherry
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casa
Release Date: December 17th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Graham Russell and I weren’t made for one another.

I was driven by emotion; he was apathetic. I dreamed while he lived in nightmares. I cried when he had no tears to shed.

Despite his frozen heart and my readiness to run, we sometimes shared seconds. Seconds when our eyes locked and we saw each other’s secrets. Seconds when his lips tasted my fears, and I breathed in his pains. Seconds when we both imagined what it would be like to love one another.

Those seconds left us floating, but when reality knocked us sideways, gravity forced us to descend.

Graham Russell wasn’t a man who knew how to love, and I wasn’t a woman who knew how to either. Yet if I had the chance to fall again, I’d fall with him forever.

Even if we were destined to crash against solid ground.

Thank you to Colored Pages Book Tours, Sourcebooks Casa and Brittainy Cherry for my gifted copy.

THIS WAS EVERYTHING.

I couldn’t put this down from chapter one. All of a sudden I had a deep need to know what happened next and so I began a journey of ALL the dang emotions through the lives of Lucy and Graham.

“If you need to fall, fall into me.”

I mean, COME ON. Look at those words. Did you swoon? Because I swooned so many times throughout this book!! One of my new favorite grump and sunshine trope reads. I loved these characters with my whole being. I found myself almost in tears by the end waiting for a happy ending. I love that Lucy was optimistic and truly cared from her soul about her loved ones. That Graham was hardened by abandonment, but was also able to work on himself. The chemistry was undeniable. It was a slowwww burn and incredibly romantic with all of the lead up.

An incredibly sweet story that has a lot of heavy and deep content matter (I’ll put that in the warnings below). I adored the banter and soft smiles. The cute way they just hung out together. How they undeniably stood by each other’s side when things got hard instead of running away. I was wrapped up in this opposites attract love story and I beg of you to read it!!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: kisses to one brief open door scene
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: a mother smoked while pregnant (off screen), emergency delivery, preemie baby in NICU, cheating, loss of parent(s), domestic abuse, alcoholism, child abuse, parental/spousal abandonment

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Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: May 2022

A mixed bag of a month, most of five star reads came from rereads. But now I am ready for all of the summer reads!

Favorite Reads This Month: Some Mistakes Were Made, The Phoenix Priest, TBK/TTQ, QOS, Love & Olives, All the Feels, Love in Bloom, Roaring, The Bluff

  • [Graphic Novel] Heartstopper Vol. 4 by Alice Oseman
  • Obsidian Throne (The Lochlann Feuds #4) by Robin D. Mahle and Elle Madison
  • [ARC] Exactly Where You Need to Be by Amelia Diane Coombs
  • Just Go With It (Just Us #1) by Madison Wright
  • Bonded Fate (Guardians of the Maiden #2) by Beck Michaels
  • The Do-Over by Bethany Turner
  • Some Mistakes Were Made by Kristin Dwyer
  • Book of Night by Holly Black
  • Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
  • Book Lovers by Emily Henry
  • The Phoenix Priest (The Blood and Water Saga #2) by Cassidy Clarke
  • [Reread] The Bridge Kingdom (The Bridge Kingdom #1) by Danielle L. Jensen
  • [ARC] Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
  • [Reread] Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass #4) by Sarah J. Maas
  • [ARC] Edward and Amelia by Karen Thornell
  • Love & Olives (Love & Gelato #3) by Jenna Evans Welch
  • Last Chance Summer by Shannon Klare
  • The Queen’s Rising (The Queen’s Rising #1) by Rebecca Ross
  • The Witch Collector (Witch Walker #1) by Charissa Weaks
  • [Bonus Chapters] The Calm Before the Storm (The Bridge Kingdom #3.5) by Danielle L. Jensen
  • All the Feels (Spoiler Alert #2) by Olivia Dade
  • [Novella] The Missed Connection (Airport Novellas #2) by Denise Williams
  • [Graphic] Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron by Julia Quinn
  • [Reread] The Traitor Queen (The Bridge Kingdom #2) by Danielle L. Jensen
  • [ARC] For Butter or Worse by Erin La Rosa
  • Complex (The Sweet Rom”Com”s #2) by Kortney Keisel
  • An Arrow to the Moon by Emily X.R. Pan
  • Love in Bloom (Some Kind of Love #4) by Jenny Proctor
  • Firebrand (Green Rider #6) by Kristen Britain
  • Maybe Now (Maybe #2) by Colleen Hoover
  • Reign & Ruin (Mages of the Wheel #1) by J.D. Evans
  • [Novella] Unrequited (The Donovans #0.5) by Martha Keyes
  • How to Kiss Your Best Friend by Jenny Proctor
  • Roaring by Lindsey Duga
  • [Novella] A Wilderness of Glass (Wraith Kings #2.7) by Grace Draven
  • The Queen of Blood (The Queens of Renthia #1) by Sarah Beth Durst
  • Gleam (The Plated Prisoner #3) by Raven Kennedy
  • A Show for Two by Tashie Bhuiyan
  • [ARC] The Bluff (Graham Brothers #2) by Emma St. Clair
  • [Novella] Love Beginning (Some Kind of Love #0.5) by Jenny Proctor

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

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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Book Review: Knitted Hearts (Poplar Falls #6) by Amber Kelly

Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 234 pages
Author: Amber Kelly
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: June 29th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

An emotional, passionate second-chance romance in the Poplar Falls series from Amber Kelly

Sometimes you have to lose control to have it all…

I’ve always longed to start a family of my own. I throw everything I have into every relationship. Too bad I seem to attract the fixer-uppers. You know the type—the boys with all the potential but none of the drive. I thought Ricky was different, the one who would finally step up and be the man I’d been dreaming about all these years—ever since I lost my father when I was a little girl. I didn’t realize the dream would turn out to be a nightmare.

So here I am. Twenty-four years old, on the verge of divorce, and trying not to think about what my daddy would say while I hold on to the last threads of my life to keep it all from unraveling.

It’s all going fine until Foster Tomlin swaggers into my life. The sexy-as-sin former soldier works on my best friend’s family ranch, and there’s no getting around him or what I’m feeling. He doesn’t need fixing up. He’s perfect the way he is. The way he looks at and treats me makes me feel things I’ve sworn off for good. And when he wraps his arms around me, I find myself letting go of all the things I thought I wanted and needed.

The question is…can I take a risk and put my heart on the line again?

POPLAR FALLS FOREVER.

I can’t believe I finished this series! Or maybe I can because I loved it that much. A small town romance series you need in your life y’all!!

Getting Sonia’s story last was the best. I loved her romance with Foster and the second chance love between them was perfect. Sonia and Foster both had pasts that they needed to repair in their hearts as they also learned to lean on their new love and each other. It was all sorts of sweet and a little spicy.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about the relationship conflict because it’s usually not a trope I love, but the more I sat on it the more I liked it in the end. It worked for this story and I’m fine with that!

Sometimes the plot focused too much on the previous couples in the series when I just wanted more Sonia and Foster. That was my only complaint. Otherwise all of the dates and romancing under the moonlight was fantastic.

Another quick read I flew through in one morning because I needed to know how everything worked out. It was emotional and tender and I can’t wait to see what Kelly writes next.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: kisses to open door scenes (2-3)
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a parent (on page), divorce and separation

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