I'm having a really hard time trying to write my official review, I'm still getting over the sheer amount of times Nina slapped Clinton. At least four times? Plus I'm pretty sure her sister slapped Clinton, Nina slapped her ex. There's a lot of slapping and I have a hard time with that.

Overall I felt the promise of the beginning of the story, Nina's sports journalism career being jeapordized by her anger and reaction to a sexist comment never panned out. Instead there's a wild ride for our heroine as she has conflict with her ex, worries about Clinton trying to scam her family's business, and even more I won't spoil here.

I was also looking forward to seeing Clinton's character explored, as he's described as a bookish not at all into sports guy with daddy issues, but despite this description we never really get to see his work as a marketing genius for the B&B nor do we get to really see his nerd come out except for a fun scene where they watch classic 70s blaxploitation films. He and Nina's insta-attraction subsumes their romance, so there's a lot of amazing banging but not so much emotional relationship building, plus they are constantly ALL IN and then ALL OUT as small conflicts are blown out of proportion, a slap is thrown, and someone storms out.

What does absolutley work is the relationship between Nina and her sisters and their father. I wanted more of their scenes because they sparkled.

Thank you to Library Journal for providing the advance copy for review. I'll try to remember to post the link once it is live.

Anika is aghast when she learns her boss is having her train her nemesis Royal at the coffee shop she manages and runs the social media and marketing for. Plus her beloved parents are going on their dream vacation for the holidays, effectively leaving her alone for Christmas for the first time ever. Anika will find though that sometimes love is just the flip side of hate, and maybe she won't be alone for Christmas after all.

A fabulous holiday novella perfect for the season, I especially enjoyed reading one that wasn't all ho ho ho happy about the holidays, as a lot people do struggle. The sexual and emotional chemistry between Royal and Anika was also amazing!

This novella is set in Jones' Equilibrium series. I hadn't read any of the other books in this series, but was perfectly fine and didn't feel lost. That said, I've discovered Anika and Royal's tension is also built up in some of the other stories and I have to read them now!

Available on KU!

Sonja, recently divorced, is looking to launch her own natural apothecary business. She's been raising her children and running her household for years, not to mention running her now ex-husband's real estate office with no paycheck, but wants to make sure she's doing the best she can before hitting the green light. So, she enrolls into a new entreprenuer class that comes highly recommended by her community of friends and fellow small business owners. What Sonja isn't expecting to come with the class is the sexy af instructor Atlas.

Instant attraction between these two is tested by both their age gap (about ten years) and Sonja's desire to guard her heart and her life. But Atlas is persistent and watching these two work for their HEA was a day well spent.

Absolutely delicious and chock full of characters full of depth and emotion, I can't wait to come back to this world. Sonja's mother and sisters were especially lovely, as well as reading about their traditional family practices.

Also I have this great image of huge Atlas, with his big thighs and broad shoulders, tootsing along on his bicycle in this town I sure as heck would like to visit.

A divorcee bookstore owner's saucy window displays irritate the buttoned up financial planner who just moved in to the office next door. That is until he learns that she just might be the perfect person to bring some color to his orderly life.

A lovely holiday novella with heart and steam, I loved watching the hero loosen up and also show the heroine she deserves to be heard, both in life and in bed.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC!

I'm having a difficult time giving this story a star rating because something about Jimenez's writing grabs me by the throat, tosses me into a tornado, and doesn't let me go until I've reached the end surrounded by the destruction of my feelings. So, if that's what you are looking for, hold on for the ride Dorothy.

I gobbled up The Happy Ever After Playlist, happy to see Sloan recovering from her grief over the events in The Friend Zone (a book which filled me with similar feelings), and being wooed by the deliciously sexy musician's dog leaps through her sunroof and into her life. Sloan deserves the best in life and I'll cape for her till the end.

The first portion of the book with the texts and flirting between Sloan and Jason is delightful and super fun, full of Jimenez's wit and perfection with dialogue.

I wasn't always quite as enchanted with Sloan's friends (the couple from TFZ) or Jason after he reveals his stardom to Sloan. He's immediately entranced by Sloan because she is physically beautiful and funny, and makes some comments about needing to lock her down before anyone else can realize she's ready to date again which made me cringe a little and I was glad Sloan wasn't privy to those thoughts. Sloan's friends also seem to be on #TeamJason a few more times than I felt like he deserved, but to each their own. I'm just firmly #TeamSloan and wanted to punch Jason in the teeth a few times.

There was also a subplot involving Jason and a pop star ex with mental health issues that thankfully wrapped up in a respectful way but also made me grit my teeth a few times. See behind spoiler for more thoughts

She and Jason had a night of sex after working together then break up because she's "got issues" and seems to be on drugs and "crazy." Jason lies by ommission to Sloan about not wanting to take Sloan on their joint tour, which Sloan finds out and causes their first breakup. Plus, it turns out Jason's record label's been putting Lola in to these situations and manipulating her, which is terrible, and she and Jason ultimately reconcile their working relationship. I hope she gets her own story.

So, overall there were a lot of things that worked for me and other things that didn't BUT I devoured the entire story in about a day because that's how much I wanted to know what happened. A perfect follow-up for fans of the first book and who want to take on this angst filled romance with a cute as heck dog.

Thank you to Forever for the advance copy!

A Duke who believes he is sterile keeps on the pregnant Irish woman who he finds out was married to him by proxy. He's insistent he'll never touch her but their blazing chemistry land them in bed and the Duke discovers Katy is definitely into his sadistic nature.

An erotic historical with a lot of steam, but please see the CW below for more info if needed.




CW: Katy has a miscarriage on page. The Duke finds out he is not sterile and they go on to have many children.

Brianna Concannon believes she is content running her family's B&B in Ireland. Content with making the perfect bed, the perfect breakfast, the perfect flower bed. But deep inside her burns a desire for a family of her own, a desire she buried deep inside her after being jilted by her fiancee years ago. A desire reignited by the arrival of one Grayson Thane, author and charmer, to her inn.

Try as she might to not let her heart fall to the tempestuous yet kind hearted man who locks himself into his room to write his murder mysteries she can't resist, but as family secrets begin to unfold, Brianna might just have to let this wandering man blow just as quickly out of her life.

A classic Nora contemporary, I would have LOVED this story even ten years ago, but today I was left kind of underwhelmed, slightly bored, and also puzzled by how many times Brianna and Gray boned without protection and not even a hint of a secret baby (sign of the times).

I also hated how Gray treated Brianna when he was in his "artist" mode, grunting at her as she angelically laid his food trays at his side so as to not bother his "muse." I wanted her to dump that food on his head sometimes. The grovel was not enough either. I didn't mind his smoking and I felt Brianna's virginity was handled in a not icky way, but her mother needs to get a boot in the head. I think I'd have enjoyed Born in Fire or Born in Shame more (this Murphy, I must know more about him).

CW: Gray roughly grabs Brianna by the arm and she needs to tell him he's hurting her. A racist slur is used to describe Gray's looks. Fat shaming.

Not going to lie, I did get teased a bit by my colleagues at the library when Haven arrived on the holdshelf for me. But, haters gonna hate, and I'm a firm believer in #noshame #nosuchthingasaguiltypleasureread. Also, ever since Cap sported a beard in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War I've had feelings.

Okay, that said, this was very sexy book that I wish had just a bit more character development in the later pages. Basically, mountain recluse and nature photographer Shepard Olsen rescues city-girl Claudia Cade from murders when she stumbles upon his porch covered in blood and beat to hell one night. The murderers succeeded in killing Claudia's one and only family member, her brother, while they were out camping, and Shep and his shotgun are the only thing that save her from the same fate.

Claudia spends a few nights recovering from her physical wounds in the local hospital and forms an instant PTSD-drive connection with Shep, who also will continue to have his own struggles since he shot and killed one of Claudia's pursuers. They both try to return to their "normal lives" but are thrown back together when Claudia comes back to Shep's small town community to thank you, and tell him she thinks she needs to be with him to help process her trauma.

From there, they enter into a very consensual and very very hot BDSM relationship, which I was on board with. BUT, I just thought the ending came so very quickly. Of course they eventually realize sex won't heal all wounds, and Claudia leaves Shep behind, but then through the powers of therapy and time recovers enough to come back and they have their HEA.

I wanted a bit more of her journey on the page, but whatever. This was still pretty great and I'll definitely read more of this series.

What can I say about Love Lettering? The writing is so gloriously evocative of the craft of the heroine that I dreamt in script? That I almost wore out the highlight button on my Kindle? That Reid and Meg have my heart?

I fell in love with Kate Clayborn's writing with the Chance of a Lifetime series and this book just cements her place as an important voice in the Romance genre.

Thank you to the publisher for the ARC. I will write a better review when I have collected my feelings!

Okay so I'm still having trouble putting my thoughts together in to a coherent review, but honestly just go read the on Aarya Marsden wrote over on Smart Bitches. It is brilliant. I'm just here to say I love this story so absolutely much AND that the audiobook is perfection. The wonderful narrator makes Meg and Reid's raw loneliness and their slow-burn chemistry absolutely come alive. Hearing Reid's "Good." is UNF.

If you, like me, were just dying for more of Rosie and Dominic while reading Tessa Bailey's Fix Her Up, oh you are just going to eat Love Her or Lose Her right up.

What could be an entirely angsty, break your heart until the end second-chance romance is instead a make your heart full delicious slow-burner, full of love, humor, and sexy frustration. Watching these two gentle souls who are absolutely perfect for one another learn how to express their love, complete with the most hippy-dippy marriage counselor Rosie can find, is a sheer delight.

While you can certainly read Love Her or Lose Her as a stand-alone, there are appearances from Travis and Georgie (oh Travis), and Bethany who's story I now desperately need.

I'll do a more complete review closer to the pub date (out Jan 2020), but pre-order this one as soon as you can.

I received a free copy in exchange for a fair review.

Audiobook Review (final copy review):

What an absolutely smokin' audiobook! Charlotte North excels at bringing the heat with both Rosie and Dominic's voices, giving me definite pants-feelings throughout. I also noticed that in this finished version (I had previously read an ARC) that little details rounding out Rosie and Dominic's characters were included, such as Rosie packing her silk hair scarf before leaving Dominic for the first time, etc. I'm glad to see these updates.