Tag: romance books

ARC Book Review: To Sir, With Love by Lauren Layne

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 288 pages
Author: Lauren Layne
Publisher: Gallery Books
Release Date: June 29th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Love Is Blind meets You’ve Got Mail in this laugh-out-loud romantic comedy following two thirty-somethings who meet on a blind dating app—only to realize that their online chemistry is nothing compared to their offline rivalry.

Perpetually cheerful and eager to please, Gracie Cooper strives to make the best out of every situation. So when her father dies just months after a lung cancer diagnosis, she sets aside her dreams of pursuing her passion for art to take over his Midtown Manhattan champagne shop. She soon finds out that the store’s profit margins are being squeezed perilously tight, and complicating matters further, a giant corporation headed by the impossibly handsome, but irritatingly arrogant Sebastian Andrews is proposing a buyout. But Gracie can’t bear the thought of throwing away her father’s dream like she did her own.

Overwhelmed and not wanting to admit to her friends or family that she’s having second thoughts about the shop, Gracie seeks advice and solace from someone she’s never met—the faceless “Sir”, with whom she connected on a blind dating app where matches get to know each other through messages and common interests before exchanging real names or photos.

But although Gracie finds herself slowly falling for Sir online, she has no idea she’s already met him in real life…and they can’t stand each other. 

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC. All opinions are my own!

HOW ADORABLE.

Ahhhhh so happy I got an ARC of this one because Y’ALL.

CUTENESS OVERLOAD.

Okay, first I need to preface this by saying, I have NOT seen You’ve Got Mail. I will in no way be able to convey if it’s like it or not (the summary says it is). So with that skeleton thrown out of my closet, lets get into the review!

I couldn’t get enough of this couple. Gracie and Sebastian play a perfectly sweet sunshine/grump + hidden identities (a FAV) scenario that had me grinning from ear to ear. All of their interactions were spot on and they were easy to fall in love with. The whole cast was easy to fall in love with for that matter.

This seemed to play on a little bit of an insta-love, but in a realistic style. I had no issues with the progression and timeline. Everything felt so natural that Sebastian and Gracie would fall in love. If anything I would have loved even more page time with them. I love how sweet they were on each other without even trying. Gosh the chemistry was fantastic.

Aaaand the family dynamics!! This had some of the best sibling relationships I’ve read about in a long time. They were all so kind!! And supportive!! And there for each other!! Ahhhh, I loved it. It was so meaningful to see these connections along side the romantic one. Graice had a lot of solid friendships as well. I really think all of these other people in Gracie’s life made this book sing. Nothing felt lacking even with the romance at the forefront.

There was so much to this story (and for under 300 pages I am wowza impressed). I found myself absolutely invested in that final movie ending moment and how CUTE. Just gave me all of the giddy, sunshiney feelings.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of parents (happened prior to timeline in book), a side couple struggles with infertility

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Book Review: Her Silent Knight (Belles of Christmas: Frost Fair #1) by Ashtyn Newbold

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Regency romance
Length: 183 pages
Author: Ashtyn Newbold
Publisher: Three Leaf Publishing
Release Date: October 10th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

When Sir Edmund catches Miss Selina in a forbidden courtship at the frost fair, she asks for his silence. But he has a request to make in exchange, and it may cost Selina her carefully guarded heart.

CHARMING.

I can’t wait to read more of the books in this series because I really enjoyed this one.

Selina and Edmund were a charming pair and the love triangle kind-of happening honestly didn’t phase me at all. It’s clear from the start where things are going and I appreciated the transparent everything was between them. Edmund and Selina had some cute banter and moments. For a quick-paced romance I didn’t feel the rush. Probably, also because it’s a regency romance and I always feel those tend towards a faster pace.

I loved the setting. Christmastide on the river Thames. It felt atmospheric and romantic. The writing was great and I felt invested from the start. This had some solid kiss moments and the ending was predictably adorable. I love a good Hallmark-y romance read during the season and this was wonderful.

Overall audience notes:

  • Regency romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses

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Book Review: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆ 1/2
Audience: Fantasy / Historical Fiction / Romance
Length: 489 pages
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: October 6th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A Life No One Will Remember. A Story You Will Never Forget.

France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

WORTH THE HYPE.

Without a doubt. If you’ve been on the fence about reading this one (like I was), give it a try.

I feel like this review will be hard to put into words because there’s so much here!! Holy cow, I wanted to highlight every other paragraph in this book. I loved the internal conflict and resolutions, the characters, the story and drama, how the further I went the more enamored and unable to put it down it became.

It does start off a little slow yes, but I found the more I read it settled in. This is a journey, more than the story itself, of Addie, Henry and Luc. Goodness, I can’t help it, I LOVED Luc. I really wish there was more to his background. What a complex character from the get-go. Henry was fantastic as well. He and Addie fit together like puzzle pieces and it was hard not to fall to pieces by the end. I adored Addie too. The resilience to go 300 years with the deal she made was unbelievable. These three working together and apart brought it home. This is a heavily character driven story. The wider plot isn’t as much there as it is about what these characters mean to each other.

Addie had absolutely beautiful writing. It draws you in immediately. Filled with so many moments that will pull at every heart string. I was feeling every little thing by the time those last few chapters rolled around. It’s an interesting conclusion that left me with some questions, but also satisfied. I closed the book knowing just how magnificent of a story I’d finished.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy / Historical Fiction / Romance
  • Language: a little throughout
  • Romance: kisses / make-outs; a few closed door & a few little detailed open door
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: attempted assault, abuse, loss of a loved one, substance abuse, depression, suicidal ideation, attempted suicide

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Book Review: A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander #6) by Diana Gabaldon

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: Historical Fiction Romance
Length: 993 pages
Author: Diana Gabaldon
Publisher: Delta
Release Date: September 27th, 2005
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A Breath of Snow and Ashes continues the extraordinary story of 18th-century Scotsman Jamie Fraser and his 20th-century wife, Claire.

The year is 1772, and on the eve of the American Revolution, the long fuse of rebellion has already been lit. Men lie dead in the streets of Boston, and in the backwoods of North Carolina, isolated cabins burn in the forest.

With chaos brewing, the governor calls upon Jamie Fraser to unite the backcountry and safeguard the colony for King and Crown. But from his wife Jamie knows that three years hence the shot heard round the world will be fired, and the result will be independence — with those loyal to the King either dead or in exile. And there is also the matter of a tiny clipping from The Wilmington Gazette, dated 1776, which reports Jamie’s death, along with his kin. For once, he hopes, his time-traveling family may be wrong about the future. 

HURTS SO GOOD.

That’s this series so far to me. Heart strings continually pulled, near-death moments, kidnappings, murders, the threat of war, oh my goodness, how do I even keep up? How do I even look away? The answer: YA DON’T. I have been swept up in another great Outlander installment and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I love the slow pace and intricate story telling. The ability for this book to span hundreds of pages and an immense amount of information, yet keep me enthralled is no small feat. This series is a gem.

Jamie and Claire y’all. How I continue to love them more and more. Oh yes, I will say there romance is timeless. I can’t get enough of them fighting for each other, being together, working as one, and more. Same with Bri and Roger. Good heavens I’m hooked on them too, and now I NEED TO KNOW WHERE WE GO FROM HERE.

I don’t know where book seven will lead, but I’m here for the ride. This review is short because it feels impossible to cover so much and convey to y’all to read it (without spoilers at this point). It’s entrancing, and will have you completely wrapped up.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical fiction romance
  • Language: some strong throughout
  • Romance: a handful of scenes ranging from kissing to open-door love scenes (brief and extended)
  • Violence: see TW/CW below; physical altercations, guns, thievery
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: rape, sexual harassment, sexual assault, slavery, torture, kidnapping, arson, murder (including a pregnant woman), suicide attempt, suicide ideation [I know I have missed some; please research and take caution before reading this series]

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