Tag: romance reader

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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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.

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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
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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.

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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.

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Buy Secretly Yours at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez ~ Book Review

Morgan

Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

Briana is eagerly awaiting a promotion as all other aspects of her life seem to be falling apart. When a new doctor, Jacob, threatens to steal it out from under her nose, Briana is livid. That is, until he writes her a letter that lets her in to see more of who he is at his core – and she likes it.

This is a classic fake dating romance. I loved the connection between Briana and Jacob – especially the way their relationship began with letter writing and lunches in the closet at the hospital. The workplace setting added an extra wrinkle in their fake dating scheme and made their story stand out from others in the genre.

Both main characters were really likable and layered. Jacob was such a sweetheart and the way he melted Briana’s heart was easily believable. I also especially appreciated the depiction of Jacob’s social anxiety, the way Briana supported him through it, and his recollection of how past partners had not made the effort to understand it.

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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren ~ Book Review

Morgan

Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

Fizzy Chen is a romance novelist who has lost her belief in true love, at least for herself. It’s stifled her creativity and is making conceptualizing a new book next to impossible. When Fizzy is approached by Connor Prince to star in a reality dating show, she sends him a list of terms that he shockingly agrees to. Connor has his own agenda, namely creating a reality show for his boss so he can get back to the documentary making that he loves.

Naturally, sparks fly between Fizzy and Connor creating an immediate conflict of interest that sucked me right in. I will say, I guessed exactlyyy where the story was going, but honestly I still really enjoyed the ride. The chemistry between Fizzy and Connor was palpable and I like the depth of each of them as individuals.

The premise of the dating show was really fun although the details of filming were largely glossed over. More time was spent getting to know Fizzy and Connor, separately and together, and the people they held dearest to them. They each had strong and wonderfully detailed support systems. I enjoyed getting to know everyone in this sparkling story.

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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez ~ Book Review

Morgan

Genre: Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5

Part of Your World is a classic, warm hug of a romance. When Alexis has her car towed by a handsome stranger, she thinks nothing of it. When she runs into him again though, she can’t deny their chemistry – and neither could I. Daniel is ten years younger than her and the opposite of the kind of person her family expects her to be with.

The romance between Daniel and Alexis felt so organic and I couldn’t help but root for them. I appreciated watching her navigate her internal conflict between her high-profile family and life as an ER doctor, and his more laid back approach to life.

This story deals heavily with emotional abuse and we watch Alexis try to heal from the effects of her ex, and struggle to get her loved ones to understand that there was a much darker side to their relationship.

There were parts of this story that seemed overdone, like Alexis’s terribly snobby and rude ‘friends,’ but overall it was a sweet, enjoyable romance and a fast read.

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Buy Part of Your World at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center ~ Book Review

Morgan

Genre: Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪

I love a romance between a famous person and a regular person, so the premise of Hannah being assigned as the bodyguard for hunky movie star Jack Stapleton sounded right up my alley. Jack is staying at his family home helping out since his mom is sick, and he needs someone to keep him safe from his stalker. He doesn’t want to put more stress on his family, so rather than admit what’s going on, he tells them that Hannah is his girlfriend.

I liked the romance fine in this book, there was chemistry between Jack and Hannah and I liked them both as characters. Hannah’s insanely misogynistic ex-boyfriend seemed way too over the top. It seemed like every scumbag characteristic had been dumped on him, which made me respect Hannah less since there was nothing redeeming about him.

The ending was such a mess for me. It went from zero to one hundred in a bizarre twist that did not add to the story and was so random. It’s a no for me.

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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Scandalized by Ivy Owens ~ Book Review

Morgan

Genre: Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5

This book taught me that I’m a sucker for a ‘normal person falls in love with a celebrity’ trope. It gave me major The Idea of You vibes and I was here for it. When Gigi runs into Alec, the brother of her best childhood friend at the airport as their flight is canceled, he generously lets her use the shower in his hotel room despite having not seen her since they were kids. They decide to catch up as they wait for travel plans to be rearranged and immediately feel an electric chemistry. When Gigi gets off the same plane as Alec the next day, she’s met by a screaming mob of fans shouting his name, making her realize there’s much more to him than she was aware of.

The romance in this book was sexy and definitely spicy. Although it clearly took center stage (in the best of ways) there were other layers to this story that I wasn’t expecting. Gigi is an investigative journalist looking into a nightclub that appears to be covering up the drugging and rape of women in their VIP rooms. This disturbing story ties unexpectedly into the relationship she is trying to foster with Alec and added a level of seriousness that made this story more than a fluffy romance.

That being said, also the romance, the romance, the romance. Alec and Gigi do their best to hide their growing relationship and keep Gigi out of the spotlight and away from paparazzi. The sneaking around added a level of scandal that made this book addictive and electric.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Scandalized at an indie bookstore near you
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