Maggie

I liked this one! But I'm a sucker for ADHDers being unapologetically ADHD and being loved for it. The banter was also on point. I've also never read a romcom series that happens simultaneously (with Spoiler Alert). Very clever.

I don't love the haters to lovers trope because usually I don't want them to get together after they've spent so long being such jerks to each other. This one worked for me, though. There were reasons they were angry and they actually owned up to their poor behavior and made personal changes. The story was well crafted, as O'Leary is great at doing. Enjoyed it greatly!

I loved this whole series. Sort of a cross between the cleverness of A Series of Unfortunate Events and a spoof on Harry Potter, with Sanderson's talent for world-building. Highly recommend.

I'm not a connoisseur of paranormal romance, but this was intriguing with a bit of a mystery wrapped up in it. It did, however, move pretty slow in parts, but the attraction was well-written.

A cute story about chronic pain, the difference between sex and intimacy, and how setting boundaries helps love grow.... And yes, the marijuana aspect of the story dives deep into the details around it and its medical use, but the audience learns with the characters.

Nothing like a small-town romcom set on a charming Greek island. My main complaint with this one was that I feel like their most enjoyable moments together were mentioned as memories of the main character, rather than lived in the moment, though there were some good moments together as well.

This was a "how I met your mother" type journey, and while all the supporting characters were fabulous, there were definitely some cringeworthy moments of Jack and Laurie that made me not love them. It was fun and cleverly written, but the ending did also feel a bit rushed.

This book is very well crafted and very clever. It deals with really tough issues and there were some really hard-to-read scenes. Overall, it is two love stories told from the perspectives of Aphrodite, Ares, Apollo, and Hades as they intersected the story. The characters were well-written and grew throughout the story. It is a story about love and what it means to love someone vs what we think love to be. This isn't a comfort read, but it is a good one.

Talia Hibbert is great with characters.

TW: Infertility, purity culture, adoption. An orthodox Jewish woman who can't have children is still single at 29 because she's seen as "damaged" in her society. A lot of heavy stuff, which I thought they handled very well. Despite the heavy, it was still quite enjoyable.

I loved the way this book was written. So clever to have it all together from emails, articles, etc. The characters were also well written. I just thought the wrap-up felt rushed.

He's a famous footballer hiding out in a small town. She's "banished" by her dad to the same small town. They find joy in the local youth girls soccer team.

Didn't love the bondage stuff. And it also seemed like there wasn't a lot of growth in their relationship other than physical attraction, which seemed to be immediate... so the flipped switch on the relationship stuff at the end seemed abrupt, but it did have charming parts and I liked the characters.

Haters-to-lovers/boy next door romcom. I thought it was well-written and clever, but I struggled with the relationship. It was mostly about the mean stuff they did to each other over the years rather than the solid relationship they had growing up, which they kept alluding to, but didn't really detail.

SPOILER: I really like that this all takes place in a 24-hour period from meet to love and follows them around NYC on Christmas Eve. I would give it five stars EXCEPT they make a big deal about her previous boyfriend never said "I love you" back and she assumes he does... and then this guy doesn't say it back to her either when she says it to him! Also, it ends on a bit of a "to be continued" as she flies home and plans to return 9 months later.

YA romcom about a teen girl with an anxiety disorder who struggles to make decisions, so it follows a sliding doors scenario through just once choice: does she go to NYC with her mom for Christmas or spend Christmas with her best friend that she's in love with at his cabin? It was cute and clever and I enjoyed the creativity of the sliding doors perspective.

Same great characters as the first book, but this one was much harder to get through as it was less action and all politics. But still an enjoyable read.

This book definitely wrapped up the series nicely and was faster paced than the second book, though still not as fast as the first in the series.