claireisbookish's Reviews (59)

Heated Rivalry

Rachel Reid

4.0

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Crash Test

Amy James

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Charmed and Alarmed

Cleo White

3.5

emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Next Of Kin

Hannah Bonam-Young

4.0

challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Say You'll Remember Me

Abby Jimenez

3.5

emotional funny lighthearted tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Iron Gold

Pierce Brown

3.25

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Promise Me Sunshine

Cara Bastone

5.0

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Ready or Not

Cara Bastone

4.25

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Rose in Chains

Julie Soto

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Not Safe for Work

Nisha J. Tuli

3.75

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Nisha J. Tuli’s contemporary romance debut was equal parts humorous, heartfelt, and hawttt!!

Trishara (Tris) was our main character and being inside her head was such a wild ride. I felt truly immersed in the story from her perspective.

Rafe was the love interest and he definitely checks all the boxes for a swoon worthy hero. The banter and chemistry between him and Tris was one of my favorite parts.

And the setting!! Give me a book set in Hawaii any day. Coupled with the retreat style plot line, only one room/bed, and the sizzling banter… I ate this right up. On top of all that, Nisha J. Tuli tackled sexism and racism in the workplace so well and has added her book to the growing list of women in STEM romance novels.

If I were to critique anything it’d be about the other woman drama (OWD). It felt a bit old after a while and the constant back and forth between Tris and Rafe about it grew tiresome. Tris at times was a bit frustrating but all in all the end result was worth all the rough patches.

Thanks so much to Forever Pub and Netgalley for the eARC!

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