Gabriel Scott is the new hero of my heart, Sunshine of my soul, lord of my loins.

The slow-burn is FOR REAL with this one, and I loved it while I desperately and furiously read to get to when Sophie and Scottie finally got to bang it out. Dead.

I highlighted basically every passage of my eBook, and just absolutely adored this story. Yes, the final conflict I could see coming from a mile away, but really I didn't care, and the epic grovel was most epic indeed.

I will definitely be re-reading very soon.

My review above stands after my last re-read. God I love Scottie. I love how this slow-burner slays my loins and makes me pant for it as much as Sophie and Gabriel are by the time they FINALLY have sex. I love how absolutely terrible Gabriel is at feeling his feelings, despite being so in charge of the rest of his life and his people. I adore Sophie for not taking shit and for putting herself out there and for saying YES to bed sharing with this grump. Every line of this book is perfect and I'm in love. Scottie can talk to me like a Duke any day of the week.

Erin McLellan keeps delighting me with these queer holiday romance novellas. Candy Hearts is perfect for those who maybe kind of hate to love Valentine's Day but would absolutely embrace it with their own sexy "fake Valentine" like Benji and William. I loved the stuck together in a power outage situation that brought our two lovers together, as well as the found family celebration. Benji's love of lingerie is also very endearing and used to great sexy effect.

I learned a new sex move term and also there's a lot of sperm. So much.

*I received a free copy from the author for review

After the death of her beloved Aunt leaves librarian Eve in ownership of the falling apart Mermaid Inn, she must return to the the place she once loved but left forever after her high school sweetheart destroyed her heart. Now the police chief and sporting a stupid stupid beard that Eve absolutely does not like, not one bit, Sawyer Collins is an inescapable nuisance who also seems to be doing everything in his power to make sure Eve is happy, despite what he did all those years ago.

A slow burn romance full of heart that pays off on steam after making you die for it, this is a great series starter from Jenny Holiday! I cannot wait for more as I delighted in all the secondary characters. I especially enjoyed watching Eve and Sawyer learn to talk to one another and communicate their desires. Super sexy and I adore a second-chance romance. This one is done quite well, and Sawyer's big mistake is thoroughly explored and the grovel fits the crime.

As far as this being a small town, very White romance, I enjoyed it as a White reader. While I liked how the conflict between the heroine's desire for a certain library job versus staying back in her hometown to run the Inn played out, I was bracing myself.

Edit: What does the above paragraph mean past Beth? I'm usually writing these while at work and I think what I meant to write was this is a very white, small town romance. I'm white, I've read a ton of these in the past and this story definitely does not try to subvert or advance this "small town" trope. I wish it did more work on this part.

Also! I am in the mentions of this book! I was so lucky to help Jenny just a bit, talking about library jobs! Thank you Jenny.

I reviewed a free copy from the publisher. Thank you.

CW for

parental abuse and neglect, cheating (in the past, off page, just a kiss).

Middle-aged single mom and school librarian Amy is shocked to find the husband she never divorced back in her small town after he ditched her and their two children three years ago. He's now ready to try and be a father again to their teens, and is ready to give his credit card and time so Amy can go "have a break."

What follows is a typical tale of a white woman finding herself after martyring her life to motherhood and refusing to make her ridiculous husband pay his share with the help of rich friends, privilege, and circumstance.

Readers must read a long time before the find out what made Amy's husband run off to China CW

Miscarriage)

and I was just so utterly irritated with Amy's noble refusal to take him to task especially since her financial troubles are noted (Amy describes being on food stamps). The financial woes are sort of also solved by Amy immediately going from a stay at home mom to finding a miracle job as a librarian at her kids' posh private school. Amy does have an MLS but I found this to be a bit of a leap.

Also as a library worker and a parent, I was interested to see the struggle Amy has with her own daughter being a reluctant reader, and I did enjoy reading the journal entries Cori wrote to her mother to be the most compelling parts of the story.

There is also a romance subplot between Amy and the "hot biracial librarian" she meets at the conference, the "librarian who Dangerous Minds his school in the Bronx" and it all kind of felt a bit not great to me, said as a white reviewer.

I appreciate what this book was trying to do, but I don't feel like it pulled it off. It was very readable and I'm sure many white, middle class women will enjoy it.

Caila Harris is determined to secure the promotion she's been aiming for every since beginning her marketing job at a large cosmetics company, but some bad personal decisions land her out on a punishment assignment, namely heading to small town Bradleton to find reasons to close the one factory in town that employees most of its residents. Local Mayor McHottie Wyatt is just as determined to prevent this from happening, but his own desires and feelings for the beautiful Caila also throw a wrench in his plans. As their mutual desire grows, can these two overcome their very different work needs to find happiness?

I especially loved Caila's group of friends and cannot wait to meet more of them as this series progresses and I was happy to see a small town Contemporary written by a Black author. There are many fun secondary characters to meet and some great sexy times, including a scene where Caila and Elijah have some fun with a product they procured from one of the town resident's side-hustles ;).

I reviewed a free copy received from the publisher on Edelweiss+

*Actual rating 4.5 stars*
I received a free copy in exchange for a fair review, thank you to the author!

When Rose finds out she's losing some of her favorite classes to a new teacher, a man to boot, she's determined to treat him professionally but coldly. She isn't expecting him to be the passionate, excellent educator she discovers him to be as the school year begins. She isn't expecting to like him!

Martin, moved to Marysburg to be near his 18yo daughter before she graduates and goes to college, is mortified when he finds out he's taken Rose's classes, especially so when he sees how excellent she is in the classroom. He's bound and determined to make her life easy, all while struggling to hide his very fervent interest in her.

As these two wounded souls grow to know one another, they find they have more in common than they could have imagined, but also need to work to find out if they can let their pasts go to find a future together.

So soft, so sweet, and sexy! I loved this romance with 40+ characters who have faults, wrinkles, and rolls.

God I adore this series. Is it wrong to want more? Watching Jack Mulligan slowly lose his heart to the quiet but never meek and never weak Justine was fan-fucking-tastic.

I adored how Jack was as fastidious about his appearance (manicures, perfect bespoke suits) as he was filthy mouthed in bed. I loved how learned consent and good bed manners from his mother and the other sex workers he grew up with and how he always made sure Justine was 100% on board with every touch and kiss. SWOOOOOOOON.

Where Florence stole my heart in [b:The Prince of Broadway|43309158|The Prince of Broadway (Uptown Girls, #2)|Joanna Shupe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1559283912l/43309158._SY75_.jpg|67210973], Jack for me was the star of this book. I love Justine too, Jack's character was just riveting.

Pour me a glass of cold lager, I need it to cool off.

I received an ARC for review from the publisher and Edelweiss+. Thank you!

I'll be re-reading and posting a more coherent review closer to the pub date, but this is definitely a must!

Rita Clarkson may have burned down her dead mother's restaurant as the final straw in her emotional break after also being kicked off a reality cooking competition for almost stabbing another contest when they deflated her souffle.

A road trip with her three slightly estranged siblings, per the request of her dead mother's journal, is the right way to come back from that, right?

Well, especially if the road trip hits an immediate road block after their Suburban breaks down outside of a desert town, requiring Rita to take a wild ride on the back of the town's former man-whore's motorcycle. Said man owns a bar called Liquor Hole...

But, said man is also a reformed man-whore. Jasper has been celibate and mostly sober for almost two years after realizing he had become the town joke. Now he can't believe he's immediately ready to throw his hard work away to try and tempt the deliciously prickly Rita into his bed. But this time he's out for keeps.

I'm so delighted with this! I love a great family-issues, sibling driven story. Throw in an epic road trip and the promise of finding out what the other Clarkson siblings will be doing (they all have mysterious REASONS for agreeing to the trip to NYC and I cannot wait to read about them.

2021 - reread for #ButDoTheyBang
Knowing the ending and the big reveal helped me catch a couple of context clues for the sexual

Spoiler

assault/grooming

plotline. I changed my rating from 5 to 4 stars, as the reveal and wrap up of this plotline didn't hit right for me upon the re-read. The relationship is still so swoony and romantic, I just wish some different decisions had been made.

What a great summer reading Tessa Dare!


Congratulations to THE WALLFLOWER WAGER for becoming a member of the Bad Decisions Book Club which should really be re-named 'Worth every minute of lost sleep book club.'

Contains:

Preorder yourself a Valentine treat - Jodie Slaughter's novella JUST ONE MORE features a barber and a tattoo artist meeting in a rideshare then banging, eating, and watching movies while oops falling in love as their one night stand turns into a long weekend and more. Loved it.

I especially loved how unabashedly romantic Vic is. He straight up tells Whitney that he was looking for an epic love story with his blind date on Valentine's Day. He's not afraid of his feelings and while it takes the both of them some time to ADMIT their feelings for each other, it is more because they are both afraid of their feelings not aligning, not because Vic hasn't figured out what feelings are yet. All the little details about their work was also deftly sprinkled in, along with some minor secondary characters, but this is truly a very close proximity romance with Vic and Whitney, together, for most of the story. Loved it. A great novella.