This is a beautiful, short sapphic romance. I found the characters, particularly Moriah, extremely relatable. They crochet! They make coffee in a French press! They bake challah! They attend temple remotely! They have intrusive thoughts about their pet being horribly crushed by furniture! Just like me!

I highly recommend this book.

I’ve said before that Harper Bliss is hit and miss, and this is definitely much more of a hit. While not quite reaching the heights of A Family Affair or the Two Hearts trilogy, and while it had an odd word choice or two, it was wonderful. The character development was great, and it didn’t fall into any of the pitfalls of a lesser Bliss offering.

Raffo is an artist who, after getting dumped by her girlfriend of ten years, needs to get her artistic mojo back and paint again. Har best friend packs her off to his mother’s lake house to find inspiration in the beautiful scenery, while his mother is on a trip around Europe.

Dylan has made a very unwise investment in cryptocurrency, and is hiding out at her lake house, pretending to still be on her planned trip around Europe that she can no longer afford. She is embarrassed by her poor investment and needs a few months to build up the courage to admit the truth to her son.

When Raffo arrives and sees Dylan, she is the only beautiful scenery she needs to get her artistic mojo back and start painting again.

Bliss does a great job of making each character unique and have their own story. The obstacles the characters face to finding happiness feel real, and are given time and space to be overcome realistically and satisfactorily.

There are some great shout-outs to other Blissverse characters, as well as a wonderful and surprising cameo by two non-Blissverse characters!

I finished this book within a day, which suggests how much I liked it!

Natalie  is an artist whose recent gallery showing was a disaster. She has come into a mysterious inheritance of a gorgeous historic home, and her two best friends want her to fulfil their shared childhood dream of opening an inn, but her confidence is gone and she doesn’t believe they can pull it off.

Brooke is an interior designer who, six years later, is still recovering from being left at the altar. She has decided she can’t base her happiness on anyone else—she has to be independent and make her own happiness. Particularly by proving herself to her boss and getting the promotion she has deserved for years.

When Brooke meets Natalie, she starts feeling a whole bunch of feelings. Which are weird, because she is definitely totally straight! And also, because Natalie is the younger sister of the man who left her at the altar!

This was a fantastic book. Everything felt real, from the details of the historic home, to Natalie’s art, to the emotions the characters feel and the journey they go on together.

I really enjoyed reading this book and definitely recommend it.

For some reason this just didn’t click with me and I couldn’t get into it

So, I didn't love this book, but I did like it. It was enjoyable.

After really having been very disappointed by my first Tracy Richardson novel, By Mutual Consent, I only read this because I had seen it recommended as a good hockey romance, and because it was narrated by my favourite narrator, Anastasia Watley.

Watley’s narration always manages to elevate anything she narrates, and it was no different here.

Some have complained about the ridiculous sabotage plot, but I found it entertaining and paid off quite well.

At first I didn’t like how one of the MCs talked about her dead wife, but in the end I understood what the author was going for and thought it was quite compelling.

My main gripe about the book is that it sometimes felt a bit repetitive.

I doubt I will seek out more Richardson novels, but I wasn’t disappointed that I read this one.

For a lot of the book I felt that there was too much set in the past—I felt like I got what was happening and didn’t need it spelled out. But by the end it felt necessary and worth it. It still felt a little bit longer than it needed to be, and then a tiny bit rushed at the end, but overall it was an enjoyable read.

Anna Pulley truly is the master of humorous pop culture references