romance books – GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: NA Dystopian Romance
Length: 400 pages
Author: Katherine McGee
Publisher: Random House
Release Date: May 31st, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Beatrice is queen, and for the American royal family, everything is about to change.

Relationships will be tested.
Princess Samantha is in love with Lord Marshall Davis—but the more serious they get, the more complicated things become. Is Sam destined to repeat her string of broken relationships…and this time will the broken heart be her own?

Strangers will become friends.
Beatrice is representing America at the greatest convocation of kings and queens in the world. When she meets a glamorous foreign princess, she gets drawn into the inner circle…but at what cost?

And rivals will become allies.
Nina and Daphne have spent years competing for Prince Jefferson. Now they have something in common: they both want to take down manipulative Lady Gabriella Madison. Can these enemies join forces, or will old rivalries stand in the way?

WHY THO.

I feel like the title basically sums up where all of my thoughts turn back to when I finished this. WHY.

These books are chopped full of drama. To me, it’s actually a part of the fun of reading this. I lean into that style, filled with soap opera dramatics and allllll the feelings from the characters. You have to go in knowing the shock factor is imminent.

I think this series has gone on a bit long though. Lots of things happened in this book, but then sort of unraveled by the end? So it felt like progress was lost?

AND DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON DAPHNE. She’s throw a book across the room rage inducing. Book four better bring her down or I quit. I QUIT.

Anyways, I am curious where all of this goes, there’s things I like, things I don’t, yet I’m invested. It’ll be a wild last book, that’s for dang sure.

Overall audience notes:

NA Dystopian Romance
Language: a little strong
Romance: closed door
Violence: low
Trigger/Content Warnings: bullying, extortion, blackmailing, car wreck, cheating

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ARC Book Review: Falling Hard for the Royal Guard by Megan Clawson

April 25, 2023February 19, 2023 GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Megan Clawson
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: April 27th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Love is in the heir in this royally good rom com debut releasing in Spring 2023 – perfect for anyone who likes relatable heroines (with great hair), hot and aloof book boyfriends (with great hats), near misses, almost kisses and a corgi or two.

Despite living in an actual castle, happily ever after is evading Margaret ‘Maggie’ Moore.

From her bedroom in the Tower of London, twenty-six-year-old Maggie has always dreamed of her own fairy-tale ending.

Yet this is twenty-first century London, so instead of knights on white horses, she has catfish on Tinder. And with her last relationship ending in spectacular fashion, she swears off men for good.

And then a chance encounter with Royal Guard Freddie forces Maggie to admit that she isn’t ready to give up on love just yet… But how do you catch the attention of someone who is trained to ignore all distractions?

Can she snare that true love’s first kiss… or is she royally screwed?

A right royal rom com, perfect for fans of Red, White and Royal Blue and The Royal We.

Thank you to Avon for the ARC.

NOT FOR ME.

I don’t even much feel like writing this review because this book and I did not get along. I was expecting a cute romance set in London, learning a little about the guard life, sweet dates, some good kissing, etc.

What did I get?:

A big history lesson that did not further the ROMANTIC plot of a ROMANCE book whatsoever. Took up too many pages.
The love interest is hardly actually in the book. HE LITERALLY RUNS AWAY MULTIPLE TIMES.
Multiple bad Tinder dates that beg the question, WHY.
Third act wildness that caused me to laugh, because if not, I might throw my book.
Everything was over the top and not in a good way (clearly, HA).

I just…this let me down so much. And I’m going to end it here because I would not recommend it.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: some
Romance: make-outs
Violence: low
Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a mother (off-page), a manipulative gaslighting ex boyfriend

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Book Review

ARC Book Review: Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

April 4, 2023January 25, 2023 GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Abby Jimenez
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: April 11t, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Dr. Briana Ortiz’s life is seriously flatlining. Her divorce is just about finalized, her brother’s running out of time to find a kidney donor, and that promotion she wants? Oh, that’s probably going to the new man-doctor who’s already registering eighty-friggin’-seven on Briana’s “pain in my ass” scale. But just when all systems are set to hate, Dr. Jacob Maddox completely flips the game . . . by sending Briana a letter.

And it’s a really good letter. Like the kind that proves that Jacob isn’t actually Satan. Worse, he might be this fantastically funny and subversively likeable guy who’s terrible at first impressions. Because suddenly he and Bri are exchanging letters, sharing lunch dates in her “sob closet,” and discussing the merits of freakishly tiny horses. But when Jacob decides to give Briana the best gift imaginable—a kidney for her brother—she wonders just how she can resist this quietly sexy new doctor . . . especially when he calls in a favor she can’t refuse.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC.

ALL THE FEELS.

It takes a talented author to make me cool with things I don’t normally love in romance books. Jimenez has accomplished that here (of which I won’t be saying too much more because spoilers).

I loved Briana. I loved Jacob. I JUST LOVED THEM BOTH SO MUCH. For many reasons too. I felt deeply connected to their personal growth stories and the fact that Jacob reminded me of someone in my life really had me going. I adored Jacob and the anxiety representation was raw, real, and emotional. Alongside Briana’s trauma and coping mechanisms that took the strength of love showing up to work through. Jimenez creates stories to make you feel and I love knowing these characters.

With some of the responses that I generally have a hard time enjoying, I thought the way it was handled made me understand why things were happening the way that they were. It’s a testament to the ability to create such a character dynamic you can see and get the why.

There was a bunch of tropes and plot devices that I did absolutely LOVE. And the execution, as always, was top notch for me. I loved the letter writing, soft dates, all the little touches, comforting when the world got heavy and more. Seriously y’all. This is another must read.

**Read the author’s note too!

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: some strong
Romance: 2ish brief open; low explicit
Violence: low
Trigger/Content Warnings: multiple mentions of different ER scenarios (cuts, wounds, vomiting, etc.), cheating spouse (recounted), chronic kidney disease, divorced main character, clinical anxiety, mention of pregnancy loss and suicide

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Book Review

Book Review: All the Feels (Spoiler Alert #2) by Olivia Dade

March 29, 2023May 21, 2022 GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 385 pages
Author: Olivia Dade
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: November 16th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Following Spoiler Alert, Olivia Dade returns with another utterly charming romantic comedy about a devil-may-care actor—who actually cares more than anyone knows—and the no-nonsense woman hired to keep him in line.

Alexander Woodroe has it all. Charm. Sex appeal. Wealth. Fame. A starring role as Cupid on TV’s biggest show, God of the Gates. But the showrunners have wrecked his character, he’s dogged by old demons, and his post-show future remains uncertain. When all that reckless emotion explodes into a bar fight, the tabloids and public agree: his star is falling.

Enter Lauren Clegg, the former ER therapist hired to keep him in line. Compared to her previous work, watching over handsome but impulsive Alex shouldn’t be especially difficult. But the more time they spend together, the harder it gets to keep her professional remove and her heart intact, especially when she discovers the reasons behind his recklessness…not to mention his Cupid fanfiction habit.

When another scandal lands Alex in major hot water and costs Lauren her job, she’ll have to choose between protecting him and offering him what he really wants—her. But he’s determined to keep his improbably short, impossibly stubborn, and extremely endearing minder in his life any way he can. And on a road trip up the California coast together, he intends to show her exactly what a falling star will do to catch the woman he loves: anything at all.

I FELT ALL THE FEELS.

Not mad one bit I finally decided to pick this one up. Oh my goodness, I absolutely ADORED IT Y’ALL.

I LOVED Alex. I liked his personality, the way he was boisterous and caring and all of that protectiveness over Lauren had me downright swooning. The banter was cheeky and well timed with sizzling chemistry from the get-go. I loooove forced proximity and this is present in spades.

There’s plenty of dynamics to love, grump x sunshine (where she’s the grump!), celebrities and great representation. This story had me hooked from the beginning and I flew through the audio in a day with a continual drive to see where the story would go. I took a 1/2 star off because the conflict leaned more towards miscommunication and I got a bit disgruntled.

Otherwise, this is a fantastic contemporary romance. It had too much spice for me (which doesn’t affect my rating, but wanted to note). The entire plot was stellar and I’m happy to have picked this up.

**I have not read Spoiler Alert. There were a few brief times when I was a little confused, but I don’t think it hindered my reading experience overall.

Overall audience notes: