Tag: laura langa

Book Review: Date the Alphabet (Love Tucson #2) by Laura Langa

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 315 pages
Author: Laura Langa
Publisher: West East Publishing
Release Date: July 24th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Fake date to win four thousand dollars for charity? You bet.

Going on twenty-six first dates—one for each letter of the alphabet—is a ludicrous proposition. Especially since Ann Powell doesn’t date. AT ALL. But if Ann takes her sister’s bet, she’ll win four thousand dollars to donate to a cause close to her heart—underfunded classrooms.

Audiobook narrator Zane West has been struggling to hide his crush on his daughter’s third grade teacher for months. So when Ann asks him—in a moment of dating-app misery—to be her fake date to her sister’s wedding, the only answer is yes.

Pretending to be the cheerful, handsome, single father’s girlfriend isn’t only fun, it’s feeling dangerously real. And as much as they need to sell their fake relationship to her family, no one else can know. Dating the parent of one of your students is definitely off-limits.

Zane only falls harder for Ann through each piano karaoke session, sabotaged hike, and unexpected javelina encounter. Just as she begins to let him in, reality pulverizes their blissful bubble. An honest relationship with Ann is all Zane wants, but now he might be forced to let her go.

OH SO SWEET.

This book owned me for an evening and I adored it so much. I love how much Zane was gone for Ann from the moment he saw her. And that it didn’t feel like instant love either!! Langa wrote a beautiful soul mate vibe that I was here for.

I loved the subtle side pieces like Zane being on good terms with his ex-wife and co-parenting. I feel we often see the bad sides in books and I loved getting a positive take on a relationship that was no longer beneficial to either party but were both still their to take care of their child.

Ann and Zane had all the chemistry and the closed door steam? YES PLEASE. This is my favorite zone to be in and I really appreciated how well written this was. It’s a quick audiobook and this is a closed door author you shouldn’t be sleeping on!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: closed door

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ARC Book Review: An Unexpected Roomie (Love Tucson #3) by Laura Langa

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 268 pages
Author: Laura Langa
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: February 1st, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

What’s a little marriage of convenience between friends?

Claire Winesett never expected to be sleeping on her best friend’s brother’s couch. But the last nine years as a solo-travel influencer has been anything but predictable. Luckily, Claire thrives on spontaneity, and after all, it’s only temporary.

Boundaries define every aspect of Rowan Bellamy’s life, and having his teenage crush under his roof is disrupting his routines. Especially now that Claire seems to be seeing him as more than the boy she left behind—the chemistry between them sizzling hotter than the Arizonan summer.

When a trip to the ER leads Claire on a path to crushing medical debt, Rowan shocks her with an unexpected proposal. But Claire can’t accept a paper-only marriage to gain Rowan’s health insurance without offering something in return—a Fun Pact. Two nights a week, they add a little variety to Rowan’s measured life.

Old West bar fights, silent desert discos, and improv lessons aren’t Rowan’s idea of fun, but he’ll do anything to hear Claire’s snort laugh. The problem is the more time they spend together, the harder it is for Rowan to subdue the possessive impulse to kiss his wife.

Enjoy all the forced proximity tension and sizzling kisses of this best friend’s brother, marriage of convenience, opposites attract closed-door/fade-to-black romance by grabbing your copy TODAY!This is the third book in the Love Tucson series, but can be read as a standalone.

Thank you to the author for an eARC.

LOVABLE MMC.

I do love a good introvert love interest and Rowan was that man for me. Filled with the right amount of grumpiness and protectiveness and a good dose of that’s my wife and that’s what I hope for when I pick up a marriage of convenience book.

There were a lot of little aspects that added up to the bigger story. Sometimes these felt forced rather than a natural inclusion to the progression of the plot, nonetheless, I did like seeing Rowan and Claire have opportunities to be closer together and realize the feelings they had for one another.

I thought there were some plot holes involving the reasoning behind the MOC. It was briefly explained why, and then never really discussed again?

Rowan was easily my favorite of the whole book. I love the way he loved Claire. There were some great themes of mental health and anxiety. And I liked the discussions surrounding anger control too. All of the hiking content was fun and the book is easy to fly through if you’re in need of something closed door, and quick.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: none-low
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: mentions of a Dad with anger issues, celiac disease, loss of a grandmother

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Book Review: Haley and the Yeti (Love Tuscon #1) by Laura Langa

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 357 pages
Author: Laura Langa
Publisher: West East Publishing
Release Date: January 17th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Her grumpy neighbor wasn’t part of the plan.

After her soul-crushing breakup, Haley Kineman is stepping out of her comfort zone, moving to sunny Tucson, Arizona, and shooting for the stars—literally. When she’s not working as a phlebotomist, Haley’s striving to meet her celebrity crush who’s filming locally.

Haley has even enlisted her grumpy next-door neighbor—affectionately nicknamed Yeti—to help her get onto the movie set. With his long enviable locks, masculine beard, and alpine mountain physique, he’s an obvious choice for an ally.

All Yeti wants is to quietly develop software in his home office, but Haley throws his protective nature into overdrive after being injured in an incident. Then Yeti has no choice but to accompany Haley on her sight-seeing, thrift-shopping, iguana-saving adventures.

But Haley’s bright demeanor keeps messing with his head, making him consider things that aren’t possible. Because with Yeti’s damaging past, no woman would want him.

As their friendship deepens, Haley’s not sure if she should stick to her star-studded plan, or if a real love story is closer to home.

GOOD READ.

I was seeking a quick contemporary in the midst of reading a big fantasy and stumbled upon this! I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading Laura Langa’s next book.

This concept was kind of quirky, but it worked. The fact that the Yeti was called Yeti for most of this book made me chuckle. And I think it played well into his back story and the things he was working to over come. This had an insta connection vibe that I actually really liked and I could feel the growing chemistry between Haley and the Yeti.

I was a little confused by one the plot aspects with the famous guy? It seemed kind of random and I don’t know that it helped any of the story that much. I did appreciate that when a silly third act break-up could have happened that it was worked out in a much more natural manner.

It was a good read and I liked the audiobook a lot. Look forward to the next!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: litttle
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: past verbally abusive/gaslighting relationship, past fire accident and trauma, donating blood

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