SECOND HALF MELTDOWN.

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I thought this book started off pretty strong. I liked the initial banter between characters. There’s a cupcake shop for goodness sake’s and the author threw in fake dating. Who wouldn’t be charmed?! Things were sweet and good and I thought I had a good read on my hands.

And then.

The second half of the book started. What.

There were some sub-plot lines that I wasn’t wholly a fan of, but luckily weren’t drawn out more than necessary. BUT what was truly the last straw was a BREAK UP at 94%. WHY THO. I already hate conflict break-ups in their usual placement, this was obscene. Of course they get back together pages later, I was too soured to care. It made no sense and I’m still sitting here trying to figure it out.

The love scene had some cringy moments too. Some of the commentary had me giving this a hard nope.

Meh, I thought I would say I recommend this, but instead I’m going to tell you to bake your own cupcakes and read a different book.

Overall audience notes:
- Contemporary Romance
- Language: some strong
- Romance: one open door
- Violence: low
- Trigger/Content Warnings: cyber harassment, gambling addiction mentioned 

Thank you to the publisher for an eARC.

YIKES.

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I was really excited to read this book and within the first few chapters I saw the downfall was imminent. I love books that have more dialogue than not. And it took 5 chapters for any major dialogue to actually start occurring. This became a theme throughout that made me start passing over paragraphs of incongruous information.

With an enemies to lovers romance I was hoping to latch on to, I was let down here as well. Lina continually came off as immature while Rui was really into her, but without a good basis for the attraction? These two did not connect well, but apparently he wanted to kiss her from the moment he saw her and I don’t believe it for a second.

The relationships (platonic and not) weren’t here either. I wanted to see Lina have one friend, a true bond, someone for her to move forward with and nobody became that person for her. The side characters were one dimensional and only placed in to further the plot occasionally.

There’s other issues I had with some of the sub-plots and OH, YES. The flashback chapters?! Were always out of nowhere and had no merit into the current timeline. Instead of showing us Lina’s character as the book progressed, random flashbacks were thrown in to show that she used to have a found family? IT DID NOT WORK.

Anyways, I’m frustrated with this book clearly. High hopes were dashed and I won’t be continuing the series.

Overall audience notes:
- YA Fantasy Romance
- Language: some strong
- Romance: make-outs & an implied night together
- Violence: high
- Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of friends, murder, kidnapping, poisoning, near drowning and other near death experiences, weapons violence 

MIXED.

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Well I gave this series a chance. And I think I liked it enough to try one more book? To be determined.

One of my turnoffs in this one is that everything felt too sexual for me. Just the entire vibe of the book and the main couple getting to things in this book as well that I spent a bit of time fast forwarding my audiobook. I don’t know if it’ll continually be this way, but that was my biggest bleh about it all.

I did love the general set up. With the futuristic things and Eve solving murders. That is cool and reminds me of plenty of shows like NCIS, CSI, etc. I think that could be interesting to see how things develop over multiple story lines.

The romance hasn’t hooked me yet. I needed more from them. By the end I was charmed by Roarke (and his accent on the audio). A protective type who also let’s Eve just be. That’s my kind of hero.

Anywho, I’ll probably give it one more go and see where this takes me.

Overall audience notes:
- Romantic Suspense
- Language: strong
- Romance: multiple open door scenes
- Violence: high
- Trigger/Content Warnings: child sexual abuse recounted, incest, rape, murder of sex workers, gun violence, blackmail 

WELL.

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I didn’t love this y’all. An auspicious start with the whole, I don’t like Prom, kind of vibe and then when the love interest showed up and was a bit of a punk. I was seeking out better grass on the other side.

And things did get marginally better. There were some sweet moments between Elena and Robbie. I loved the K-Pop aspects and a bunch of the background that occurs within those circles.

I think most my issues stem from the general plot. There’s a LOT going on for a 300 page book and not enough time to truly dive into many of those. There was a good discussion about the community center. Talks about reconnecting with friends. Dealing with difficult parent situations. And a looooot of room for growing up. Each of these were approached yet I don’t think I ever felt satisfied.

This is the second book I’ve tried a book by this author and it was once again only okay.

Overall audience notes:
- YA Contemporary Romance
- Language: a little
- Romance: kisses
- Trigger/Content Warnings: death of a father in a car accident 

SMITTEN.

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ABSOLUTE HEARTTHROB ALERT. I loved Taft so much. He was one of those main characters that sweeps you away with his true and kind gestures along with his assurances straight from his heart.

Alexandrina was the other half of this dual POV that was fantastic too. She was jaded and shut in, but not immune to Taft’s charms. I liked her slow unveiling and Alix learned to love again and realizing that they’re good men out there.

These two together were SO FULL OF SNARK. I loved it x100000. The banter was amazing. It was executed perfectly and made me smile and swoon when you could see the sparks start to ignite. They kept each other laughing and learned how to relax and lean together.

I just wholeheartedly enjoyed this story. It’s a fast paced regency that was exactly the sweep away from reality I needed.

Overall audience notes:
- Regency Romance
- Language: none
- Romance: make-outs
- Violence: low
- Trigger/Content Warnings: infidelity (with a previous spouse, mentioned and discussed often), child/parent separation 

I really loved Jensen’s previous contemporary (Miracle Creek Christmas) so I took a chance here on reading her first book set in a different time period. Some things worked for me and others didn’t.

The romance was sweet. I did enjoy the characters together and by the end I thought they had believable chemistry. I just didn’t feel enough heat (and not in a steam way), in a general sort of manner. Spencer was smitten from the get go and that was adorable there were some missing aspects that I needed to feel more connected to their relationship.

I liked the turn of century setting and the plot surrounding motor cars. That was new to me in this genre and I liked seeing some of the tools of the trade. Occasionally these scenes were a bit extended, so I’m glad they wrapped back into parts of the backstory.

There’s some good friendships here. I love the woman bonding together and the activism they were working for at the time (being suffragettes). A bit too silly, for instance, I really don’t understand the Wendy flying thing? BUT, women supporting women is always a great addition.

I’m curious what other books will line up in this series with other friends and family members.

 

MEH.

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I’m writing this review only a few days after finishing this book and can hardly remember it. And that’s pretty much the crux of anything else I say after this point. It was fine, but not all the endearing.

I never liked the FMC, Dee. Something about her continually rubbed me the wrong way and I hated how she handled a lot of her interactions with Ben. Ben should have dropped his promise and moved right along. Admittedly, I did think there were some sweet moments. Those were very much overshadowed by everything else.

The podcast chapters were annoying. I didn’t think they added anything to the story (except for maybe the last one). It took me out and I just wanted to get back to the road trip. I did like the dual POV line-up because I love both sides of a tale.

And I think I’ve basically ran out of things to say, it was okay y’all. Moving along.

Overall audience notes:
- Contemporary Romance
- Language: some strong
- Romance: fade to black
- Trigger/Content Warnings: infidelity mentioned, grief/loss depiction, death of a grandmother 

 WHEN CAN I GET THE NEXT ONE.

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I adore this series. Another great installment with another cliffhanger that had me going WHAT and now I wait for the finale coming in a few months.

This is such a great example of romantasy. I loooove Elander and Casia. They are constantly working together, and even if some poorer decisions were made in this read I really appreciated the way they can have a true conversation together. I just love them. I almost thought the spice was going to land in the, is this really necessary?, category, but luckily I thought most of it worked with the storyline.

I love the complicated villain aspects too. It shows other sides I wasn’t expecting and keep me very much intrigued in to how things will work out in the end. The plot keeps moving and the assortment of gods that show up is a great plot aspect. I like that I can remember who’s who easily enough and that all of the conundrum involving multiple characters lives make sense.

The finale is sure to be a wild one and I am ANXIOUS.

Overall audience notes:
- Fantasy Romance
- Language: some strong
- Romance: three open door (low/med explicit)
- Violence: high
- Trigger/Content Warnings: anxiety depiction, loss of life

ENJOYABLE.

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This is another, I wasn’t going to read this book until everyone else convinced me otherwise. And while I don’t have a RAVE review, I do have a solid one that I would still stand on as a recommendation for a short, fast paced romance.

I think this is the first movie star romance that I actually liked. Leo is sweet and caring, and full of charisma that sweeps you up. Nora and Leo get off to a fast pace start that shows truthfully how connection can spark. I adored how Leo fit right into their family and made an effort in being there.

The conflict and how it started made me tilt my head a bit. I didn’t love it because I think a simple, is this true? could have fixed it real fast. I don’t know, the fast nature of their relationship might have played into it being apart of their downfall for a bit, but it still bugged me.

I loved the small town setting, the kids were sweet, and Nora was able to find steady ground again. I like that she found her happiness and the complicated joy that comes from having falling in love.

Overall audience notes:
- Contemporary Romance
- Language: some
- Romance: vague open that fades to black
-Trigger/Content Warnings: mentions of infidelity (from the ex-husband), spousal and child abandonment, alcoholism 

GREAT READ.

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I’m not really a fiction reader. I either lean towards fantasy or romance, but I picked this up on a friends recommendation and it did not disappoint!

I really loved the vibes of this entire book. I found myself laughing out loud and cheering Freya on after a devastating break up at very much the wrong time.

Her friends were lovely and they were incredibly supportive and just there for her. I looove a good friend moment and this delivered. There’s also a subtle romance that had me smiling too.

I do wish the ex plot line didn’t take up the ENTIRE book. I thought we had essentially moved past his awfulness until he showed up late in the game which made me give a big sigh.

Still a great read about moving on when plans drastically change. Leaning in to the chaos of life and trying new things, and just maybe falling in love.

Overall audience notes:
- Contemporary fiction
- Language: some strong
- Romance: make-outs