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bandherbooks's Reviews (3.65k)
Too much plot, not enough love interests together on page seems to be my issue with contemporary romances these days. up until 36% Soledad is still married to her money embezzling husband and Judah is just the hot forensic accountant who thinks she's really sexy.
For the amount of time we spend with the husband, his incarceration, his mistress and secret baby, the threat of "i have secret money hidden", none of it seemed to really pan out in the end beyond a footnote, so why are we so invested in it?
Soledad's money struggles and new influencer career are very "of the now" and i think will appeal to many, i personally was more invested in Judah's forensic accounting which was neat, i do love a hot nerd with secret spectacles.
as always, i appreciate the author's attention and care to things like Judah's autistic teenage twin sons and Soledad's heritage, and her biracial daughters. her sex scenes are fire! and while we have an HEA this still read more as a domestic, soapy drama. soledad is focused on her journey, and judah is waiting for her (until a very late break and quick resolution).
not my favorite by the author for sure.
the author includes content notes, including parental death from cancer (off page, past). but i will also note
For the amount of time we spend with the husband, his incarceration, his mistress and secret baby, the threat of "i have secret money hidden", none of it seemed to really pan out in the end beyond a footnote, so why are we so invested in it?
Soledad's money struggles and new influencer career are very "of the now" and i think will appeal to many, i personally was more invested in Judah's forensic accounting which was neat, i do love a hot nerd with secret spectacles.
as always, i appreciate the author's attention and care to things like Judah's autistic teenage twin sons and Soledad's heritage, and her biracial daughters. her sex scenes are fire! and while we have an HEA this still read more as a domestic, soapy drama. soledad is focused on her journey, and judah is waiting for her (until a very late break and quick resolution).
not my favorite by the author for sure.
the author includes content notes, including parental death from cancer (off page, past). but i will also note
Spoiler
physical abuse (on page, soledad's then husband grabs and bruises her wrist and threatens her), drinking, cancer of a secondary character (who is still alive, but struggling at the end of the book), hospitalization of Judah's teenage son for a bad seizure and concussion, and probably more i missed.
the amount of serious reviews for this insta love curvy girl KU hockey novella made it a choice for my romance book club but holey moley, no.
uneven and not fun even in a ridiculous way.
uneven and not fun even in a ridiculous way.
well this didn't hit for me so i'm just going to leave it there
finally, finally a 2024 debut historical romance i am legit excited for! and with a clinch cover i'm obsessed with.
big persuasion meets poldark vibes!!
if you enjoyed the "oh shit he's back from the dead and his former affianced is married to someone else now" and "i'm so mad he picked her over me i'll never forgive him" angst & ennui, let me tell you this is delicious. Lieutenant Eli Williams has his ~reasons~ and he'll grovel for each and every one of them, because Jane Bishop is ✨worth it✨. Even if Jane has calculated the odds, and they are BAD for our buttoned up sea-man.
also, i super duper appreciated discussions of money in this book. Eli's family spends all of his inheritance (because he's dead! at sea!) and Jane is a woman being supported (luckily) by an uncle who loves her, but has no guaranteed future and a brother I'd like to punch in the throat a bit. Jane's attempts to start a gambling ring amongst the richer ladies of the ton felt a bit florence coded (hell yeah) but with more ~stakes~ because Jane has not much to fall back on if it fails.
there's also some unpacking of the horrors of war // military service.
Snap this up, histrom readers! You'll absolutely want it ASAP.
Cannot wait for more from this author.
SPOILERS
neither main character has had sex (just kisses); there is on page sex in the book
heroine's uncle is queer (is not explicitly stated, but he has a relationship with another character that the heroine is aware of; the uncle is closeted but does allude to the relationship to the heroine)
big persuasion meets poldark vibes!!
if you enjoyed the "oh shit he's back from the dead and his former affianced is married to someone else now" and "i'm so mad he picked her over me i'll never forgive him" angst & ennui, let me tell you this is delicious. Lieutenant Eli Williams has his ~reasons~ and he'll grovel for each and every one of them, because Jane Bishop is ✨worth it✨. Even if Jane has calculated the odds, and they are BAD for our buttoned up sea-man.
also, i super duper appreciated discussions of money in this book. Eli's family spends all of his inheritance (because he's dead! at sea!) and Jane is a woman being supported (luckily) by an uncle who loves her, but has no guaranteed future and a brother I'd like to punch in the throat a bit. Jane's attempts to start a gambling ring amongst the richer ladies of the ton felt a bit florence coded (hell yeah) but with more ~stakes~ because Jane has not much to fall back on if it fails.
there's also some unpacking of the horrors of war // military service.
Snap this up, histrom readers! You'll absolutely want it ASAP.
Cannot wait for more from this author.
SPOILERS
neither main character has had sex (just kisses); there is on page sex in the book
heroine's uncle is queer (is not explicitly stated, but he has a relationship with another character that the heroine is aware of; the uncle is closeted but does allude to the relationship to the heroine)
i started Do Your Worst Again (this time on audio) and it was still moving slow for me, so I diverted to a print paperback. I liked it. It wasn't perfect (the whole curse breaker job wasn't set up in a way that made sense to me. it either needed to be not at all magical, or more). I did love Riley & Clark's romance and banter though, and the heat was superb! truly delicious chemistry.
pains me to do, but i got about 20 pages in and just, nothing for me. might be my mood but i'm moving on
*i received an ARC from the publisher, but also purchased an audiobook & checked out a print copy from the library
pains me to do, but i got about 20 pages in and just, nothing for me. might be my mood but i'm moving on
*i received an ARC from the publisher, but also purchased an audiobook & checked out a print copy from the library
i truly was on the edge of my seat wondering how the author was going to pull out this HEA, and wow she nailed it!!
Evelyn & Quincy get married at first sight after they both randomly sign onto a reality show called Why Knot. Evelyn has failed at love, and is hoping to find her soulmate. Quincy, a former foster kid, agrees on a lark but is absolutely captivated by his beautiful bride immediately.
What starts as a fairy tale soon becomes rocky as they both try to mesh their disparate lives (Quincy, a buttoned up lawyer; Evelyn a free wheeling artist). Their communication styles and former traumas all serve up mess, but both are absolutely smitten and scared to be the first to say so.
Gosh i ate this up. i'm a big reality tv show fan (Love is Blind!! hell yes!) so this fit the bill for me. I was also thrilled to get recommended a romance that wasn't a baking reality show (i've had a bit of my fill of those tbh), and this just hit right. Absolutely delicious spicy scenes and two characters who you will both root for!
thank you to a fellow romance reader (funmi) for the rec!
Evelyn & Quincy get married at first sight after they both randomly sign onto a reality show called Why Knot. Evelyn has failed at love, and is hoping to find her soulmate. Quincy, a former foster kid, agrees on a lark but is absolutely captivated by his beautiful bride immediately.
What starts as a fairy tale soon becomes rocky as they both try to mesh their disparate lives (Quincy, a buttoned up lawyer; Evelyn a free wheeling artist). Their communication styles and former traumas all serve up mess, but both are absolutely smitten and scared to be the first to say so.
Gosh i ate this up. i'm a big reality tv show fan (Love is Blind!! hell yes!) so this fit the bill for me. I was also thrilled to get recommended a romance that wasn't a baking reality show (i've had a bit of my fill of those tbh), and this just hit right. Absolutely delicious spicy scenes and two characters who you will both root for!
thank you to a fellow romance reader (funmi) for the rec!
actual rating 2.5 ⭐
what a slog to get to the meaty part of the action! the cliffhanger from Book 1 to the first chapters of Book 2 really was a let down; I was excited! we were learning things! than bam, back to school Violence and her squad went, which felt, odd?? How many more matches do i need to read about? The necessary world building didn't feel as seamlessly knit into the scenes in this one, and I really wanted to get to the goods.
Part II picked up significantly, so I'm absolutely still intrigued enough to keep reading (the ending, as expected, was also o.O ! ! ! ! )
the best parts for me remain violent and tairn's relationship. Dragon who is both cranky at you yet deeply invested in keeping you alive and your enemies roasted is GREAT. More of this please! I loved learning more about Andarna (the teenage groot of this book lmao) and overall I want more dragons less basgiath. i hope we are done with school from here on out.
Xaden also went from pretty badass to basically a rhysander ripoff to me in this book (until the end) and i got tired of "just give me those three little words" "just ask me the questions." i'm still rooting for these two, and i did appreciate their chemistry. so horny for people always about to di3.
the audio, well i won't listen to another one of these. the narrator ended up being okay for me but these are SO long and it took me over a month to listen due to my time. I think that kept dragging me out of the propulsive parts of the action because i kept having to pause. It was okay to listen to while grinding away on stardew valley though!
overall, fine, not great, but readable and with enough to keep me wanting to know what happens next.
what a slog to get to the meaty part of the action! the cliffhanger from Book 1 to the first chapters of Book 2 really was a let down; I was excited! we were learning things! than bam, back to school Violence and her squad went, which felt, odd?? How many more matches do i need to read about? The necessary world building didn't feel as seamlessly knit into the scenes in this one, and I really wanted to get to the goods.
Part II picked up significantly, so I'm absolutely still intrigued enough to keep reading (the ending, as expected, was also o.O ! ! ! ! )
the best parts for me remain violent and tairn's relationship. Dragon who is both cranky at you yet deeply invested in keeping you alive and your enemies roasted is GREAT. More of this please! I loved learning more about Andarna (the teenage groot of this book lmao) and overall I want more dragons less basgiath. i hope we are done with school from here on out.
Xaden also went from pretty badass to basically a rhysander ripoff to me in this book (until the end) and i got tired of "just give me those three little words" "just ask me the questions." i'm still rooting for these two, and i did appreciate their chemistry. so horny for people always about to di3.
the audio, well i won't listen to another one of these. the narrator ended up being okay for me but these are SO long and it took me over a month to listen due to my time. I think that kept dragging me out of the propulsive parts of the action because i kept having to pause. It was okay to listen to while grinding away on stardew valley though!
overall, fine, not great, but readable and with enough to keep me wanting to know what happens next.