Griffin York, Duke of Halford and a notorious rake, is kidnapped by his own mother and dragged to Spindle Cove with the decree to pick out a suitable bride. Upon spying barmaid Pauline Simms, Griffin is certain he can foil his mother by choosing the LEAST suitable girl ever despite his instant attraction to Pauline's spirit. Pauline agrees to be an abysmal failure in order to secure a future for herself and her sister, but both Pauline and Griffin underestimate the power of a mother on a mission and the fact they are clearly meant for one another.

SO GOOD. Just when I would think the book would take a classicly trope-y turn, Tessa Dare would shock me in the best way. Definitely give this one a go if you love your romance with emotion, humor, and intelligence.

2021 - Pauline is an eternal fav, as is Griff. I love seeing a reformed rake and bad boy getting toppled by his own feeeeelings. Also, the relationship developed between Pauline and Griff's mother, the dowager duchess, is so endearing. Dare could have easily made the dowager a villain, but instead gives us a woman who is eager to be a mother-in-law and to connect with her own son. She can clearly see Pauline is *the one* for Griff, even if he is a dunderhead and cannot himself yet. Love it.

A bonus star for a super cool premise, but really just another tale of a naive girl who thinks she doesn't have powers but finds out she does and a lot of alpha-jerk males who are the basis of her self-esteem (or lack thereof). I'd have been more interested in Roar if she actually had no powers, but of course, we find out she is SO SPECIAL AND UNIQUE.

I really like Cora Carmack's contemporary romances so was highly anticipating her first YA fantasy but meh. I think actual Young Adults will eat this up but as a more mature reader, I was left wanting a lot more from the world-building and a lot less of the alpha male bullshit.

If your significant other is in danger or has almost died you shouldn't be thinking about sexy times just because some of their skin may be exposed by shredded clothing. Seriously, this happened all the time in this book and it just felt wrong.

Also, the names in the book are very similar. Aurora/Rora/Roar. So many things named Locke. It was confusing and unneccesary. All of the secondary characters seemed more interesting to me than Roar, but we didn't get a lot of time with them. Maybe the next book will expand a bit?

I think there are some good bones here, but Aurora/Rora/Roar needs to get rid of the stupid dudes who want to own her. Bye, boys.

I picked this up on a recommendation from [a:Sarah MacLean|1598076|Sarah MacLean|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1455074474p2/1598076.jpg]'s Read More Romance blog and because I heard it was written by a scientist. Unfortunately I did not really enjoy it as much as I was hoping.

Annie, a genius graduate student about to go to med school wants to hump her Teaching Assistant Charles, a sexy but doesn't know it Brit who is older and far more experienced than she is. She, in a refreshingly blunt way, propositions him. He turns her down and they go on to be friends until of course she finds out he does want to fuck her but is worried about the power imbalance. They wait until she graduates and the epic boning commences after a bit of dithering once he finds out about her v-card status.

At this point the story veers a bit too close to [b:Fifty Shades of Grey|10818853|Fifty Shades of Grey (Fifty Shades, #1)|E.L. James|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1385207843s/10818853.jpg|15732562] (BUT with consent, thankfully) and we find out poor Charles cannot love, or commit, because of a dark past. There is no HEA, but there is a second novel.

So while I appreciated the discussions of consent the story was uneven and a bit too clinical for me. Plus I am tired of super smart ladies acting really immature and totally oblivious. Also, I didn't like how Charles called her "Young Annie" and other kiddish nicknames.

Frankie doesn't believe in love or happily ever-afters due to her parents' shitty relationship and drags her feet whenever she is forced to do flowers for weddings (seriously?!). Matt, the perfect brother of Frankie's best friend, is secretly in love with Frankie and has been for many years. She can't believe Matt would be interested in her and he sets out to prove to her all the reasons she is awesome. Of course, HEA ensues after Frankie is entranced by Matt's sexy times and protective instincts.

I just found this a bit twee and tired. I couldn't really buy that Frankie would so rapidly change her mind about very entrenched beliefs no matter how sexy and great the guy. I also didn't like Matt's shitty reaction to her obvious discomfort when he told her he loved her after a very awkward moment. Dude, what were you expecting? And the ultimatums. Gross. Frankie had the bones of a great, feminist heroine (bookish, black belt, gardener), but alas the rest of the story didn't pan out for me.

Lucy and Josh are both assistants to the CEOs of their respective publishing companies, companies that recently merged. They sit across from each other and were enemies from Day 1, or are they? When a chance at a promotion comes up, the tension (increasingly sexual) runs high.

The premise of this story is fairly typical, but Sally Thorne gives it a refreshingly new and sexy voice. Josh is not a stereotypical alpha male and you'll be surprised by many of the turns in this story. I gobbled this up in one night.

I believe this may have been set in Australia? But it wasn't really made completely clear.

Re-Read June 2017 - audiobook version

This book is balm for my soul. A perfect blend of sexual tension, humor, and character development. The narrator was really great and did a fine job with both female and male voices. I found myself wanting to drive around so I could keep listening. Can't wait to read the next by Sally Thorne!

A super sweet story of two Indian-American kids who attend a coding summer camp. Their parents want them to someday marry and hope meeting at the camp will help spark something. Rishi knows about this plan and it's the only reason he is really attending. Dimple has no idea. Kismet ensues and we get a very nice YA romance.

There were stylistic choices that I personally did not enjoy and I often felt like I was reading an "after school special." Also, if you are going to an App creation/coding camp, I feel like more story should be spent talking about that as opposed to the MANY pages dedicated to rehearsal for a talent show involving a dance routine.

I generally really enjoy Julie James' novels but this one really irked me. The "hero" is a rich, sexist jerk who makes really stupid comments that in the Trumpian era just can't be forgiven. Plus, the fact the heroine Payton can FORGIVE and still be in love with him despite what he did (told their boss they slept together when they had not) makes her lose major points with me. I'd like to think this was written in a more innocent time (it was) but still not the right story for me.

Plus, both are lawyers set to defend a Walmart-rescue CEO against a gender discrimination class action lawsuit. Gross. Glad they are making their money, but no thanks.

Sunny struggles to fit in. Born in NYC but now living in Nigeria, she is an outsider, and it is compounded by her albinism. After some troubles in school, she finds out she is a "leopard person" and has special powers! Suddenly she is cast into a new world that she must keep secret from her "lamb" family all while trying to stay on top of her school work.

A great suggestion for Harry Potter fans as the story arc is very familiar but the magic and vocabulary will challenge even the best readers.

My library is holding this title in the Children's section probably due to the main character's age (12) but I feel this would be better placed in the YA section. The cover also misleading feels juvenile, but the sequel [b:Akata Warrior|18746776|Akata Warrior (Akata Witch, #2)|Nnedi Okorafor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1484628903s/18746776.jpg|26630088] has a cover that is more fitting the tone of the series.

I read this for my 2017 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge for "person of color goes on a spiritual journey."

A historical romance that is somewhat inspired by Pygmalion. The banter between the characters was not my favorite, but overall a fine example of the genre.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC

My first instance of book amnesia. Totally re-read this without realizing it until about 1/2 way through. Still pretty meh for me. Shallow character development and a bit too much prancing around naked to impress the lady who said a lot of "no" and was ignored because obviously she means yes.

Rachel and Henry were best friends, but after Rachel moved away they drifted apart. Henry doesn't know that Rachel has always loved him, he doesn't know she left him a note telling him so, and he doesn't know her brother died. So, when Rachel moves back to town and takes up a job cataloging the notes and marginalia in the special library of books in Henry's family's bookstore, he also doesn't understand why they can't just be best friends again.

A tale of missed connections, a deep love of literature, grief, and finding one's way back to life.

So good. I was a bit annoyed by the depiction of Amy, Henry's girlfriend who he keeps running back to. I wish she had more agency, but she was definitely just the jerk that kept Rachel and Henry apart.

The writing was absolutely stunning and I am just adoring Aussie fiction right now!