Tag: romance reader

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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Buy When in Rome at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Our Place on the Island by Erika Montgomery ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Romance
Similar to: Elin Hilderbrand

Our Place on the Island follows three generations of women in a dual timeline leading up to the matriarch, Cora’s second wedding. Her granddaughter Mickey is shocked by the sudden announcement and drops everything to head to Martha’s Vineyard and the family house there, Beech House. When she arrives, she slowly learns that there’s more to her grandmother’s seemingly sudden wedding than meets the eye.

Mickey is a chef and the descriptions of food throughout this book were mouthwatering and almost tangible. Ditto to the setting – the details about Beech House and summer days on Martha’s Vineyard were wonderfully atmospheric and made this a perfect book to read on the beach (which I absolutely did).

The present and past timelines were distinct and I loved the exploration of class differences that Cora experienced as a new bride on the island. Her character was well rounded and I could palpably feel her struggle as she tried to fit in while staying true to herself.

Mickey’s story in the present day was distinctly less compelling to me, and I wish we’d gotten more insight into her mother to really explore the family dynamics fully. That said, this was a fast and enjoyable summer read.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Our Place on the Island at an indie bookstore near you
Our Place on the Island on Goodreads

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.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy How to Fake it in Hollywood at an indie bookstore near you
How to Fake it in Hollywood on Goodreads

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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Buy Icebreaker at an indie bookstore near you
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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.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Evvie Drake Starts Over at an indie bookstore near you
Evvie Drake Starts Over on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Once More with Feeling by Elissa Sussman ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Romance
Similar to: Funny You Should Ask

If you’ve read Elissa Sussman’s previous book, Once More with Feeling will feel awfully familiar. It follows the life of teenage popstar Katee Rose whose career runs off the tracks after she finds herself drawn to another member of her boyfriend’s boyband, Cal. The narrative picks back up with Katee as an adult when she is auditioning for her dream role and none other than Cal shows up as the director.

I really enjoy the celebrity romance genre and liked the setting of rehearsals as the stage for Cal and Katee’s reconnection. As a main character though, Katee really bothered me. She felt incredibly passive in her own life and I was frustrated with her to the point where it was hard to care what happened to her. Additionally, there was no chemistry and no build up to the romance. I was not rooting for the two main characters to be together because I didn’t get to see why they were into each other.

This was a fast read and I liked the premise and the setting, but it could have used a lot more depth.

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Buy Once More with Feeling at an indie bookstore near you
Once More with Feeling on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Romance
Similar to: Meet Me at the Lake

What a wonderful summer read. Same Time Next Summer introduces Sam as she heads back to her parents house on the beach to tour a wedding venue with her fiancé. Her dry stable job is up in the air and when she finds out that Wyatt, who broke her heart when they were teenagers, is in town, things suddenly seem even more off-kilter.

There was a lot of intrigue swirling around in this story, from what happened to Sam and Wyatt when they were young to why Sam was worried about being fired. These details kept me really invested in the plot. I loved the juxtaposition between Sam’s parent’s home – artsy, non-confirmative, and whimsical, with her life in the city – straight-laced, serious, beige. Through alternating timelines, we see how Sam’s life has transitioned from one to the other. I loved the character arc as the two timelines hurtled toward each other.

The supporting characters in this story were quirky and wonderful and helped provide a roundedness to Sam and Wyatt’s characters. The one thing that bothered me in this story was the way that Sam’s fiancé was portrayed, it seemed like there was a sudden dramatic shift to force the reader’s perspective of him. All in all though, this one gets my stamp of approval for sure.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Same Time Next Summer at an indie bookstore near you
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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
Buy The Roommate at an indie bookstore near you

Book Review, Romance

Love Buzz by Neely Tubati-Alexander ~ Book Review

Morgan

Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

When Serena meets Julian while at a bachelorette party in New Orleans, they have an instantaneous chemistry that she has never before experienced. Her singular fixation on finding him sends her carefully curated plans for her life completely off course and makes her question what she truly wants from her life.

This book focuses a lot on self-discovery and the societally-imposed pressure that comes with nearing thirty. Serena’s confusion about what she really wants from life and her struggle with people-pleasing were relatable and made her a really appealing main character. The secondary characters who surrounded her were detailed and well-written also and I enjoyed learning about her support system.

The endless quest to find Julian made the story drag and feel a bit repetitive to me, not to mention unbelievable. I liked that it was the spark that started Serena on a journey of self-discovery, but I wish it had either been less of a focus or leaned in and been more of a romance.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Love Buzz at an indie bookstore near you
Love Buzz on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey ~ book Review

Morgan

Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

I raced through this book in a few days, mostly because it was due back at the library, and it was a pretty classic, cute romance. Hallie’s childhood crush, Julian, returns to their hometown for the summer and Hallie wonders if she’ll finally get the chance to shoot her shot. When she’s hired to work on the gardens at his family’s vineyard, she feels like she just might have a chance. In classic grumpy sunshine fashion, Julian doesn’t even remember her.

There was a subplot about Hallie’s recently passed grandmother two feuding wine shops in town that had a lot of potential, but ultimately just felt super cheesy to me. I liked how it tied into her relationship with Julian but his rage about the situation wasn’t realistic.

If you’re in the mood for an easy, steamy romance, Secretly Yours will scratch that itch, but I don’t think I’ll remember the details of the plot in a few weeks.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Secretly Yours at an indie bookstore near you
Secretly Yours on Goodreads