lisaluvsliterature's Reviews (4.19k)

Of course I adore the title of this, and can’t stop singing the song as I’m writing this review, lol. This is my first book by this author, although I have a few others I got as freebies on Amazon I think, and now after this I know that I would like to read them soon! I loved the Louisiana setting, even if they were from a small town and not actually NOLA. But it was an adorable small town. It had your crazy neighbors, gossipers, old legends, and quirky little stores and other locations. 

Of course the little dog on the cover was adorable and definitely made me want to pet and squeeze her in the story! The romance between Tallula and Jesse was sweet. There wasn’t any steaminess, as this is a series of clean/sweet romance. But that’s okay, there was still a lot of awwww! moments. I liked Tallula’s sister, and her parents not at first, but they did get a bit of a makeover later in the story when they were given some honesty. I was a little confused at first about some of Jesse’s family, but it was mostly figured out by the end. There was a bit of a third act break up, or at least them not knowing if one or both might be leaving. That took it down a little for me as it seemed a little like they should just talk, a complaint I often have. While I give this a 3.5 on my blog, I rounded up to 4 stars everywhere else, because it was definitely a quick and fun read!

I just wasn't hooked and the main characters didn't get me. I know it is a quick DNF, but if it's not working, I just move on these days because I have so many other books I still want to read. Sad about this one as normally I adore this author's every work!

So I loved the first book, Better Than the Movies, and when I heard there was a sequel, I was so excited! The characters are now in college, so normally I’d consider this more New Adult than YA, but since it wasn’t really a sexy type of story I will keep it in the YA category since that’s what the first one was. So of course we were left with an HEA for the first book. Which means something had to have happened to get our two lovebirds, Wes and Liz broken up. While we know the basics of what it is pretty quickly into the story, the author has left the bread crumbs for all of how it played out sprinkled throughout the story, to keep you full of the angst you need for both characters.

As usual the author also has so many great side characters in the story, friends, family, teachers, coaches, etc. They help to round out the story, and lead the story in some places. At first I didn’t understand why Liz just couldn’t give him another chance very easily. Of course we don’t get the full detail of that until they have decided to kind of give it a try. Liz tries to use one of her friends as her fake boyfriend to keep Wes at arms’ length. But of course her friend is a great guy who goes with it at first, but once he gets to know Wes he likes him and kind of feels for him as well.

It was great being back with these characters and seeing how they would work things out now that they were a little older and they had changed based on those past experiences that led them to this point. The bet that Liz and Wes have so that if he wins she will give him a date, just wow, that was such an intense and sweet way for him to win. And even though Wes knows he wants Liz back, it isn’t like he’s fixed all his problems now and is ready for it to all go perfectly smoothly. I love that both of them had things to work through in order to finally get back to their HEA.

I read and enjoyed the first book in this series. The second one didn’t sound like my thing, because of the whole older man aspect, just not my thing. But this one sounded perfect to jump back into the series with, and it definitely was! And I was correct because I really enjoyed this one! Sped through it, couldn’t put it down.

I loved that when Nessa realized her one night stand, Matt, was a minister, the way she decided she needed to change her wardrobe to a more demure (the actual definition, not the slang) type of outfit for their first real date. But oh my gosh, when he showed up, it was totally a hilarious moment. I mean how could she believe after he had a one night stand that she needed to dress that way was crazy enough. And he wasn’t a priest, which caused her to think about the series by Sierra Simone, lol.

The weddings that Nessa had to deal with were so crazy as well, and then her personality on Instagram also caused issues for the two of them. However it was a little hypocritical the way Matt acted about her, when he also had an online influencer personality account. It was also fun though, to see what he dealt with at the different churches and congregations he worked with. I loved his grandma and her grandma, and their friendship made for some funny situations as well.

Another hit in this series from Julia Kent

Camilla Isley has become one of my favorite authors, and so I always sign up for the review tours when they pop up. Of course there are several books from before I discovered her that I still need to read as well! This book was so much fun, and such a quick read too, because I couldn’t put it down!

While it is promoted as a snowed-in romance, to me it isn’t quite that, because it takes place over a whole Christmas break, and their other family come and go a few times. However, that is a bit of the supposed reason why Tristan comes to stay and can’t leave. Even if there are other things that actually are why he is there. Tristan’s back story is one that it sucks that Nina doesn’t know. And once she does learn that, it helps with their enemies to lovers/friends relationship. But oh, until they finally find a way to bridge that gap, the sparks that fly, and the pranks that are played are hilarious!

The chemistry between the two though is off the charts, even with the “hatred” between them. We have all the other family members as buffers or extra parts to move the plot along as needed, and to help make what Nina is doing seem like maybe she’s going a bit overboard. Even Tristan realizes what has always set Nina off, and tries at one point to call a truce. But eventually they figure things out enough to try to give into their attraction. However there is of course the fact that Tristan is worried about his best friend, Nina’s brother, being mad at them.

The last act break up actually was okay for me because even though I was mad about how it happened and how Tristan let it happen, the way he made it up in the end was a great grand gesture in my opinion.

Another winner from Camilla Isley, even if it is a little early for me to be reading Christmas stories! I seem to read them earlier and earlier every year.

So I’d wanted to read this author’s book in the first collection of The Coffee Loft series, but didn’t have time to fit it in. I was able to read this one and boy am I glad I did! I sped through this delightfully sweet story, finished in one day basically! Gia and North were sweet and perfect together. And I loved the axolotl that they talked about, that it was such a cute little lizard both in a stuffed animal, and in North’s classroom as well.

The small town aspect was a lot of fun as well, the characters working at the Coffee Loft shop, as well as Gia’s father. Then there was Gia’s brother. He was a villain, and caused so many issues in this story! From the reason they didn’t get together in high school, to even trying to keep them apart as adults, when her brother wasn’t even talking to her or really her father that much either. I liked the story arc for her brother, North’s former best friend.

The reason I didn’t give a full 5 stars though, also kind of has to do with the brother. I feel like maybe I needed more of a reason why he was the way he was about his friend dating his sister. Also, I would have liked more than a side note at what happened with the brother when things got “solved”. Other than that little bit, I adored this story and hope to read more by this author in the future! This is a sweet and clean romance, short and sweet as well!