Solid 3.75 stars!

I enjoyed the themes.  Animal rescue is near and dear to my heart and I enjoyed that aspect of the story. I loved the two MC's, Effie and Gale together.  The banter was top tier and so smart.  I was constantly using my Kindle to look up words for me.  I love that! When I requested this book, I didn't realize it was a part of a series.  I loved that it was completely readable as a stand alone.  I could glean information from who the other two books were about, but not once was I confused about what was happening.

What I didn't love and took off a full star for, is the immediately and then constant lusty inner thoughts.  I want a build up of lust.  In the first pages of meeting she's immediately wet down below looking at him.  No. That's not realistic and it kept happening, but only in Effie's POV (It could have been in Vale's as well, but I didn't notice it then).  It reminds me of when young adults write FanFiction and their all drooling over the MC's hotness.  It's overdone and honestly unrealistic.  There are better ways to show appreciation for how a man looks and it doesn't need to be instant wetness and awkward lusty thoughts. 

Another .25 taken off and I hesitated on this.  I love that the author is trying to bring modern problems into it. Giving women a voice, allowing them to be unapologetically women, men who Stan outspoken women.  It just felt... unauthentic when everyone in the rather large circle was like that.  It's giving wanting to be contemporary in a historical romance.  I WANT women to have a voice and not be sex shamed, but I also want to be realistic to the themes of historical romances?  

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

This book was so good!  Such a respectful and healthy way to display emotions like grief and traits like ADHD.  I loved the immediate pivots each MC took when discovering these things about the other.  

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the FMC being a widow, but it was beautifully done.  The growth she had from her first marriage and being so confident in herself.  

I loved the emotional maturity of the arguments and apologies.  Each MC sitting down with themselves and self-reflecting where they went wrong in the moment.  The ability to immediately apologize and acknowledge those wrongs.  Such a healthy representation that I don't think a lot of books include, yet.  

What I loved the most, is that we didn't get bogged down in the cooking.  I've read a few cooking romances before and it would just go so down into the weeds of the act that I'd get bored and loose myself.  Almost as though the author is trying to show off what they know?  In fact, I'm currently listening to a different book about a chef and whiskey distiller and thought to myself, "This is it, no more food romances" and then I queued up this ARC and groaned.  But, not once did I get that feeling with The Slowest Burn.  Once I started reading, I couldn't put the book down, I stayed up way too late to finish it! 

If this is Sarah Chamberlain's debut novel, I cannot wait to see what else she writes! I think she just may be my next auto-buy author. 

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

I’m so excited for the new series by Bella Matthews!

I was annoyed we didn’t get Kenzie in the last series but this book was so good and delicious she was worth the wait. Kenzie and Nix were adorable. I enjoyed the change in Uber protectiveness that their families usually have and the calm(ish) way they welcomed the couple.

Great little slump breaker. 

GIVE ME MORE OF THIS.  This was SO GOOD.  WHY did I sit on this book for so long?? I have a Bookish Box edition that I got through my adult subscription box.  I looked at it for what must be over a year now.  Kept putting it off.  I should admit, I'm a sucker for a good cover and maybe that cover just wasn't it (spoiler alert, it wasn't).  I much prefer this cover!  

To the actual bones of the book.  I was so scared of a love triangle but while it was a slight one, clear boundaries were drawn.  Usually early on, I know *exactly* who I'm rooting for.  House of Beating Wings? Nope, not a clue.  I kept wavering back and forth between Dante and Antoni and oooooh then Luce pops up?  Well, we all know who I went for by the end of the book.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the world building, I love the slow build up a series allows us.  Some things I'm able to predict and others are coming out of left field and I LOVE that! Crow Shifters? Who knew.  

I can't wait to continue reading this series.  I absolutely devoured it.  

There were a few things that pulled me out, like we're clearly in a made up world and languages are made up, but then they'd traveled a kilometer.  Initially I thought this was out of character, but I guess my American is showing because upon a Google search, I see European countries adopted the metric system as early as 1795, so I guess kilometer threw me off because it's modern to me. There were also a few other phrases that threw me out, not enough to put it down.  Also, it took me a hot minute AKA (A few hours) to convince myself to read this because the introduction with the pronunciations, translations, and war histories made me absolutely dread diving head first into what appeared to be high fantasy.  Joke was on me because it read so beautifully and I really didn't even need those first few pages because it was written well enough to understand everything. So once I got past that, I ate this book up! 

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

Solid 4.5 stars for this one! I know this technically falls into contemporary dark romance, but I really got a fantastical vibe from it.  I think it's the slight farfetchedness of a school only for mafia families.  The challenges and the 2 boy 1 girl trio gave off massive Harry Potter vibes.  I couldn't shake it, even the dynamics seemed to work out similarly.

Overall though, I enjoyed the world, the classes, the uniqueness of this book.  I love, love, love best friends to lovers.  I'm excited to read the next from Sophie Lark!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Helena Hunting, my Queen of Hockey Romance, has done it again. If You Want Me was a solid 4.25 stars for me! 

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this dynamic, usually "Dad's best friend" isn't my jam, but I knew I had to give my queen a chance! I loved it, there is an age gap, but it's not a HUGE age gap and the gap is big between dad and dad's best friend so lessoned any ick I could have had.

Speaking of icks, Helena did a great job of getting in front of the age gap. I'm usually 100% on board for an age gap, EXCEPT, when it's a young MC (ie. 18-21) with a 7+ year gap. It can feel like grooming. I didn't get that whatsoever from this book. With the MMC constantly acknowledging the age gap and questioning himself, made it feel real and prevented any of that "grooming" ick that one can get with that type of age gap. I loved it, I think Aurora is a great FMC and I LOVED the inside jokes. Getting to see the other characters from If You Hate Me was such a bonus. I can't wait to read more about the Toronto Terror players in our future!

Now, 1 thing REALLY got me. Helena Hunting knows hockey. I know she knows hockey. So this major glaring error, that didn't have any apologies or acknowledgment of it, rubbed me a bit wrong. But, if you aren't a diehard or casual NHL follower, one may not even notice. But reading this ARC right off the heals of the Stanley Cup--the error was glaringly obvious. TWO EASTERN CONFERENCE NHL teams cannot play each other in the Stanley Cup finals! I KNOW where she was coming from, by trying to tie in her other series with Kodiak playing in NY. I love seeing them, I fell in love with Hockey Romance over Alex and Violet Waters. No stars were removed for this glaring error, I'll live with this one.

I received a free E-ARC of this book from Good Girls PR in exchange for a free and honest review.