NJ
Didn't enjoy this much. Unnecessary cattiness and drama. Also felt their engagement was rushed. Just because you are good friends doesn't mean you'll be good partners in the long term. May try a longer Riley Adams novel to see if these problems are resolved
3.5 stars
The baddies were very bad and the goodies were very good. At one point, I thought one of the book's antagonists was going to be given some complexity but that didn't happen. I still largely enjoyed the romance between the two main characters though.
Too many misunderstandings between main characters. And while I liked Lottie, it seems like every time she and her love interest had a misunderstanding they just shut down their relationship for a while instead of communicating like two adults. Usually in a romance this happens once, but in this book it happened twice. Which in my opinion was one time too many. By the end of the book I didn't have much faith that their relationship would survive.
3.5 stars
I really liked the two characters. I just feel like their relationship would be stronger if they just talked . Beverly never shared her fears with Beck and often left him feeling confused and rejected. I feel like Beck also didn't have much empathy for her grief concerning her husband's death (at least until the final chapters). A lot of heartache may have been avoided if they communicated better.
However, that initial scene where they were playing chicken was hilarious. It was such a great start to the book. The rest of the novel wasn't even half as interesting.
I would have probably enjoyed this book more if I hadn't just read [b:Take a Hint, Dani Brown 49976087 Take a Hint, Dani Brown (The Brown Sisters, #2) Talia Hibbert https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1572990974l/49976087.SY75.jpg 72583521]. I think that that book was more successful in portraying certain relationship dynamics.I did enjoy the first half of this book, the characters had wonderful chemistry. However, it all began to fall apart for me when they actually got together. It constantly felt like the hero was pushing the heroine into a relationship when she had been very clear, multiple times that that wasn't what she wanted. In [b:Take a Hint, Dani Brown 49976087 Take a Hint, Dani Brown (The Brown Sisters, #2) Talia Hibbert https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1572990974l/49976087.SY75.jpg 72583521], the main characters' relationship organically deepens without the hero pushing or trying to change the heroine's wishes. In fact, he is very cautious not to superimpose his wishes on hers and I really appreciated that. On the one hand, the heroine in Salt+Stilettos was an adult with agency but as the book kept emphasising over and over again she was in a particularly vulnerable spot. This makes the fact that the hero constantly pushes her boundaries even more egregious in my book.That said, I liked most of this book, and excluding this irritating dynamic, I could see myself reading more Janet Walden-West.
Strong 3.5 stars I liked this book a lot. This was a much stronger book than [b:Crushing on You 49125713 Crushing on You (Burlfriends, #1) Jen Trinh https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1576777209l/49125713.SY75.jpg 74578761]. I complained in my review of that book, that very little character development happened until the last 20% and I can confidently say that wasn't the case here. Yes, both characters grew a lot during the last 20% (that may just be [a:Jen Trinh 19798667 Jen Trinh https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1590958747p2/19798667.jpg]'s style) but the seeds had been sown during the earlier part of the book. For example, Lina called Asher out on his man-childishness in the first few chapters and he began to make changes almost immediately. Although romance books are usually centred on the heroine, in some ways, this was more Asher's book than Lina's. By the end of the book, he had grown by leaps and bounds and was definitely less child and more man (also shout out to positive representations of therapy). Admittedly, I found the portions about Lina's dissertation difficult to read because my own chemical engineering Masters' thesis is due in September and instead of working, I have been reading romance (but we're not here to talk about me). I really identified with her character and appreciated her growth.However, there were a few parts of this book that gave me pause. During one of their early hookups, Lina mentions being surprised by a kiss Asher gives her. Luckily, she wound up being into it, but I couldn't help thinking that it was skirting the line of enthusiastic consent. I know that sometimes both partners may be flirtatiously sending each other non-verbal cues, but in my opinion, that wasn't the case here (she was surprised). Also by that point, they were not in an established relationship and so surprising someone with a kiss was iffy at best. In addition, as someone who hates public gestures, I was uncomfortable with the scene where Asher sang a song to her after she explicitly told her not to contact him. I feel like this happens quite a lot in romance where one character (usually the heroine) sets a hard boundary and the other character finds a loophole. Something about that always rubs me the wrong way. I feel like if Asher had sung the song without knowing she was in the crowd I may have liked that scene better. Or maybe, Lina should not have been made to set that hard boundary in the first place. I know I am nitpicking here and most romance readers wouldn't have issues with these things, but for me, they detract from my enjoyment of a book. In general, I liked this book and I look forward to more books from Trinh.
Solid story. I'm probably rating this lower than I would have 2 months ago because all fake dating/friends-to-lovers stories will now be measured against [b:Take a Hint, Dani Brown 49976087 Take a Hint, Dani Brown (The Brown Sisters, #2) Talia Hibbert https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1572990974l/49976087.SY75.jpg 72583521]. Although the two books didn't try to do exactly the same thing, I kept comparing the actions of the main characters and finding that a few things were handled with more depth and sensitivity in [b:Take a Hint, Dani Brown 49976087 Take a Hint, Dani Brown (The Brown Sisters, #2) Talia Hibbert https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1572990974l/49976087.SY75.jpg 72583521] than they were in this book. However, Reyes is a relatively new author with only a few titles under her belt so I expect her to get better from here. In fact, I already enjoyed the second book in this series a lot more than I did this one.
It was a solid book. Not too many gripes. However, there was not much I liked about it either. I think the concept of a romance book happening in one day doesn't appeal to me as I like slow-build romance.
So far I haven't loved any of the Beharrie books I've read. They've all been solid but nothing out of the ordinary. May nave to abandon her books.
A few eye-roll worthy moments. There was also too I h drama for a book of that length
The lack of communication was truly mind-boggling. Although this was written over two decades ago, so it is probably more of a testament to how far the romance genre has come since then.
I did enjoy the progressive portrayal of consent in this book though. Even is some more modern books, the hero is less worried about enthusiastic consent than this one was. The 4-star rating is for this reason alone.
This was such a good debut. Ivy and David were likeable well-written characters and the book was easy to read. There were a few things that irritated me, for instance, I did not understand the emphasis on the robot-like behaviour of all the blonde women the hero had dated before. It seemed petty and unnecessary (but honestly I might be reaching). Despite having a few gripes, however, I enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more from this author.
This is the slow burn I wanted [b:Yours to Keep 51000583 Yours to Keep (Man of the Year, #2) Lauren Layne https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585339888l/51000583.SY75.jpg 75847892] to be. It was swoony and a tiny bit angsty and there was enough pining and sexual tension to keep me happy for the next week. Considering how well written this was, I'm surprised this was only a debut. Bastone's characters were layered and interesting. None of them was one-dimensional, even the side characters. Perhaps more importantly, it was interesting to see how much character growth she could squeeze out of <350 pages. It was also lovely to read a book in which the main characters' other love interests were not vilified. I really enjoyed this book; if this is what Bastone can produce on her first try, I can't wait to read her next books. Keeping my fingers crossed she doesn't disappoint
3.5 stars would have been four but I'm not a fan on damsel in distress romance. On the other hand I loved the characters and I thought they had great chemistry.
3.5 stars rounded down
I really liked the heroine and her sister. I was less sold on the hero. About 70% into the book he had managed to hurt the heroine, her sister and the heroine's sister's love interest (very Pride & Prejudice). However, unlike Pride & Prejudice, it seems like things were wrapped up too quickly and the big drama wasn't resolved satisfactorily. I think this critique could be more generally applied to the whole book; it felt too short. The romance felt rushed, the drama felt rushed and the resolution felt rushed. There seemed to be too many things going on at once. At my count there were 4 conflicts: her father's alcoholism and the shame it had brought, his father's second and third families, their respective secret personas and her sister's relationship with his best friend. If perhaps one or more of the conflicts were removed, the remaining aspects could have been better developed.
Throughout this book, I was really irritated by the duke (whom I mistakenly assumed was the hero). I found he was often condescending towards the heroine and the other members of her village (as a man of his station would likely be). The book was written in both his POV and Libby's as such it was easy to assume that he and Libby were going to end up together. However, I couldn't help thinking about how much I loved the doctor and how I wished that he, instead of the duke, would end up being Libby's husband. Imagine my surprise when that was how the book ended!
This book subverted so many of the established romance conventions (and it was published two decades ago!). There was a wealthy, reformed duke who wasn't the hero, an overweight, clumsy doctor who was the hero and a spurned suitor who didn't leave with bitterness/animosity. There's so much of this book to love and I can see myself rereading it in the future.
I was fully prepared to give this 4-stars until I hit about 75%. The introduction of the hero's mother ruined the book. The hero should not have been pressured into forgiving her. Additionally, the story only seemed to refer to the trauma the hero's father had faced without really working through the hero's own trauma. When his mum finally came back into their lives, she didn't even come and ask the hero for forgiveness or try to rebuild a relationship with him; instead, she was ready to start cohabitating with his father without even once having a conversation with the hero. The hero's father also didn't think it was necessary to talk through their trauma or even request that the hero's mother seek his forgiveness. He was just going to up and leave him in that dreadful house?!?! The ending was trash but for the most part, it was still a solid romance.
I love marriage-of-convenience romances. It's so lovely to read about two good (but flawed) people trying to make the best of an uncomfortable situation who end up falling in love. [b:In for a Penny 36453426 In for a Penny Rose Lerner https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1508616699l/36453426.SY75.jpg 7385934] really knocks that trope out of the park. By the end of Lerner's story I felt like I truly knew Penelope and Nev. The only reason this is not getting a 5-star rating is because I thought there was too much going on at the end. I would also have liked to see Penelope and Nev happy and settled for a longer time. However, Lerner has a free novella on her website that serves as an epilogue and reading that gave me the fluffy feelings I needed.
Couldn't finish this. I was way too creeped out by two adult men and their attraction to a high schooler. Why was this book written this way? No!
