lisaluvsliterature's Reviews (4.19k)

 Of course I have loved all the books in this series. While I’ve totally read them out of order for the most part. I read book one and loved it, and then read book 5 and 6, followed by 3. So all I have left is book 4 now. It is so much fun though to go back and see these couples get together that I already know from the other books though. And of course Tara Sivec’s humor is the best at making me laugh so hard in bed the dogs get mad at me. Like climacophilia, and then when they drew in the sand and it was of course a penis. I know that she often puts her fans’ names as characters in her books, and I hope that one day I’ll read one of her books and have the fun surprise of coming across my name, but not yet. I do love how she apologized in her end notes about the character that got a STD, and how it wasn’t someone who was a fan, that she knew of, but she was apologizing in advance if they did end up reading and were a fan in the future, lol. If you like raunchy, over the top humor, Sivec’s books are for you. I have to also note that the whole baseball plotline of the story made me think of the author and her own son and all the things she shares on Facebook about that. 

 After loving the first one in the series, I got this with one of my Audible credits and of course really enjoyed it as well! I was annoyed once again with how stubborn and over the top the female character was at the end, but since she was the sister of the woman in the first one, it kind of makes sense. I loved having all the different book club characters as part of the story again. And I did adore Mack. This has a more serious aspect to it than maybe the first book, with a theme of sexual assault and trying to prevent it from happening to others. It probably matched up with what Mack’s favorite “manuals” were. Looking forward to reading on in this series! 

I really enjoyed the book Seoulmates by this author and so I was very excited to get my hands on this one. In my head I had an idea what it was about, and yes I’d read the synopsis, but it wasn’t what I was thinking. But that’s okay, because I still liked the actual story-line. It was fun getting to see two characters switch places, but instead of two boys or two girls, it was a boy and a girl, because of a name. Because Elijah didn’t want to get all the special treatment of people knowing who his father was, that is part of what helped the whole thing actually take place. 

Oh how I wish just once someone would make the mistake for me to get a first class seat on a plane like Jessica got to start out with in the story. It was definitely something to make you wonder why her father didn’t like the company he worked for, and why with his own background he would begrudge her getting this opportunity. Things did come clear later on. 

Elijah being able to get over his upbringing of a rich boy who had whole wings of houses to himself seemed a little unbelievable when he ended up in a small place with 9 other people and didn’t really complain or anything. Again though, I think maybe getting to have friends the way he did there, without them judging him based on his background, that probably was a big help too. He definitely made more gaffs with how he acted towards Jessica and the others in certain ways, but especially with her, after he convinced her to keep the switch going. 

But Jessica also had a huge chip on her shoulder and some issues she needed to deal with when she talked to others. Seeing the way the company was still so old-fashioned, even with the daughter of their CEO did point out how many places/companies are still that way. So I feel like there were a lot of things brought out in the story that are important to think about in that way too. I liked how it ended up, how things might have seemed to be all perfect and a solution found, but the characters did what they knew was best for themselves. Although I did feel the way things changed for Elijah’s family almost seemed out of nowhere and could have used some more details with that.

Once again I really enjoyed this author’s story and can’t wait to share with my students, as well as read whatever is coming next from her!

I loved the author’s Carolina Comets series, and this spin-off series started off just as perfectly as that one did! One thing that totally impressed me from the very get-go was that our heroine was a self-made successful hotel chain owner. I loved that she didn’t need the big fancy rich professional hockey player to take care of her. Not that I don’t enjoy those stories too, but this had that unique difference. And while yes, her father did help her out in that he saved money to give her to follow her dreams, she was the one who built up what she had.

While this team had their own camaraderie and fun text chat group, it was different enough from other similar situations from the Carolina Comets guys that it was still so much fun to read. Getting to know the personalities a little bit through this first story made me excited to read hopefully each of the other guys’ stories in the future. Again with the originality in this story was how Auden reacted to the contract in the end and not being able to go out with Hutch based on that. When she figured out her feelings and came up with a plan, I loved it. It was such a leap of faith that I wish I could be as brave just about not being happy in my own job.

Even the drama that had to break them up wasn’t anything that irritated me. It definitely was there in a way that helped the story along and kept true to the characters in my opinion. I feel like the characters handled things realistically in so many ways, and that is what I love in a story, even with the romance and tiny bit of whimsical in a hockey player romance. I am not only looking forward to more of the hockey players’ stories, but also Auden’s sister and friend who I also hope get their own HEAs! A great new series from Teagan Hunter.

I got an ARC of the first book, The Warning, from the publisher earlier this year and really enjoyed it. This sequel was just as original in many ways as the first book was. I loved all the different science fiction aspects to it. But at times the amount of the technology was a bit overwhelming, and I could probably have used a little more explanation or more examples of it being used. I was kept on the edge of my seat with this, wondering what was really going on with the world they had all been brought to, and if they might be able to get back to their own Earth. There was some time travel in a way, even as they said it was impossible, but that also meant there was some alternate universe types of things.

There were a few glimpses into what might be the aliens or whoever had come to take them, with some spaceships when they thought they were on a planet, and not finding the vances when they tried to locate them either. So I was also left with some questions and wondering exactly how some pieces of the puzzle fit. Personally I would like or it at least seemed like we needed more of a third book to wrap a lot of the things up and that is why I only gave 4 stars, even though it had me turning pages, on my e-reader, as fast as I could to find out what was going to happen next.

 So I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy this one because as someone who has never been married, and probably will never be married at this point, I have trouble dealing with married couple stories just for my own connection to them. Also it is in 3rd person, and I do prefer 1st person for romance. HOWEVER! This book was the bomb. I totally get why everyone loves these books so much. Since we are kind of getting the story a tiny bit more from the guy’s side, although we do get his wife’s side, I definitely felt more for him. I mean I understood her issues, but still I was totally rooting for Gavin the whole time. I loved the whole idea of using romance novels as “instruction manuals” for romance. Which I knew was why I wanted to read this in the first place. Loved it so much I bought the next audiobook with a sale on Audible and am going to start listening next! 

I was hooked from the start of this one! I adored Star right away! Rafe had the perfect grumpy start to her all sunshine all the time! And of course at first it was easy to think she was the one with the right attitude toward life. Once her family background got more clear, it was easy to see that maybe she was also projecting and using that attitude in unhealthy ways after all. 

There was so much about Star that I adored and totally connected with. When she says at the beginning that yes, she has the app she can read with on her phone, but prefers her e-reader, I was agreeing 100%!!! And all about being comfortable and doing what she likes. But then when she decided she was going to give the relationship with Rafe more of a real try and starts almost conforming to what his family seems to expect, that sucked. I did get it though, it’s so easy to start taking what seems to be the path of least resistance. However, Rafe’s reactions and the way he felt about it, just made me love him more. Although maybe he could have spoken up, when he said that he knew it wasn’t any of his business what she wore or did with her body, again, just swoon at how perfect he was.

Then there was his family. I wanted to love them, but there were some things that damn! I guess Pippa wasn’t family by blood, just by marriage, but when someone suggested that Star needed to change her name? WTF!!!!!!!!! I was a little upset Star didn’t put them in their place at that point. However any of the drama in this wasn’t what normally appears to me as being drama for drama’s sake, well except for maybe with her friends at the end, that did irritate me a bit. Otherwise what happened between Rafe and Star made sense, and progressed in a way that I felt was natural/realistic.

I adored this book so much. It was grumpy-sunshine trope at its very best, which makes sense as it was written by one of my all-time favorite authors, one who I feel is the top in the romance world!

 

I’ve only tried one other book by this author and I DNFed it. However since the publisher sent me this one, I decided to give the author another try. And this one was definitely interesting enough that it kept me going till the end.

It started out with a lot of characters and I was unsure if I would be able to connect to them. But most of the characters were easy enough to tell who was who through their POV sections. Now you know from the beginning that one of the teens disappears, you just don’t know which one. Even with all the different updates as hotel bulletins, etc., between chapters, it doesn’t give it away till closer till the end when you start to have some thoughts about who might be the one.

Once I found out who it was, my ideas on what I’d read changed and I wasn’t sure what all the clues had been leading me to meant. And that is what I like, a mystery that can keep me guessing. In the end it was totally a surprise on what happened, and I liked that! I will definitely be getting this for my school library and hope to read more by this author in the future. 

I was so excited to read this one. I loved the idea behind it, and it was carried out perfectly! I liked the way the two girls were unsure exactly who they should or were falling for. The fact that Lucy lives in a time period where women are expected to marry, and of course it really only is “acceptable” to marry a man, made the perfect setting for this story. The way that Audrey ended up back in 1812 was a bit unexpected, but I liked it! And the fact that there wasn’t a clear reason why or how or if she would/could get back to her own time in the present.

The Outlander super-fan that I am, I was so excited when they did mention it because, obviously, the parallels of being sent back in time. I also loved all the pop culture references to time travel, even if I think there was no mention of Back to the Future, which seems like a big one left out. The way that Audrey was pretty open with Lucy about what the future was like was definitely something I enjoyed as well. Instead of having to keep everything secret to not mess up the future, it was fun having her be able to talk about that.

There were lots of lessons for both girls, and lots of great characters in the past to help them along the way. Even one as a surprise towards the end, that definitely led to a bit of a surprise once Audrey was able to get back to her own time. The ending was so good and one I’d kind of suspected would happen, but I was definitely happy with the way it went.