BookWormin'

 Workplace romance, enemies-to-lovers, drama 4 stars I received  an  e-ARC of this book from  Random House Publishing Group on NetGalley. All thoughts expressed below are my own honest opinions.  Lilah and Shane have had a lots of ups and downs - mostly downs - in their relationship (both personal and professional). Every time they attempt to finally get back together, it seems something gets in the way - even when that something is themselves. I love getting to know them as individuals as we slowly learn their backstory together and the different ways they view their acting job. Their past is holding them back from the potential of a future, and to reach this realization they have to dig deep inside themselves.  Despite all the back and forth, the author’s writing is compelling and I never felt bored by the story - there is always a new element or focus. I like that the story continues to move forward, rather than stalling out as the couple tries to figure...

Meet-cute, bad decisions, pen-pals 2.5 stars   Gia has a list of bold moves to change her life. Ben is stuck in a rut, hiding his dreams away. Joined as accidental pen-pals by fate (or a takeaway order), these two slowly get to know each other as they navigate their problems and transform their lives. Though the story is intriguing and overall pretty cute, I feel like there was a lot of distractions and jumping around. The focus is heavy on some side characters, like Jay or Matt, while also only sharing very little about said characters and then suddenly a lot shared all at once. Aside from Gia and Ben, I didn’t get the impression that I got to know anyone.   Speaking of the main characters, Ben is a good one. He’s a little indecisive but clearly striving for better and moving forward, albeit at his own pace. I love his interactions with the people at the takeaway and his football team. Gia, on the other hand, kind of feels like a bit of a mess. A sweet, semi-optimistic charac...

Mystery, drama, amnesia 2.5 stars  A shipwrecked amnesiac is rescued by a quiet, keeps-to-herself woodworker in this new romance from Becky Wade. Sounds like a recipe for romance… or maybe just trouble. There’s something sinister lurking behind the amnesia, and the quiet woodworker has more secrets than she lets on. Are these two meant for each other, or just in the wrong place at the wrong time? This story is intriguing and there is mystery layered on mystery with a layer of romance on top. I kept trying to piece together clues and arrive at a convincing conclusion, but my detective skills weren’t up to the task of unraveling the delicate strings Wade tied together. This book has a lot of cute moments, a lot of confusing emotions, and a whole lot of mystery and drama. (What else would you expect from the first book in a series called “Sons of Scandal”?) That being said, sometimes I felt a little overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of everything that is happening in this book. In...

 Meet-cute (or meet ugly?), open communication, friends-to-lovers 4.5 stars I love Hailey and Wes’ first meeting - practically the opposite of a meet-cute but such a fun story for later, as I’m sure we can all agree. These two have such a good rapport and despite their rocky start, they click on a fundamental level. The friendship of their dreams… if they can stay just friends. Sophie Sullivan wraps these characters up in warm fuzzies and friendship goodness but this author isn’t fooling anyone; Hailey and Wes are meant to be.  Despite quickly becoming best of friends, these two do have plenty of differences to overcome. Thankfully, as we saw in the other two Jansen brothers book, the Jansen boys know how to apologize (or at least are quick learners), and Hailey is quick to accept chocolate whenever it is offered (relatable).   Honestly just such a cute story of becoming friends and then so much more. While these characters have a lot to work through, they do it with grac...

 Thank you to Social Butterfly PR and Penny Reid for sending me an e-arc of this book to read and review! I had the opportunity to review an arc of  Totally Folked , book one in this series, last year and was so excited to receive the continuation! I am a big Penny Reid fan :) So excited to be back in Green Valley! I love this small town and have been anxiously awaiting this release. Penny Reid sets you up with wonderful characters - in this case Charlotte and Hank - who have the best intentions but tend to find themselves in messy or unexpected situations.  Charlotte is a single mom who is viewed through a heavy lens of pity by most of the town because her husband ran off with a stripper, leaving her with four children. Hank owns the strip club and is rejected by the polite society that has enveloped Charlotte in their hold. He assumes she feels the same as the rest of the town, but when she shows up to ask him for a job he’s not sure how to take it. Charlotte and Hank...

 Thank you to Social Butterfly PR and Emma Hart for sending me an e-ARC of this book to read and review! In the wake of the Bridgerton frenzy, don't we all just want to find a duke to fall in love with?  Ellie is lucky enough to actually live this dream... or at least, the main character in her latest romance novel is. When Ellie can't seem to write her next book she heads out to the English countryside to live in a lodge owned by a duke and his grandmother.  If her male love interest (in the book!) immediately takes on several qualities of said duke, well surely it's just a coincidence.  Until it's not.  And suddenly Ellie has a lot more inspiration. I will say, reading this book is a little bit meta. The main character is an author who is writing a book largely based on her life in the moments as we read them, so she often talks about writing something into her book that we just read written in a book.  While I do enjoy moments like that on occasion, it d...

 Thank you to Social Butterfly PR and Sarah Ready for including me in the blog tour for the newest Soulmates in Romeo romance! I am a big fan of this series and was so excited for another installment! While I do love Christmastime, and though the temperature in my part of the world is quickly dropping to 'hibernation with hot chocolate, warm blankets, and a good book' levels of cold, it's a little early to feel too festive. Nonetheless, I could relate to Natalie in her quest to bring extreme levels of Christmas cheer - I love the joy of the holiday season. At the same time, Gabe Scrooge-ness seems perfectly reasonable to me; I'm a person who doesn't like the cold and with the aforementioned dropping temps, I'm getting grumpy. It's a balancing act... and that's really the lesson of this romance. Sarah Ready's soulmate stories give me all the warm fuzzies. Though some of the set-ups are not quite so relatable, Ready makes it easy to believe a soulmate ...

 Thank you to Social Butterfly PR and Amy Alves for sending me an e-ARC of this book to read and review! I am a huge fan of fake-dating romances, and this one was such a cute read! How unlucky in love do you have to be to get not just one but TWO small towns fully invested in finding you The One? Sawyer is all too-aware of what it takes, thanks to his curse of one bad date after another. Unfortunately he has no way to escape the newest plan the towns of Vaughn and Landry have come up with. Thankfully his best friend’s younger sister, Olivia, is willing to step in as his knight-in-shining armor … or in this case, the ringer in a Bachelorette-style reality show Sawyer will be starring in. But Sawyer and Olivia never could have guessed at the very real chemistry between them. So the question is, does the curse apply to fake dates too? This was such a cute take on the fake-dating trope! I am a sucker for good banter between main characters and Sawyer and Olivia fit the bill. Their ch...