Velma Johnson has a five-year plan, complete with a multi-tab spreadsheet, and she has all of her boxes ticked except for "the one." Every date she has never adds up to her perfect man, her best friend and co-worker who now also happens to be her sister's fiancee.

Unlike his best friend Dean, Brek Montgomery is a free-spirited wanderer who is only back in Denver for his best man duties. Oh, and to run his now bed-rest bound sister's wedding planning business. Brek is delighted when he finds out the cute, uptight Velma is the maid of honor, and he's extremely happy when he finds out she'll let him rent out her spare-bedroom while he plans her sister and Dean's wedding.

While Velma is shocked by her attraction to Brek, her opposite in basically ever way from his long hair, his tattoos, his cursing, and his complete lack of disability insurance (!!), she finds he may just be her perfect love match, spreadsheet be damned.

A delightfully fun rom-com, complete with a really hot motorcycle sex scene (I guess it can be done), I fell in love with Brek, a cinnamon roll in the streets, alpha in the sheets hero who is just blown out of the park with his feelings for Velma. I loved how he pushed her but didn't try to change her, and just overall really fell for this story.

This is also the second book I've read that had a motorcycle-riding, "bad-boy" moonlighting as a wedding planner, and I definitely enjoyed this one more. It was funner, more light-hearted, and just overall more believable in that the hero wasn't pretending that wedding planning was his actual job (Brek is a band manager).

That said, there were a few too many sub-plot points that weighed down the story for me to give it a perfect five star review, but I'll definitely be reading more in this series! I'm hoping Brek's buddy the sexy florist get's his story next!

A plucky and determined cab driver is set on paying her own way and forging her own path, even if that means she has to set up a payment plan with the family who financed her college admissions. Plus, she's intrigued to find out more about the rich man who owns the club she's dying to get into, even if just for one night.
Upon admittance, Frankie accidentally stumbles into a private scene, where a sexy Brit is waiting. Not for her, but when he sees her he must have her.
A wonderfully delicous and erotic opposites attract story between a cold antiques dealer and the fiery woman who will melt his heart and make him break all of his rules.

The Serve series isn't my favorite of Bailey's, and honestly for a series set in a BDSM club the sex, while not exactly tame, isn't as wild as some of the other things I've read.

That said, Bailey is the master of the emotional, and I just love when a uptight character is brought, literally, to her knees after judging someone for something she didn't understand.

Andrew Blackshear was only out to buy his sister a Christmas present, a hawk, but this simple task turns into a comedy of errors involving one impetous lass, a broken carriage wheel, and an epic snowstorm.

A fun, sweet holiday novella from a new to me author. A lot of longing, some bed-sharing, and sweet references to Christmas.

Let's get the fact I DETEST and HATE the title of this book out of the way, because I do. It is definitely shocking and made me look closer, so I get the intent, but I still hate it. And I definitely didn't expect the D in DILF to stand for "Doctor" but okay.

With that said, this was a fun, quick, and fun erotic romance with plenty of bangin', masturbation (mutual and solo), use of toys (mutual and solo), and a heroine who is ten years older than her love interest. All things I really like seeing in romance novels!

The story is engaging, I liked the banter, and overall it was a fun one-handed read *wink*

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC!

Getting over the fact this book may inspire a real-life glitter incident in your home (the kid and the cat do clean up their mess in the end), the art and text of this book is just so charming.

I thought we needed all this bling,
but it's just too much of a good thing.
The glitter made it hard to see,
what sparkles most...
is you and me.

Also, I LOVE when a kids' book foreshadows the next, which this one does with aplomb. The titular glitter arrives as a special package and at the end of the story the kiddo gets another mystery box delivery with what looks to be googly eyes!

My seven year old ALWAYS notices these little details (and before I do), so I really appreciate them.

Okay, so I definitely read this back in 2018 and I definitely liked it. Why didn't I review it?!

Anyway, a con-artist promises to help the woman he's entranced with and her struggling non-profit get their money back after being caught up in a scandalous swindle by a bad foreign investor. All Lenore has to do is fake-date Halsey, gain entrance to his high class world, and let his skills of lying and deception help her get the money back.

Swoony and I love a great heist!

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC.

Content warning for threat of suicide, use of the term "crazy" in regards to an ex

Cypress has gone from a six-figure salary at a fancy investment firm to slingin' drinks in a Chicago dive bar after refusing to put up with the sexism and harassment necessary to further her career. She's used to being hit on by skeevy men, but has no trouble shutting it down. That is until the sexiest and most intense man she's ever seen sits in her section. And offers her a night of passion, no questions, no strings.

Too bad her "avenging angel" turns out to be her step-brother.

Jude Knox, still trying to push away the ex-girlfriend who threatened to kill herself when he broke up with her and trying to make his own way out of the shadow of his brother's success, is aghast when the woman he's still dreaming about turns out to be his step-sister, a little girl when he last saw her. He's even more aghast when he learns where Cypress has been living, what she's been putting up with as she struggles to make ends meet and take care of the health bills for her mother, the mother who was crushed when Jude's step-dad left her.

These two can't stay away from one another, but the ties to family and expectation may prove to be too much to handle.

Unfortunately I didn't connect with this story as much as I loved the first book in this series. The step-siblings thing was handled fine (but isn't a fav trope of mine), and I found it a little odd they wouldn't recognize each other at all, even if they were kids when they last saw each other. But I can let that go. I did really like Cypress's character, and her motivations were sound. Jude just wasn't my favorite hero, and I never really enjoy a "crazy ex" plot, but I did find that Simone handled it in a far better way than most.

That said, this book was smokin' hot and still a fun way to pass the time if you love high-angsty romances.

I read this! Why didn't I review it?! Love that the story features a male librarian who is as obsessed with romance novels as I am. That is hot.

I'm not a huge fan of the format of the Read Me Romance podcast, but I'm here for any and all Tessa Bailey content (and she is the co-host), so I'll definitely listen to her stories.

I adored Birdie in [b:Runaway Girl|40963318|Runaway Girl|Tessa Bailey|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1536576916s/40963318.jpg|63899905] and am really happy to see her in her own story. "Insta-Love" is definitely not my favorite trope, and while this story was super sexy and I really loved the ginormous man-bear college football player who wins Birdie over with his soft, cinnamon roll ways, the jump from meet-cute to forever in a short story just stretches me a bit. Bailey sells it, I just want more.