The town of Spunes has my heart. Sage has lived there her whole life and has been a collector of abandoned animals and is looking for a partner in the town's annual festival. Fisher and his niece is there for the summer to help develop a new restaurant. The small town had a lot of noisy people and Fisher is overwhelmed. They formed a pact to help each other out. As their friendship develops, they can't deny their feelings. I love their interactions together. I always love the healing process for both Fisher and his niece and how they learn to be together too. Such a heartwarming story.

Thank you @netgalley @smpromance for a copy of the book.

DNF at 38%. This one just did not grab my attention. I don't know how many times professor Google was said but it got so annoying. Matthew sounded too robotic. And how on does Athena fall so soon for her ex-finace's brother so quickly. Just didn't buy it.

I had the pleasure of meeting Kalie last year at Steamy Lit and have been looking forward to her debut romance. 

This was such a great story about self discovery as Mia graduates from high school and decides what to do next. She gets a gift of a treasure hunt from her deceased mom who was a famous musician. The story is told on Mia's perspective as she goes on the hunt and learns more about her mom and Tori's POV giving us a glimpse of the past. The narration at part felt so lyrical which worked so well with songs. I wanted to see more romance between Mia and her love interest. Overall, a great debut novel.

Thank you @blackstonepublishing @netgalley for a copy of the audiobook.

I was intrigued by the premise of the book and wasn't sure what I expecting. This is a love story but it's the other topics that totally made the book. Helen and Grant and brought together by a tragedy and meets 13 years later on working on a same show. The story explores familia relationship and expectations, grief and personal growth. Helen's relationship is very similar with my Chinese upbringing and I felt for her as she struggles to have a relationship with her parents. Helen and Grant are not only tied by the tragedy but have a great connection and I enjoyed seeing their relationship grow despite it being a bit of a forbidden romance. Despite a lot of heavy topics, there's a lot of fun and tender moments too. I adored the narration of Katherine Chin and Andrew Eiden who is one of my favorite narrators. 

Thank you @avonbooks @harperaudio @libro.fm for a copy of the audiobook.

Such a bittersweet moment when you finally get Viggo's story but bummed this is the last of the series too. I have been looking forward to Viggo's story who loves romance books and is a phenomenal baker. I love how he is a romantic and looking for the special someone. Tallulah, the love interest, is a bit too tough of a character for me. When they get together to help each other and lives together, the tension heats up. I do love their interaction together especially when they are with the Bergerman clan. Of course, I was looking forward to the brothers giving talk to Viggo which is the crucial point in each of the stories. This is a slow burn and when it heats up, it's steamy. Nelson Hobbs and CJ Bloom did a great job as Viggo and Tallulah.

This was a well researched book about how women as a gender have been neglected for so long. I found the supporting facts interesting but at the same time so sad that we have a long way to go. I did find some of the chapters a bit repetitive and skipped some of the statistics. 

I have been in my forbidden romance era and this one fits the bill. Tiernan must move in with her father's estranged step brother when his dad passed away. Jake and his 2 sons live in a remote mountain and takes her in. The story leads you to who is she attracted to and what happens when they are isolated because of winter. Lots of steamy scenes and there's some suspense to the story too. I felt that Tiernan was taken advantage of because of her age and innocence. She did have a lot of growing up and glad she did in this story.

I always love a rom com story with messy characters. We have Sophie, a romance writer with writer's block, and Dash, a former TV star and her grumpy landlord. They agree to help each other and form a friendship. Great banter and sweet moments. I enjoyed seeing the characters from For Butter or Worst in here too.

Just could not get into it.

This book was based on Ted Bundy's case but the the victims' perspective. I enjoyed the story but it felt so slow moving with the multiple POV and timelines. I appreciate that Bundy was never mentioned and really focused on the women. At part, I was so angry for how these women were treated. You really do feel for all these women that Bundy killed though the characters here were fictional.