stephanie_inman's Reviews (228)

Another win in Anyta Sunday’s Signs of Love series. By now we all know how freaking much I love this series. The characters are about as close to perfection as you can find. That’s not to say the characters themselves are perfect. No. They are beautifully flawed.

Here we have the story of Reid and Sullivan. Reid has abandonment issues, but he still has a huge heart. Reid’s capacity for loving Sullivan, Joanna and his friends was so freaking amazing.

After Sullivan’s husband died he didn’t want to risk losing anyone again. He spent his time working and taking care of his thirteen year old daughter, Joanna.

Joanna loves her dad, and wants him to start living again. She’s also tired of moving from place to place. Sullivan works from his home, and with his job that means he and Joanna live on a boat. Tired of never being able to keep friends, or have a home, Joanna hatches a plan. She’ll find the perfect manny, and enlist their help in making Sullivan fall in love with the town. Joanna also wants her dad to find love again. Reid, while happy to help Joanna get Sullivan off of the boat and enjoying life, doesn’t quite realize that Joanna seems to be hoping he will also be the answer to her dad’s broken heart.

This is Anyta Sunday, so we know we are going to be treated to some great slow-burn romance. While it takes a good while to get to the sexy times, the banter between Sullivan and Reid, along with their flirting is so perfect that you don’t care.

As always, we’re treated to some appearances by other Signs of Love characters. And, as always I found myself smiling from any mention or appearance.

Honestly, I can’t even describe how perfect this book is. There isn’t one thing that I didn’t love about it. The characters may be perfectly flawed, but this book overall? It’s just perfect.

Out of the five books in this series, I was most looking forward to this one. Which is why I’m so freaking disappointed.

From the minute we met Charlie (in Samson), I loved her. In that book she seemed like such a badass. I love that she didn’t fall over from Raiden’s attention. I was rooting so hard for the two of them!

And then we’re given the same exact characters as pretty much every book like this.

Say it with me: virginal heroine, manwhore hero.

And, yes, sometimes, as much as it pains me to say this, it works. Here it just didn’t.

Charlie’s points for not being with Raiden are actually spot on.

He’s controlling. Way over the top jealous and a fucking hypocrite.

I can handle a bit of a manwhore. And I’m cool with any character having an active sex life. But Raiden being with so many girls while Charlie had zero experience at all really put me off. There’s even a scene where she’s sitting at a table with her soccer friends and Raiden wants to talk to her. He then also realizes that he’s had sex with both of the girls sitting with Charlie. Like, seriously? Did we need that?

Nearly the entire book was centered around the fact that Raiden had been with a lot of girls. We’re practically beaten over the head with this fact. I think the fact that we are told this so much just put me off. I’m all for sex positivity. My issue was that this seemed to be Raiden’s only personality trait.

I honestly just couldn’t get behind Raiden as a hero because I didn’t much like him.

In addition to Charlie always being reminded of his super active sex life, she also has to deal with his off and odd mood swings. One minute he’s pursuing her relentlessly. Then he backs off. But the second Charlie so much as stands next to another guy, here comes Raiden and his mixed signals.

And I was officially over it when Raiden, who regardless of whether or not he’s with Charlie knows that he wants her, lets a girl he’s been with before paw all over him in front of Charlie.

Dude was a dick. Charlie deserved better.

I absolutely hate that this book wasn’t my thing. I wanted to like it so much.

I think it’s safe to say my relationship with this author has had its ups and downs. I liked her earlier work so much. So many of her previous heroes weren’t the same manwhore (I’ll never like that word. I don’t want to slut shame here, but it’s the word most used in this genre, so until I think of something better, manwhore it is) we see constantly. Hell, in the Buchanan books we had the unicorn amongst romance books: a male virgin. I don’t know if all of their recent books are this way, or if it’s just this series. I do know I’ll be reading the reviews of the newer ones before reading. I’m still planning a re read of the Enemies series. I liked most of that one a lot, and want to see how it holds up for me now.

And, because these are basically novellas, I did finish the rest of the series. While I didn’t like Raiden, I was still hopeful for the next few heroes.

Tristan is the first book in the Ruins of Emblem (can I just say how much I love the name of this series? perfect.) series. It’s a spin-off of Cora Brent’s Gentry Brothers and Gentry Generation series. And it’s the perfect way to spin off a series. We are treated to characters that we already know and care about! While I am always on the lookout for new series, I won’t lie, having this one start with Cadence and Tristan is what brought me here.

Cadence is Cord and Sayler’s daughter. Tristan is Curtis’ brother. What an amazing way to bring all of the Gentry series together. And having this spin off take place in Emblem is a total win, imo. We’ve seen a little of Emblem. And we know the history the Gentry’s have there. Making this town the setting of a new series is yet another way to connect everything. I love it.

The story itself was good. I love that Cadence doesn’t fall into the same category as many other heroines in the romance genre. She might be good, but she’s not the angelic good girl we see perceived too often. No virginal saint here. She also knows that Tristan is involved in things that aren’t legal, but she doesn’t ask him to change. She accepts him for who he is. While Tristan isn’t a bad guy, he’s doing some illegal, albeit not really harmful, things. And he’s content with it. I like that the only thing that really changes for him is that he realizes he doesn’t want to end up in the Emblem prison. He doesn’t have some huge personality change. He just knows that if he keeps doing what he’s doing, he could go to jail. He also decides it’s time to show up for his family, Curtis and Brecken. I thought Brent did a fantastic job of making the reconciliation with the three Mulligan brothers seem realistic.

While Tristan isn’t a saint, he’s also not a “manwhore”, which I appreciate. He’s been with a lot of women, in the past, so maybe it’s that he’s a “reformed manwhore”. Either way it’s nice to not have to read about the hero with a bunch of other women right before he meets the heroine. I’m just over that entire thing.

We’re treated to a few Gentry appearances, which is always welcome. And we meet the heroine of the next Ruins of Emblem book, Leah.

As evident by my reviews of other Cora Brent works, I am a fan. She was one of, if not the first, author I read when I got back into reading romance after a long romance reading hiatus. I absolutely love her characters. As I read more, however, I will say that her writing style isn’t always my favorite. It is much more “tell” when I’d rather be shown.

Still, if you’re looking for realistic, likable characters and little angst, I’d recommend this one.

Short, sweet and sexy. This was my first C. L. Cruz read, and I knew by a few minutes in that it wouldn’t be my last.

The chemistry between Noah and Cheley was there. Some humor, some heart. No angst. No ow/om drama and neither character was a virgin.

Just a fun read. I’d recommend it if you’re looking for a quick, cute read.

By far my favorite in the Juniper Creek series. I actually picked up book 1, Tomboy, because I wanted to read this book and I figured I would give the other book a try. This one intrigued me from the blurb. I am a sucker for a good friends to lovers/fake dating tale.

While this was short, I felt like I got to know both Veda and Nacho. The dual POV is good. Often friends to lovers books have that “I’ve pined for HIM forever, and had to watch him screw every girl around” thing going on. This was so refreshing that a) Veda wasn’t pining for Nacho. We actually get to be a part of her figuring out her feelings and b) while Nacho’s past is brought up, it’s not all his sex life and how many people he’s screwed. He doesn’t come across as a “manwhore”. His past is mainly brought up because Veda knows she’s never been the type of girl Nacho dates (and she was good with it) and she gets him to help her try and win his brother, Jack by mentioning he owes her for a particularly bad double date she went on with him. Both things are mentioned very briefly.

Even with the plot of the book being that Veda is trying to get Nacho’s brother, Jack to notice her, there still really isn’t much ow/om drama.

Neither character is a virgin (thank ya, C. L. Cruz).

The chemistry between Veda and Nacho was the best out of any couple in this series.

Very fun, light read. Great characters. Great story. Definitely a win.

When I heard that Anyta Sunday was writing a modern, LGTBQIA+ take on Jane Austen's works, let's just say, I WAS HERE FOR IT. And this first installment, Emerett Has Never Been In Love did not disappoint. I’m always in the mood for some swoon worthy romance.

The first thing I want to mention is that while this is a retelling of Emma, it’s still very fresh. I think both fans of Austen and those who are less familiar of her works are going to enjoy this one.

Our lead, Emerett (who mainly goes by "Lake") was pretty much the perfect lead. He was good, but not so perfect that he didn't have flaws. He was more than a bit oblivious to the world around him. It seemed he was constantly misinterpreting feelings and situations.

Knight was the devoted friend. The one person who seemed to always have everyone's back. We all should be so lucky as to know a real life Knightly.

And the romance? Spot on. Amazing.

Sunday is well known as the Queen of the Slow-Burn for a reason. I was practically ripping my hair out waiting for these two to get together. I wanted to yell at poor Lake and tell him to open his damn eyes! And, although Knight was constantly doing the right thing, wanting to Lake to come to his own decision regarding their relationship, yeah, I wanted to yell at him to just tell Lake how he felt. This was taken from a four star to a five star read for me because, simply put: the pining was perfect.

I already cannot wait for the next book in this series!

If you're looking for something that makes you swoon a little, gives you some great warm fuzzies and just flat out puts a smile on your face, I cannot recommend this book enough.

I was provided a copy of this book for my honest review.

This book was just "too much", as in there was too much going on. Let's see, we have: revenge plot, second chance romance. On it's own, I'm in. But we also have the asshole ex-boyfriend, Finn's drug addiction, Rissa's insecurities, Finn trying to bond with Luke, Finn dealing with his estranged dad and also dealing with his mom's cancer, etc. Again, just too much. None of the plots seemed well developed enough because we were jumping from one to the next too often.

I did like Rissa. My only complaint about her was that she let Finn treat her horribly. He's vowed revenge on her because she broke his heart. When they were teenagers. Like, the dude seriously needed to get over himself. Finn was a known flirt, and gave a lot of attention to other women. Then he enlisted in the military. Rissa, being a teenager, thought she wouldn't be enough for him. So she chose the "safe" choice, Andrew. Finn thinks she chose Andrew because of Andrew's money. Rissa gives him zero reasons to assume this. Andrew is rich, therefore that must be why Rissa chose him. I didn't much think that Finn deserved her after spending years thinking that she was a gold digger. While Rissa chose Andrew for stability, it didn't seem like it was about money. Again, there was no indication of this other than Finn's feelings.

Finn's revenge plot is to basically own Rissa. She has a cleaning company. He hires her company, giving her a job that her company really needs. He then does childish things like put women's underwear and condoms out for her to find. Then he runs completely hot and cold with her, playing with her emotions. But the final straw for me was when he does something that would literally cost her her business, and then he's just like "oops. my bad" and she fucking forgives him! His revenge against her would have also caused her two business partners to lose their business. And he is supposed to have done all of this research on Rissa, so one has to assume he also knows that she employees people who really need a job. She tells him early on how she tries and help people and that some of her employees are struggling, single moms. And the dude is just like "fuck those people who need this job. I've got money and my high school girlfriend broke my heart, so they can all suffer."
Yes, Rissa points this out to him one time, but then just easily forgives him.

I just couldn't get behind this "hero". Which sucked. This book has been out for a long time, and it's sat on my Kindle for nearly as long. I'm trying to read my backlog this year, and I was excited to get to this series. I'm hoping the next few will be more of a win for me.

This book has been on my shelf for quite a long time. At some point, I must have wanted to read this series, as I received this book for free and went ahead and purchased the second one in the series.

Honestly, the book was okay. Nothing special, but then again, nothing awful either. I liked Tank. I thought he was a decent hero. I enjoyed not having to read a contemporary romance about a man and his many, many sexual partners. While Tank wasn't a virgin, he also wasn't written as though his entire personality revolved around his sex life.

Emma was okay. I didn't hate her, I just didn't really connect at all with her. To put it plainly, she was the equivalent of the color beige. Nothing wrong with it, but it's also not very exciting.

The plot was kind of forgettable. Tank is struggling with his mom's cancer and reconnecting with his estranged dad. Emma needs money to finish school. Tank's dad is rich and pays Emma to spend time with Tank (whom she already knows) and try and get him to visit with his dad. I wish the story had a bit more depth to it. The actual plot sounds like it would, but it just didn't come across as anything at all substantial.

Still, it is a good start to this series. I have reviewed the next few books in the series already (I somehow ended up reviewing out of order). I still have two more books to get to in this series. So far they all have been good enough that I'm planning on finishing the series (Thanks to KU. Without being able to get them that way, I doubt I would finish this series. I don't think any of the books I've read so far have been worth the buy)