Kate

I don't know what to think about this book. I'm torn between 2-3 stars. I usually love everything Mariana Zapata writes. I was thrilled when I found out she was writing a book about Zac from WoW. But I'm disappointed. I wanted more for Big Texas.

One of the things I love most about Mariana Zapata is that she introduces you to the two main characters, shows you their likes and dislikes, introduces you to their family/friends, and gives you a real understanding of who those characters are. At the same time, she builds the relationship between them in such a way that you don't even realize you're reading 500 pages because it's so enjoyable. You can feel the tension seeping off the pages. Kulti and The Wall of Winnipeg are great examples of this. Zac was such a fun character in WoW that I was THRILLED to hear that he was finally getting his own book after so long. I am sorry to say that I was really disappointed. What happened to the Queen of Slow Burns?? There was no burn in this book, just a whole lot of slow.

WoW Zac and Hands Down Zac feel like two completely different characters. WoW Zac was fun-loving and charming. Hands Down Zac was boring and flat. He and Bianca are old friends who lost touch for 10 years. When she steps back into his life, he barely recognizes her. After a few awkward interactions, their friendship picks up right where they left off and in my opinion, it should have stayed that way. There was no spark between them. Maybe it was the number of times he referred to her as “kiddo” that killed any hint of romantic tension. But really, there wasn't any to begin with. When they finally professed their love for each other, it felt forced and unsatisfying.

I'm also starting to feel like all of MZ's heroines are the same. They have the same goofy, a little bit crass, tough girl on the outside but insecure on the inside, personalities. It isn't so obvious when the story is great but it was painfully obvious here. Overall, this was not the best from Mariana Zapata and it pains me to rate one of her books so low.

Really enjoyed this one. I found both of the main characters very likable and RS Grey did an excellent job creating tension between them that you could cut with a knife. I also enjoyed that there was more to this story than the romance aspect. Maren realizes that she has been given a great opportunity and she grows from it. This was overall a really entertaining and quick read.

3.5-4 stars. Groundhog Day meets Christmas in this fun read from Christina Lauren. Maelyn Jones, unhappy with her life and unsure of what to do next, makes a wish that the universe would show her what would make her happy. By doing so, she is transported back to the days leading up to Christmas when her family and friends travel to their Christmas cabin retreat in Utah as they do every year. She must relive the events of the holiday over and over again until she finds the right path that will lead to her happiness.

This was a really sweet read and definitely gave me the warm, fuzzy feelings that Christmas always brings. There are a lot of characters in this book and it was tough to keep them all straight but I loved the dynamic that the three different families had with each other. The romance is a typical friends-to-lovers with a little bit of a love triangle thrown in. To be honest, I was more into Theo and I wish his friendship with Mae would have been a bit more fleshed out. Or the entire sub-plot of him liking Mae should have been omitted because we really didn't see much of it on the page, we were only told about it. Would definitely recommend, especially to anyone who enjoys Hallmark Christmas movies.

ARC provided by the publishers and Netgalley for review.

I've owned these books for years but have always been intimidated by the length of them. So after bingeing the show (twice) over quarantine, I thought what better time to start reading them than now. I'm mad at myself that I waited so long. I am obsessed. James Alexander Malcolm Mackenzie Fraser and his love for his Sassenach has ruined me.

My first reaction was disappointment that I didn't love this because I LOVED The Simple Wild. But I thought about it and I did like it, I just wish it was maybe happier? And more romantic because I thought it lacked the initial chemistry that was there between Calla and Jonah in TSW. And I wish it wasn't as focused on every little thing that could possibly go wrong for Calla and Jonah as they're acclimating to their new life together in Alaska. It seemed like the author threw every trope-y curveball at them that she could and that just seemed so unnecessary after a while because there was already enough going on.

Despite my criticisms, I did enjoy the new characters that were introduced. They made for some enjoyable and touching moments.

3.5-4 stars.

This was a quick, fun read per Lauren Layne's usual. There was definite chemistry between the main characters and the fact that there was a dog in the mix made it that much better. It was a little disappointing though that this book was so tame compared to LL's others.

This was a great, quick read. I love second chance romances and they're even better when one of the characters has amnesia and needs to rely on their ex to piece their life back together. I can always count on Kylie Scott's books to be full of fun characters and witty banter. Definitely would recommend.

This book made me angry more than anything. I can maybe excuse cheating in a romance novel if it's a one-off thing but an affair that spans years and years is a hard no. I couldn't like Shayda for this reason and since the book is fully from her POV, it just made the entire book a pain to get through.

I wanted to support Courtney Milan after the whole RWA debacle but I'm not really into historical romances so I was really happy to discover that she had a series of contemporary romances. Unfortunately though I just did not like this. I didn't feel any chemistry between the main characters and there was a lot going on that didn't make a lot of sense to me.

The writing was fine but the chemistry between the two main characters was non-existent and then they were supposedly in love. Blah.

2.5-3 stars. I had high hopes for this book, especially with it being described as a modern, m/m retelling of Grease. I wasn't wowed by it unfortunately.

Like Grease, Ollie meets Will over the summer when Ollie's family visits North Carolina. They have a whirlwind romance that ends when Ollie must go back to California at the end of the summer. Plot twist–Ollie's family decides to stay in NC in order to help his aunt who is dying of cancer. When Ollie tries to contact Will to let him know that he's staying, he's met with radio silence. It isn't until a party on the night of his first day of school when Ollie realizes that his new school is also Will's school. Also like Grease, Will isn't the same boy that Ollie met over the summer. He's a jock, kind of a jerk, and also very much in the closet. If you've seen Grease, you can imagine how the story goes from here.

It's for that reason that I felt like I couldn't get into this book. It ended up being too predictable. I felt like the author tried too hard to take every opportunity to throw a Grease reference into the story when it could have easily stood on its own and that became too distracting. There was also a lot of jumping around that made the story more confusing. Overall, it wasn't a bad read. It just wasn't anything memorable.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The first time I tried to read this book, I couldn't get into it so I put it down and let it sit for a couple of years. I'm so glad that I decided to try it again. I really ended up enjoying January and Gus's story. Loved the slow burn and the witty banter between the two.

I'm torn over what rating to give this. I don't usually read thrillers but Tarryn is one of my favorites so I gave it a shot. I was hoping for something along the lines of I Can Be a Better You and Marrow, with maybe a little hint of Mud Vein, but I felt this book was missing that special Tarryn spark. Perhaps it's because she wrote it intentionally for trade, it just didn't feel as fleshed out as her other books.

Another superb read from Amy Harmon. I have such a hard time writing reviews for her books because I am often speechless by the end of them and I know that nothing I can say can possibly do her words justice. I love so many things about her writing. The details she gives. The research she must do in order to write historical books like this. How well developed her characters always are, even her side characters. How clearly I can picture every setting in my head as I read. I did not expect that I would ever enjoy a book set in the 1850s, yet here we are. I am positive Amy Harmon could write a book on any topic or genre at this point and I would love it.

Where the Lost Wander is a beautiful yet heartbreaking story of the May family and their journey across the Oregon Trail in the 1850s. Naomi is the eldest child and only daughter of her family. When she meets John Lowry, the man hired to guide her family's wagon train, she is immediately captivated by him. John feels the same instant connection to Naomi, however his half-Pawnee heritage leaves him believing that he is not worthy of her love. Their romance slowly develops amid the harsh conditions of the trail. Prejudice, illness, even death are hardships they must overcome and the way they do is inspiring. While their story was difficult to read at times, I was not ready for it to come to an end.


Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this ARC.

This might just be my favorite RS Grey book to date. She really nailed the inner workings of a fairytale theme park and it made for a really fun story.

It's been a while since I picked up a Keeland/Ward book and now I remember why. This was not good. Zero chemistry between the main characters. The romance happens too fast. Cringey dialogue. Everything was just wrong here.

What better way to end the wonderful Winston Brothers series than by bringing together the entire family to do what they do best–meddle.

For six books, we have seen glimpses of Billy and Claire/Scarlet. We know they have a dark history. We finally get answers to what happened between them in Beard With Me but still had no resolution. We, the readers, weren't the only ones who were tired of the dance these two characters have been doing around each other. The Winston siblings have had enough as well and in this book, they finally decide to do something about it. It's no surprise that the mastermind behind the whole Get-Billy-And-Scarlet-Together ruse is none other than Cletus, and I can't thank Penny Reid enough for opening this book with a prologue in his POV because I missed being in his head.

This book is filled with your typical Winston shenanigans, plenty of cameos from your favorite Winston family members, and Billy and Scarlet's reconciliation really ends the series on a high note. I will miss this crazy family and hope to see them pop up again in Penny's future books.

I'm so disappointed. This was just... not good and not needed. If you were hoping for more Elio and Oliver, you'll be sorely disappointed to find out that their paths don't even cross again until about 90% of the way into this book.

The first half is focused on Elio's father, Samuel, ten years after Oliver's summer in Italy. Now divorced from Elio's mother, Samuel meets a woman half his age on a train, and they fall in love instantly. I ended up skimming through a lot of this as I just couldn't make myself care. I didn't come here for Samuel's story, I came for more Elio and Oliver.

The next section is devoted to Elio and his meeting with a man twice his age (not sure what was up with the huge age gaps in this book) and their subsequent love affair. There are moments where Elio's pain over his lost love shines through and those are what kept me reading because to be honest, I didn't care about this new relationship either.

Next comes a brief section devoted to Oliver. It's approximately twenty years later and at a party in his honor, a friend plays a piece on the piano that immediately transports him back to that Italian summer so many years ago when Elio played that same piece for him. It is clear that Oliver hasn't been the same since that summer and he wonders if he should make a trip back to Italy.

This final section is where I was hoping the story would make up for all the crap that took up the first 85% of the book but sadly it didn't. The reunion between Elio and Oliver is incredibly rushed, on one page Oliver is thinking about going to Italy, and the next they're literally weeks into their visit. The intensity that was originally there between Elio and Oliver in Call Me By Your Name is severely lacking. What should be a satisfying end to their story, isn't. I wish I hadn't even bothered with this.

I really enjoyed this slow burning, political romance from Lauren Layne. I can always count on her to deliver a well-written, intriguing story. Yours in Scandal is the story of Robert Davenport in the last months of his tenure as mayor of NYC and Addie Brennan/Adeline Blake, event planner and estranged daughter of his rival in the upcoming gubernatorial election. Robert hires Addie to plan a party with the intention of getting the dirt on her dad but instead ends up falling for her, even though her wild child reputation could cost him the election. The two characters have chemistry that sizzles from their very first meeting and the slow build of their relationship makes it that much more satisfying when they finally get together. Although the story could be a bit predictable at times, it was an overall enjoyable read. I can't wait to see which of the side characters introduced in this book will eventually have their own. 4/5 stars.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a perfectly cheesy holiday read and very reminiscent of a Hallmark Christmas movie. The main characters were enjoyable and had decent chemistry. The reason for their conflict was a bit silly but since this is supposed to be a fluffy Christmas book, it worked. 3/5 stars.

I really loved the last few books from Christina Lauren so I guess it was time for a dud. I felt like not a lot happened for the first 30% of this book. We are introduced to the characters 14 years in the past when they meet while both on vacation in London. I really dislike insta-love because it rarely feels believable to me and that was the case here. I believed it more when the characters meet up again in the present but even then, the story dragged on a little too slowly for my liking. One thing I was really hoping for was for Tate to stand up for herself to her father so I was disappointed that never happened. Definitely not CL's best.

I'm not sure what I can say about Colleen Hoover that hasn't been said before. She is one of a handful of authors that I trust wholeheartedly to provide an engaging, emotional story that will tug at my heartstrings in all the right ways and characters that are complex yet relatable.

I prefer to go into books blind. I don't read blurbs, I avoid any chapter previews or sneak peaks that are released ahead of time. Really the only thing I knew going into this book was that it was going to be about a mother and her teenage daughter and was kind of a YA/contemporary romance hybrid and I would advise anyone else thinking of picking this one up to go into it blindly as well. Not knowing the events of this story just made it pack that much more of a punch. And there are quite a few punches here.

Colleen portrayed the mother/daughter relationship in this book so well and realistically that I could easily place myself into either characters' shoes. She made me feel what it was like to be a teenage girl again; angry and rebellious yet so giddy about the prospect of new love. At the same time, I could see myself as Morgan, being in her 30s and feeling like she's lost her way a bit. I felt every emotion as the characters were experiencing them, from heartbreak to anger to hope. This is really a beautiful story and I highly recommend it.

Thank you to Montlake Romance and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review.

So if you've kept up with the Winston's thus far, you know that they've had not such a great upbringing with their violent criminal father and his motorcycle club buddies. You know that Claire aka Scarlet and Billy Winston have history and that it likely was a messy one from the tension that still exists between them. So when Penny Reid announced an origin story for these two, you were probably pretty excited.

I don't want to say I am disappointed in this because that doesn't feel like the right word, but I didn't love it. From Claire/Scarlet's and Billy's interactions (or lack there of) in the previous Winston Brothers books, I was expecting this great love story that somehow went horribly wrong and I don't feel like I got that?? The horribly wrong part was definitely there but the build-up to that point wasn't what I was hoping for. I also still have so many unanswered questions that hopefully will be answered in Beard Necessities.

Loved this book. Moti's inner monologue and her crazy family had me laughing out loud the whole way through. It's also very sweet and swoon worthy, really the perfect rom-com. I highly recommend it.

Another great read from KA Tucker. This second chance romance alternates between “now” and “then” chapters. The two main characters meet and fall in love as teenagers working as counselors at a sleep away summer camp. It hit me with so much nostalgia that I almost wish this would have been an entire book filled with summer camp romance and shenanigans. The “now” chapters didn't have the same spark at first. I had a hard time connecting with now-Piper. But they definitely picked up and I ended up really enjoying this story.