5 Stars! I have been wanting to read Tarah DeWitt and I'm so glad I was given this opportunity.  I cannot wait to read more from her.  The Co-Op was such a sweet book.  I loved getting to see them fall in the past and realize they hadn't lost anything in the present. Deacon is such a swoony MMC.  

I was *nearly* disappointed in the end.  I was screaming at them in my head with the choice that they were making, but I'm so glad Sal came in like the Goddess she is and saved the book (for me). The epilogue was *chefs kiss* so good.  One of the best I've read.  

I received a free e-ARC from Netgalley and SMP in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book via my Afterlight subscription.  The special edition was so stinking pretty I immediately added it to my Libby holds and read it ASAP.  I loved the story and the premise.  Lord's writing reminds me of a mashup of Emily Henry and B.K. Borison.

I really enjoyed the story, I adored the side characters, and I absolutely loved June.  I mostly liked Levi.

The reason I took a full star off was because through the entire story,

it felt like June was a consolation prize to Levi, not the ACTUAL prize.  I was really thinking that when it came to the end, the reason he'd agreed so easily to "fake dating" was because Kelly knew how in love with June he was.  But that wasn't the case at all.  He was head over heals in love with June his entire life and he's trying to fix things with Kelly?? Trying to make her jealous?  What?  Then when they finally get together and Kelly suddenly comes down to the shore, he says there might be a small window of a chance that they'll reconcile?  SIR! You just spent the night confessing everything to the woman you (haven't admitted yet) love and sleeping with her?! It rubbed me wrong the entire time.  The way that the two were spotted buying coffee together and walking together but never an explanation to June.  Even knowing Kelly was trying to make June jealous.  I think this could have been handled better, Levi could have been perfect, but he's kinda icky underneath all that sweetness (that he didn't get from desserts).

4.5 (technically 4.6, but we can't rate that way :)) stars overall for all five stories! This was a great little collection and I hope Amazon continues to produce them!

Cruel Winter: 5/5, love Ali Hazelwood’s writing style.  The flashbacks made sense and it helped the story flow.  Couldn’t get enough of how much Marc was truly obsessed with Jamie. I usually dislike when we don’t get dual POV, but there is something special about a single FMC POV when the man is absolutely obsessed.  Ali does it so well.

Tessa Bailey: 3/5.  For me, Tessa either knocks it out of the park or she strikes out. Not usually an in-between.  This one was ok.  It felt like a Fanfiction Oneshot, but not in a good way?  It was missing the Christmas magic for me?  Other than her telling us the dates, I just wasn’t feeling it.  The spice was off the charts delicious, I just couldn’t connect to the characters like I usually can with her.

All by my Elf: 5/5! I have been wanting to read Olivia Dade and just haven’t had the chance.  Instantly adding her to my TBR, I can’t wait to read more Olivia Dade books.  I appreciated the mid-30s MCs.  As someone who has lived in Newport News, VA as well, I appreciated the old look back on my stomping rounds and knew everything she talked about.  This novella was fantastic. 

Merriment and Mayhem: 5/5 delicious firefighter/chaos demon romance. This author is also new to me and I'm adding her books to my TBR. I felt like the ending wrapped up a little too neatly/quickly but from beginning to end it was an amazing read. I read it so fast I was shocked when I got to the end. 

Only Santa’s in the Building: 5/5 This was so cozy and swoony! I loved every second of reading this. Perfect ending to these five novellas, with the best epilogue! 

I loved each of the five stories, Amazon chose 5 fantastic authors. Each of them knocked it out of the park and I have found THREE new to me authors that I can't wait to dive into once more. Thank you so much for the opportunity! 

I received a free E-ARC from Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Solid 4 star read.  I'm not going to lie, Initially.... I was skeptical.  My impulse control got the best of me and I requested this.  Immediately had regrets, What did I get myself into?  Y'all.  I opened this on my Kindle and was hooked.  The writing was SO GOOD.  The story was so interesting.  I loved all of the characters.  Absolutely hated her family.  HENry can pound sand, preferably without Olivia as he doesn't deserve THAT dowry. 

I feel like I have to make a confession before we go further.  I've never read Pride and Prejudice.  Of course, I know who Jane Austen is and I know OF P&P, I've just... not read it or watched any of the movies. So I feel I may have missed nuances and Easter eggs alluding to P&P? Unsure.  I loved it.

I could not wait to get to the end.  I wanted to know so badly how they worked it out.  I knew Tuck would never leave his sister behind, but I knew he wasn't going to be able to leave Lizzy behind either?  I loved how it ended.  

Biggest con for me?  The cover.  Tuck is a hockey player, but he is a GOALIE.  Tuck in the cover is not a goalie.  He's not wearing the right pads, the right stick, or skates.  I don't think the casual romance reader will recognize it, but as a massive hockey fan, it threw me off.  

I received a free e-ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Loved it! Another swoony, spicy dark romance. I’ve enjoyed the softening of Caleb in this book and the backbone Margo has grown. Can’t wait to see where the next book takes us! Especially with that ending. 

The second Cassie saw Reggie in a fedora in My Roommate is a Vampire, I knew this book would be about him. 10/10 I loved this book. Reggie and Amelia were so adorable and I loved how their story played out. It wasn’t a typical fake dating for an event. Can’t wait for what’s next! 

Meghan Quinn has put out another hit.  It took a second to get into the book, I think because for me, knowing it loosely follows the Grinch story and especially the movie, so much was familiar that I wasn't chomping at the bit to dive straight into it.  But once I got in I was hooked.  I didn't expect such a slow burn from Ms. Quinn.  I knew it was going to be spicy, especially as my copy arrived from Books Are Awesome with the NSFW overlay.  But I didn't expect it to take so long. 

I loved the quirky small Christmas town, I enjoyed the side characters, they were fabulous.  I wanted to knock Max/Atlas out a few times but I felt the same way about Taran, since it all worked out in the end, I'll keep my fists to myself.

I loved this book, I hope there is another book set in this town in our future.

I took the .5 off because of the epilogue.  It felt rushed and left me wanting more.  

I received a free E-ARC from Good Girls PR in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 Stars!

I really really adored everything about this book.  I loved Austin as an MMC and I thought Maggie was so relatable as well.  The side characters were so well developed.  I’m not sure how it happened, but as someone who fully supports childless cat ladies, I really did not like the Senator.  How was I rooting for her and disliking her all at the same time?  Maybe because she was so callous about Maggie’s feelings?

I didn’t take off stars for this, because it was a me problem.  This book is 100% on point for this exact moment in the season of our lives.  AI in the media, especially in the bookish community, is such an important topic right now.  We’re currently in debate season for presidential candidates.  I use reading as an escape from real life and there wasn’t much of an escape while reading the majority of this book.  Unless you count the spicy scenes which were so well done.  10/10 wholly recommend reading spicy scenes at any time :)

My reason for the .5 star deduction was while the tension was built up, it felt like we were run over with it by a bull.  Just an attraction and mild annoyance and then BAM, a kiss. I thought it could have been fleshed out a teensy bit more.

Double Apex was my second F1 romance and it didn't miss!  What did miss was the writing.  I think for a debut author, Josie Juniper did well and I think with more experience and refinement, she's going to be a future powerhouse.  Unfortunately for me, the poor writing really took away from the story.  No tension was built.  There were a lot of opportunities to build tension and each opportunity fell flat.  I struggled for the first 50% of this book to get into it.  I found the FMC, Phae, to be very pretentious and I really struggled to like her.  I wasn't getting STEM FMC, I was getting pretentious, spoiled, genius kid. Cos as the MMC was more relatable, but his POVs were also a struggle to get through. I don't want to list out my issues because I don't want this review to be a rant, I want it to be positive.  There is absolute room for growth and I can't wait to see it in future books.

I received a free ARC of this book from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.