Tag: new adult romance

Book Review: Bewitched by You by Kendra Mase

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: NA Contemporary Romance
Length: 340 pages
Author: Kendra Mase
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: September 27th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Luella Pierce is having a mid-witch crisis.

Her best friend is top of her class and currently on a fast track to land her dream job. Her coven members have all found their passions in life and are excited to start their next chapter. Even her arch nemesis and Barnett University’s star football player, Ryan Gardner, has future plans. Sure, they’re to become a permanent nuisance in her life, but still. Everyone else seems to have life figured out except her.

Lu’s big plans? Procrastinating the future by throwing all her energy into creating the most fantastic Samhain–Halloween–celebration BU has ever seen. That is, if she can convince the student council she won’t perform any satanic rituals.

Cue the eye roll.

But when Ryan sustains a career-ending injury and Lu receives an offer from her sweet yet meddling coven matriarch that causes her to rethink everything, Lu also begins to question if the strongest magic may be taking a chance on love.

And herself.

Bewitched By You is a standalone new adult contemporary romance featuring a handsome, people pleasing football player and a quirky yet disheveled modern day witch finding home in a small college town. Perfect for readers who can’t resist the charm of Practical Magic or the sweet swoons of a romantic comedy with an emotional happily ever after.

IT WAS ALRIGHT.

I’m a sucker for these types of covers and I admit to this being a total cover download. I did like it overall in the end at least.

The romance is really one note and very much what I would expect to see in a college relationship. I liked Luella and Ryan. They were sweet on one another and I felt the chemistry between them. It was lacking in any form of angst (something I like even a dash of) as they steadily moved through their relationship. There were some truly good moments between them and I enjoyed the support they gave each other as life landed on them.

Plot wise it’ll give you all the whimsical and fall season vibes. There’s not much past that, buuut I know that’ll be a hit with others looking for something simple. I didn’t like the mean girl moments or some of the drama that resulted from it. But I did find it a quick read that put me in the mood for all things autumn.

Overall audience notes:

  • NA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: some
  • Romance: one brief open door
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: bullying, loss of a mother (recounted), season ending sports injury

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Book Review: Back to You (San Diego Marines #1) by Jess Mastorakos

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Rating: ★★☆
Audience: NA Contemporary Romance
Length: 362 pages
Author: Jess Mastorakos
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: September, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Biggest mistake I’ve ever made? Kissing my best friend.

I’ve never been a relationship guy. Sure, I have Ellie—my best friend since middle school who’s been by my side through the good and the very bad—but with girls who aren’t Ellie? One date is enough.

Then when I get back from boot camp, one kiss changes everything. But also, nothing’s changed. Ellie still wants to settle down with a picket fence and kids, and she knows I don’t.

And now there’s heat when she looks at me in my new uniform. It makes me wonder if I didn’t want that kind of life, or if I didn’t want it with anyone but her.

But I’ve made one mistake after another with Ellie, so now I have to convince her that it’s okay to want me too.

Back to You is a sweet romance told from alternating POVs, set in the world of The San Diego Marines. Each book can be read as a standalone but are fun to read in order.

BOO.

I just didn’t love this one at all. I went in with hope and came out wondering if I’d give this author another go.

Most of the story just involved drama. Drama over here, drama over there. Not actually building the plot or developing the characters just DRAMA. It was kind of like a formulaic hallmark movie, but not the kind you enjoy reading.

Things got off to a fine start. I liked the friends to lovers idea and the kiss scenes were great too.

I wanted to love this and wish it had worked out better for me. I don’t want to sit here and bash though so I’ll leave this as strike in the miss column and move on to the next.

Overall audience notes:

  • New Adult Contemporary Romance
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: make-outs
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a parent recounted

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Book Review: A Dawn of Onyx (The Sacred Stones #1) by Kate Golden

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Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 456 pages
Author: Kate Golden
Publisher: The Daisy Press
Release Date: December 15th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Captured by a king of darkness. Forced to find the light within.

Arwen Valondale never expected to be the brave one, offering her life to save her brother’s. Now she’s been taken prisoner by the most dangerous kingdom on the continent, and made to use her rare magical abilities to heal the soldiers of the vicious Onyx King.

Arwen knows better than to face the ancient, wicked woods that surround the castle on her own, which means working with a fellow prisoner might be her only path to freedom. Unfortunately, he’s as infuriating as he is cunning—and seems to take twisted
pleasure in playing on Arwen’s deepest fears.

But here in Onyx Kingdom, trust is a luxury she can’t afford.

To make it out of enemy territory, she’ll have to navigate back-stabbing royals, dark magic, and dangerous beasts. But untold power lies inside Arwen, dormant and waiting for a spark. If she can harness it, she just might be able to escape with her life—and hopefully, her heart.

COLOR ME SURPRISED.

I did not expect to love this the way I did. I put it off for a bit because it seemed too hyped and I wanted to see more reviews. Then on a whim, HERE WE ARE. 4.5 stars of romantasy goodness.

This had a much more true slow burn that worked better for me than a few recent books. I loooove hidden identity plots so dang much. Even when I know it’s coming, still makes my day. And this kept slowly revealing Kane’s history and nature and I loved every second of it. I thought Kane and Arwen had some actual chemistry and I enjoyed the banter between them. I liked seeing them get to know each other and have some soft moments amidst the action.

And plenty of action was had! I loved that it kept a pretty fast pace with enough things going on that I rarely felt a drag. Within that though is my one small complaint. A lack of world building. More of it made sense towards the end, but I have MANY questions about the dynamics of everything.

I think the FMC could use a bit more work, but as far as character arcs go, I am very much on board with the sequence. I am soooo excited to see how book two continues the development of characters and storyline.

It was a good read y’all.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: 1 open; + some innuendo
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: war themes, physical and magical altercations, near death experiences, loss of a mother, weapons violence, kidnapping, attempted sexual assault

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Book Review: See You Yesterday by Rachel Lynn Solomon

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: NA Contemporary Romance
Length: 432 pages
Author: Rachel Lynn Solomon
Publisher: Simon Schuster
Release Date: May 17th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Barrett Bloom is hoping college will be a fresh start after a messy high school experience. But when school begins on September 21st, everything goes wrong. She’s humiliated by the know-it-all in her physics class, she botches her interview for the college paper, and at a party that night, she accidentally sets a frat on fire. She panics and flees, and when she realizes her roommate locked her out of their dorm, she falls asleep in the common room.

The next morning, Barrett’s perplexed to find herself back in her dorm room bed, no longer smelling of ashes and crushed dreams. It’s September 21st. Again. And after a confrontation with Miles, the guy from Physics 101, she learns she’s not alone—he’s been trapped for months.

When her attempts to fix her timeline fail, she agrees to work with Miles to find a way out. Soon they’re exploring the mysterious underbelly of the university and going on wild, romantic adventures. As they start falling for each other, they face the universe’s biggest unanswered question yet: what happens to their relationship if they finally make it to tomorrow?

LOVE THE SETTING.

I can’t say groundhog day themed books are something I enjoy, but I do think this one was written really well. Especially as an audiobook I had no trouble wanting to pick this up and keep going (most of the time). That’s the problem with this theme, generally at some point it just starts to feel repetitive.

The relationship between Barrett and Miles was really sweet. I liked how they went from a bit of good banter, to reluctant friends stuck in the same situation, to lovers who had both let their guards down. It was romantic and I enjoyed both characters on their own too.

The plot was good. I think the paced was kept up well and I liked the bit of magical realism attributed to everything. It gave plenty of opportunity for Barrett to right some wrongs AND come work through the horrid things she went through during high school. A lot of momentous moments for her. The college setting was amazing and now I want to read more books in this sub zone because they are incredibly endearing.

Overall audience notes:

  • NA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: brief open door
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: Sexual harassment recounted, panic attack, car accident, bullying

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