Tag: romance read

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Romance

Georgia and Eli are best woman and man for their friend Adam’s wedding which seems to be falling apart the closer it gets. The two have hardly spoken since their breakup five years ago and are suddenly forced to band together to put out fires left and right. In the times they’ve seen each other since the breakup, they’ve been steadfastly stoic toward each other, but this time, Eli is acting differently and Georgia isn’t sure what to do with it.

I really enjoyed the romance in this book and the growing chemistry between Eli and Georgia. It was sweet and believable and very butterfly-worthy. I felt like we got to know the two main characters really well. We learn a lot about Georgia’s fears as she gets older that her relationships with her friends will change, which made her very relatable. We also get to see a lot of Eli’s growth in the time since their breakup, which created a strong case for Georgia to reconsider him.

External to the romance, this book was kind of a snooze. The things that kept going wrong leading up to Adam’s wedding made it super repetitive and I was literally rolling my eyes by the end of the book as they kept happening and the characters all reacted in the same way every time.

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The Ex Vows on Goodreads|
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Book Review, Romance

Better Left Unsent by Lia Louis ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Romance

I’ve been a huge fan of Lia Louis’s previous books, but there was something lacking from Better Left Unsent. The premise was unusual and had a lot of promise: Millie writes down her thoughts, the ones she would never say out loud, in draft emails as a way of releasing them. One day, she finds that all her drafts were delivered. Millie is left to pick up the pieces of her life when her deepest thoughts have been shared with the exact people who were never supposed to see them.

Louis always writes wonderfully quirky and loveable characters, and this was no exception. Millie and her friends seem realistic in their quirks and I loved spending time with them. Although the romance was on the back burner for much of the book, I really enjoyed Jack and Millie’s chemistry. It was clear that they complemented each other wonderfully and I was so rooting for them.

The premise definitely did not feel deep enough to sustain the whole book. Millie’s constant need to clean up after herself/the emails got old pretty quickly and there wasn’t much else plot-wise to keep me hooked.

The loveable characters and promise of romance kept me reading, but the charm I expect from Louis’s books wasn’t sustained throughout.

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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Just Haven’t Met You Yet by Sophie Cousens ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Romance
Read if you liked: One Night on the Island

This book is SCREAMING to be made into a romcom movie. For a living, Laura writes about how different couples met, and her boss is looking for a twist on their usual narratives. On a whim, Laura suggests telling the love story of her late-parents and soon finds herself on a whirlwind trip to the place where they met. When she arrives, she accidentally grabs the wrong suitcase at the airport, the contents of which point to it belonging to the man of her dreams. Laura teams up with grumpy taxi driver Ted, and they begin a twofold journey to relive her parent’s romance and to find the owner of the suitcase.

The premise of this book was so cute and it was executed exactly as you’d expect it to be; packed with warm, genuine small-town characters and self-discovery as Laura’s journey uncovers unexpected truths about her family. The romance was a slow burn, but I lovedd the build-up and Laura’s experience figuring out what she really valued in a partner. 

There were some romcom tropes that felt a little far-fetched to me and one love interest I found super annoying. I think this book did everything it was trying to do, it just wasn’t anything particularly novel or groundbreaking. Overall a sweet story, but not my favorite by Sophie Cousens.

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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Romance

When Delilah returns to her small town to photograph her stepsister Astrid’s wedding, the last thing she expects is to find herself charmed by one of Astrid’s friends. This book was like movie theater popcorn, it was sooo digestible. Delilah is painted as the classic woman who escaped her small town life to pursue photography in NYC who doesn’t care about love. She was very believable and sure of herself and was truly a delightful main character.

Delilah faced a lot of sorrow and loneliness growing up, and it’s clear that returning to her small town of Bright Falls is very triggering for her. She comes in with her walls as high up as they could be, and I loved watching them slowly come down as she sees that people and perspectives change.

The characters really shone in this book. The main crew of side characters were all very nuanced and distinct and I loved seeing them band together and connect over the course of the story. I will definitely be checking out the next book in the series.

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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪
Genre: Romance
Similar to: When in Rome

Not sure why I picked this one up when it’s set in the same universe as When in Rome, which also got 2 starts from me. Practice Makes Perfect focuses on Annie who feels desperate for low-stakes dating practice after she overhears her date telling a friend that she’s incredibly boring. Enter Will, a sexy bodyguard who Annie decides is perfect for fake dating despite the fact that she is desperately attracted to him.

My main qualm with this book is that I could not stand Annie. She’s incredibly naive and immature and takes no agency in her own life. She spends a lot of time complaining that everyone in town sees her as this innocent little butterfly and yet she plays right into that role and doesn’t correct her sisters when they treat her that way. It honestly made me wonder why Will put up with her.

Also, the lack of communication between Will and Annie was frustrating. I often struggle with the fake-dating trope because there’s always a period where one person has feelings and won’t tell the other person and I’m like just talk to each other!!

Anyway, I did enjoy the small town gossipy setting and the slowburn of the romance, but that was about it.

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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

When in Rome by Sarah Adams ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪
Genre: Romance

Pop star Amelia Rose needs a break from reality before her tour begins. Her car breaks down in a small town in the yard of attractive bakery-owner Noah, who lets her crash in his guest room until her car is fixed. Spoiler alert, it takes a while.

I love the famous person dates a normal person trope, but this story was far too slow for me. The romance was cute and I loved the gossipy small town vibe, but I honestly don’t know what happened for the majority of the book. The romance was cute and there was a solid buildup, but anything else that happened felt like fluff. There was an attempt to delve deeply into Amelia’s relationship with her mom, but it didn’t feel fleshed out enough to me. I think it could have added a lot to the story had there been more showing and less telling.

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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

How to Fake it in Hollywood by Ava Wilder ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪.5
Genre: Romance
Similar to: Once More with Feeling

How to Fake it in Hollywood is a classic celebrity fake dating romance. Grey and Ethan both agree to a fake relationship they believe will be mutually beneficial to their reputations. They quickly find that the chemistry they’re faking is beginning to feel more and more real.

I loved the chemistry and the build up. It felt organic and I was rooting for them to give in and get together. That being said, everything else in the story felt somewhat plot device-y. The issues each celebrity was dealing with were not explored in depth enough to feel real and meaningful to me.

Although the romance was strong in the beginning, by the end it seemed kinda toxic and I’d lost interest in the two being together. That combined with a very drawn out and repetitive second half of the book left me ultimately disappointed.

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Book Review, Romance

Icebreaker by Hannah Grace ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪
Genre: Romance 

I am truly baffled by all the glowing reviews for this book. If you’re just looking for some smut without a strong narrative tying it together, knock yourself out, but I was hoping for a solid storyline I didn’t get.

Anastasia is a competitive figure skater heading toward an important competition when her team suddenly finds themselves forced to share their rink with the hockey team. Nate, the team captain, is immediately intrigued by Anastasia’s intensity and lack of interest in him and wants nothing more than to make her warm up to him.

From the fun, cute premise, this quickly devolved into a bunch of sex scenes and a random plotline of people getting punched and blaming random other people for it and Nate suddenly becoming a stand-in for Anastasia’s figure skating partner because of course there would be no other actual skater who could do that.

Anyway, big pass for me.

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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Romance
Similar to: Remarkably Bright Creatures, One Night on the Island

Wow, what a wonderful read. On the day that Evvie finally gets up the nerve to leave her horrible husband, he is killed in a car accident, leaving her to play the role of grieving widow. The complexity of the emotions Evvie is left to manage were enough to make her a compelling character. Dean, a former major league baseball pitcher, is running from his own demons when he rents out the apartment at Evvie’s house.

This was a slow burn romance, but I loved how it was based in a friendship that I truly believed in. The conversations between the two were fun and witty and serious and raw. I also enjoyed Evvie’s best friend Andy and the nuances of their friendship. Holmes does a wonderful job of showing the layers of different types of relationships and doing so in a way that was realistic.

There was definitely a heaviness to this book, but it felt more like actual life than a lot of fluffy contemporary romances do. To top it off, the writing was delightful.

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Book Review, Romance

The Roommate by Rosie Danan ~ Book Review

Morgan

Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪

I feel like The Roommate was trying to be edgy and just not delivering. The protagonist, Clara, is from a high society east coast family and we meet her as she’s moving across the country to room with her childhood friend who she’s been in love with forever. Instead, she ends up rooming with Josh, a porn star. What would her upper crust family say if they could see her now?!

I found Clara immensely unlikable. She was obsessed with her family image and it seemed like she kept harping on the same few details about herself over and over. Her ‘flaws’ were mentioned so many times and I wished that space has been used to further the action in the story.

There was not enough of a lead up to the romance for me, and I didn’t feel like there was a deep connection between Clara and Josh. It felt very surface level and yet they spoke about it as if it was much more.

I’ll give this book credit for having a story arc that I haven’t quite seen before, but the pacing was off to the point that it was almost a DNF.

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The Roommate on Goodreads
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