lisaluvsliterature's Reviews (4.19k)

When I received a copy of this to read from the author I was so excited! I have loved all of her books in the SmartyPants Romance world, and while I haven’t read the first in this series yet, it was set up as a standalone, so I was able to fall in love with the world so quickly!

I love these characters that were all teen stars as part of a hit tv show that lasted a long time. I could totally see being one of the people that would be a big fan of the show and totally would have shipped some of the characters myself! There was a lot more going on with Wesley’s family, so much more that wasn’t even revealed until the final dramatic moment at the end of the story. But even just the little bits we got to know at the beginning, as well as bit by bit as the story went on, made me want Wesley to be able to share his feelings with Emma and be able to be happy for once, the way he wanted to be happy.

And then Emma had so much to be worried about letting herself feel for him again, but how much and how easily he could hurt her. Her friends were so good about being there for her, and trying to help her keep herself from getting hurt again. But they also knew when it might be time to let go of the reins so that she could get the chance to see how she and Wesley might actually be the one for each other. Their feelings for each other showed through every bit of their interactions and reactions throughout the whole story.

Now I must go back and read book one, and I am hoping/assuming the author will write a third book for Harrison, I’m guessing it will have something to do with Frankie, and that maybe we’ll get even more looks at the summers they spent with the author who wrote the books their tv show was based on. His part in this book was touching, and definitely had some tears in my eyes. I worry that there might be something really sad with him in the next book. And I wonder about the list he kept mentioning that Harrison was so intrigued/concerned about. 

So I did enjoy this. I liked the characters a lot. Both had their own past issues. While I feel like maybe we needed a little more of Noah’s past coming back, the book was definitely long enough. In fact the length was a little bit more than I needed. But a lot of romances seem to be reaching the 500 pages or close to it these days.

There was a lot of good character development though, and world building. And I’ll be definitely eager to get some of the other characters, Noah’s teammates, or maybe Rory’s friend Harper’s stories too. Aurora, or Rory, had a lot of issues caused by her mom, really. I feel like the author did leave a few things unanswered. There was so often that she wouldn’t eat around other people, always saying she’d already ate. So I kind of expected something more from that. Maybe she wasn’t really eating? But it never really delved that far into her eating habits.

And we knew Noah had a bad past too, with his father, and while we didn’t get much about it till close to the end, there was a short bit with his father, a phone call and later a visit, that were kind of a bare minimum. And then there was a bit of stalkerish issues with his ex that I really thought I’d see more come from that to add drama then we actually ended up with.

Now it seems like I’m complaining a lot, but the romance itself was good. I liked the two characters together. I liked how they fit together once they both gave in. There was a whole lot going on in this story, and it had steamy parts too, as well as romantic, sweet parts. Rory’s brother made me mad a lot, but they did their making up, again, it was kind of off screen in a way. I wonder how much of the things that I felt were missing pieces got cut due to the already long story?

So a good book, just be prepared for a long read! Not a hard read, I’d pick it up and not want to put it down, so that is definitely a recommendation!

 

While they’re not listed as a series, this definitely goes with the last book I read by this author, He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not. Mercy is best friends with Hollyn from that book. This book had some of the best banter, some funny situations, great characters, but also some really deep, emotional background stories.

First of all Brooks was really the perfect guy. It was crazy to think that any woman had dumped him, because he really just was exactly what I think I’d want in a guy. I mean tattoos, single dad, really just a great guy in every way. His relationship with his ex-wife was really fun too. Her premonitions and when she just happened to show up at the restaurant Mercy and Brooks had their first date at added a lot of fun to the story. We didn’t spend a ton of time with him and his daughter together, but it was still sweet when we got the chance.

Mercy had a lot of great friends and found family. Her big brother and his husband were the best family. Her best friend’s mother kind of adopting her as well, what a fun mom. And then there was Hollyn’s brother River, who was her roommate, he was great too. It sounds like his story will be next. Now Mercy had a really tough back story. And once we found out what Brooks did, I had a feeling there was going to be a connection. I really like the way the author handled that too. Nothing done that would just create drama. Everyone handled any “reveals” like I feel real people would do.

A sweet, fun read, and like with the last book, I’m looking forward to more by this author in the future! 

 

I enjoyed the first book in this series, A Forest Between Us, and was excited to read this second book where we would get Owen’s sister Kristen’s story. It was definitely fun spending time with her kids and family, the kids stole the show in so many scenes. I loved the connection between Kristen and Eli. Although I feel that as with the last story, I was missing a little bit about Eli’s past to fill in some of his reluctance.

But it wasn’t bad enough that it affected the story at all. Because it wasn’t just Kristen’s connection with Eli, but he was perfect with her kids. I loved how they fell for him right away, even just as a roommate. One thing Jamie said about Eli really cracked me up because it was very similar to something my dad used to say when I was a kid. Jamie says Eli would punch a T-Rex in the throat, and my dad used to always say he’d punch it in the nose, lol.

As with the last one, friends and family made such a great background, extra part of the story. It also means I can’t wait for the next sibling’s story, which I believe is later this year. Another aspect I had an issue with was how long they kept holding out, but it wasn’t too bad. I liked the way that Eli figured out the solution to the seemingly unavoidable end date for their relationship. Anyway, another great read for me, and I hope you’ll give it a try! 

 

I am a big fan of Gretchen McNeil, and so was excited to read her latest YA thriller. I liked the main character, and I think that the mystery was definitely intriguing as well. It seemed to take a little while to get to it though. But once it did there was so much going on, and so many people making Kate doubt what she saw that it even made me start wondering if she was going to be an unreliable narrator. It also seemed like the mystery, the murder, had nothing to do with Kate other than where she was located. Just that she saw it happen in the building across from where she worked.

However as the story went on, the location had some actual interesting surprises about it. And as the really dangerous part of the story began to unfold we learned that maybe there was more to the whole mystery that did relate more to Kate and her life. I liked how the author had those things sprinkled in at the right moments in the end to make the story even more exciting.

The romance aspect could have used a little bit more detail maybe, and her best friend was not really as great a friend from the way she behaved. Those two characters made it a little bit less of a perfect story for me. But it was obvious how they did fit into the story with the issues they caused. Overall another good book by McNeil, and I do look forward to more in the future! 

 

Once again Meghan Quinn has hit a sports romance out of the park, or is that a bad sports metaphor since this is hockey? Let’s say she wrote a major Barnburner! My trying to find a good phrase definitely fits with our heroine, Ollie, and her having to learn about hockey for a project for her internship. And luckily she ended up fake dating a hockey player. Now I’ve been waiting for Silas Taters’ story since the first book in this series, Kiss and Don’t Tell. So getting his book was exciting!

I will admit I was a little unsure about whether I’d love this one as much as usual because there was the big age gap. Not that there haven’t been age gaps in Quinn’s books before, but none seemed to stand out to me quite as much as a 21 and 31 year old. However, I should have known, the way this was done was perfect. It started off with lots of jokes from Ollie about how Silas was a grandpa, I loved that. And honestly, Ollie was the instigator in the sexy times, making her seem a bit more mature in some ways. That could be because younger generations seem to be more comfortable and open about that part of their lives. They don’t have as much of the shame that might have been more widespread with older generations, even one that is early 30s. And I’ll just mention the Jacob’s Ladder piercing, and leave it at that for Silas.

Another awesome part of the story was the hilarious banter and dialog, again something that I know I will get every time I read a book by this author. And texting conversations. I mean there was one text that was sent from Silas “oye, my dick” that I couldn’t stop laughing about for like 15 minutes. Not to mention the emojis sent during that same text conversation. Plus we have the “meet-cute” story that Ollie created out of thin air when she got nervous at their first fake date event. The whole donkey pervert story, and then the actual trip to the zoo? Trust me, you need to read it.

As I mentioned before, the bedroom scenes were hot, in and out of the bedroom. There was definitely a little bit on the edge with that aspect as well. Ollie’s friend Ross even got to enjoy spending time with the team, and it was nice to see Ian Rivers on the team get a chance to be with someone we knew.

I was a little upset that Silas got the way he did about the big final drama, I think it was a teensy bit of the dram for drama’s sake that is in a lot of romance stories. However the author made the final make-up actions real and complete. All of that even ties into how much I love when Quinn connects all her stories and characters we’ve come to know and love from other series by giving them small walk-on roles, or even a little more than that in this story.

Another winning story from one of my favorite authors. Now to wait for the next Vancouver Agitator to get his story, that will be a wait I’m sure. Thank goodness Meghan Quinn is so prolific and I’ll have other books from her to enjoy along the way! 

Okay, so I’d been wanting to read a book by this author for a while. I was finally able to jump in on a tour and see what I thought. To be honest, this is going to be a mixed bag of a review.

Let’s start with the good stuff. I did really like the story line, the small town, the characters, and there was some cute banter. There was a lot of things that I think were realistic in how people reacted or behaved in certain situations. Something that I know I often complain about how people don’t do things realistically. When I finished the book, it was with a smile, and a thought that I wouldn’t mind reading the next book and knowing what Harper’s sister’s story would end up being.

On the negative side, I had some issues with some of the writing itself. There was a ton of the telling instead of showing, and I got to where I was kind of skipping/skimming quickly through sections to just get to actual action. Once in awhile I would then have to skip back up a few paragraphs to get a detail I was missing for the story as it went on. But otherwise, I did kind of speed through the second half of the book since I was doing that. Not that the second half was bad! I mean like I said, it did make me think I might want to read another book to keep up with these characters. The other negative for me was I did not like how he reacted to her decision that gave us that final bit of drama. I mean yeah, we needed that separation, but he was the one who told her she gave to much of herself. I did like how though even when she would wonder if she’d done the right thing, she also would then come back to remember that she was doing it for herself, which made me respect her.

Overall a cute story. And I might possibly read more in this series in the future if I have time. 

I rounded my rating up to 4 stars because I did like the story so much, but really I'd give it a 3.5 star rating.

I adored this book! As usual the characters, the fun, whimsical storyline, the snarky banter, hilarious situations the characters found themselves in, all of it added up to perfection for me! It was fun getting to see Jack, was Olivia’s brother from Mr. Wrong Number, get his HEA. And we got a fun bit of time spent with Olivia and Colin too in this book.

The meet-cute in this book was a little bit of an eye-opener for Jack, who found out the woman he’d been about to make his fiance was a bit of a jealous crazy for no reason. And he hadn’t even asked her to marry him yet! But the getting over it along with Hallie was pretty fun. But they left it as a one night stand kind of thing until they “found” each other on a dating app. I loved the parts with the dating app as I am someone who does the scrolling, or as I call it, window or catalog shopping. The two of them became friends as they tried to help each other navigate to find their perfect match.

As you would expect though, the friendship between them became so rich and wonderful, that it was hard to not develop more feelings. While Jack kind of fell first, the feelings were niggling at the back of Hallie’s mind as well. As I mentioned the banter, the hilarious texting and nicknames and debating over what was the “okay” term for sex, railing, bonking, etc., was exactly what I love in a rom-com. The fact that Jack’s cat was named Mr. Meowgi was perfect as well.

It was not just the main couple that I loved, but the side characters as well. And not just the ones that we know from the first book, but also Hallie’s roomie, and sister, and really it was just a great ensemble of characters. I hope there is a third, not sure who it would be, but I’m there for any characters that Lynn Painter wants to write a story for.

I did discover a bit of a continuity error in the book, and I assumed it was probably going to be changed before the book was released. I reached out to the author to ask her about it, and she said that it slipped through. And also there was a mention about someone making a funny Kansas City Chiefs joke, and I don’t remember that, so don’t know if that would have made me a bit mad as I read it, lol. My only criticism really is that there was so much of the “not ruining the friendship” and not believing he wanted more even when he really did kind of come out and say it. I know, I know, it’s a normal romance dramatic storyline, but sometimes I get a little bit irritated with characters who keep it going, like Hallie kind of did. Also, I’d like to find my own Jack who has lots of frequent flyer miles to upgrade my plane ticket to Scotland this summer.

Again not sure if I'll be continuing my writing. So I own this one and can go back if I decide to.

Got to 57 pages in, not sure if I'm going to keep writing either, so not sure I will finish it now.  Maybe someday if I get back into writing.