REVIEW: Avenging Angels: Tenderfoot by Kristen Ashley

 

OUR REVIEW:

The Avenging Angels series is so much fun--it's Rock Chick adjacent, so we get the fun of getting to know new characters with the added joy of seeing glimpses of our old favorites, what could be better? In Tenderfoot, we get to see two seemingly opposite personalities, Harlow and Javi, get together, get to know each other better, fall in love, and get to the bottom of a unsolved case. As with all of KA's novels, we get a mix of scenes that showcase the necessity of loyal friendships, the fun and interesting path to love, and a wisp of fantasy in that we all get to imagine a world in which ordinary women become a form of Charlie's Angels. What's not to love? I couldn't tell you...because as is the norm, I love these books, these characters, and the world of Kristen Ashley. 

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SYNOPSIS:

Harlow O’Neill is waiting for Javier Montoya to make his move. She has it bad for the gorgeous new investigator at Nightingale Investigations and Security. She’s sure he knows it. She’s also sure he’s just as into her.

And she’s read the Rock Chick books. She knows how those Hottie Squad men are supposed to win their women.

Javi is just not trying to win her.

Then one evening Harlow is undercover on a mission for the Avenging Angels, and Javi blows her cover. She’s not happy about it. They share words and some of the ones Javi uses aren’t all that great.

Harlow retreats. Javi goes on the advance.

And the man Harlow was investigating winds up dead.

The Angels go all in to discover what’s happening with a dating app scam that ended up with a dead guy. The Nightingale men aren’t fans of the women wading in on such a dangerous case, and they’re doing something about it.

It’s a race between the Angels and the Hottie Squad as to who’s going to solve the mystery.

While all of that happens, Javi’s not taking any chances with Harlow’s safety. He moves her into his place and Harlow learns firsthand what it means to be in the romantic crosshairs of a member of the Hottie Squad…and the heartbreaking reasons why Javi kept her at arm’s length.

REVIEW: Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

OUR REVIEW:

I freaking LOVED! this book. LOVED IT. I somehow got lucky enough to snag it through my local library before anyone else did and I inhaled it. Could not stop reading it. You could tell that TJR really researched all of the details of the novel and it seemed like she really loved Joan and her counterparts. I loved Joan. Her journey from dreaming about the stars to being among them and then help leading others in their journey through the stars was fascinating and wonderful and gripping. Equally powerful was her story of finding love in a way she'd never imagined or suspected--both with her niece, with her work, and with her lover. 

Cannot recommend this novel highly enough. I would love to see it made into a film. 

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/43Legnr

SYNOPSIS:

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.

REVIEW: One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune

OUR REVIEW:

I've yet to read a Carley Fortune novel that hasn't been a fantastic read and One Golden Summer continues that streak. Gah, I loved it so much that it was one of those reads that you simultaneously couldn't get through it fast enough as you wanted to slow down the reading....it's one of those novels you want to last forever. 

There was so many things that made One Golden Summer so much fun to read. It felt nostalgic--those memories of summer always are, aren't they? And the chance to kinda sorta relive it? Who can pass that up? And there's the back and forth between Charlie and Alice...*chef's kiss*--their chemistry? So good. And then you throw in the wisdom of her grandma and some characters that some of you may recognize from earlier novels...and the hurt so good OH SHIT moment and you've got yourself a fantastic read. Loved it and so sad that I have to wait for the next one to come out, since I've read every single thing she's written. 

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SYNOPSIS:

I never anticipated Charlie Florek.

Good things happen at the lake. That’s what Alice’s grandmother says, and it’s true. Alice spent just one summer at a cottage with Nan when she was seventeen—it’s where she took that photo, the one of three grinning teenagers in a yellow speedboat, the image that changed her life.

Now Alice lives behind a lens. As a photographer, she’s most comfortable on the sidelines, letting other people shine. Lately though, she’s been itching for something more, and when Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice comes up with a plan for them both: another summer in that magical place, Barry’s Bay. But as soon as they settle in, their peace is disrupted by the roar of a familiar yellow boat, and the man driving it.

Charlie Florek was nineteen when Alice took his photo from afar. Now he’s all grown up—a shameless flirt, who manages to make Nan laugh and Alice long to be seventeen again, when life was simpler, when taking pictures was just for fun. Sun-slanted days and warm nights out on the lake with Charlie are a balm for Alice’s soul, but when she looks up and sees his piercing green gaze directly on her, she begins to worry for her heart.

Because Alice sees people—that’s why she is so good at what she does—but she’s never met someone who looks and sees her right back.

 

REVIEW: Only Between Us by Ellie K. Wilde

 

OUR REVIEW:

It's been a while since I've read a novel that I go to sleep reading it, wake up reading it, and shirk all other responsibilities because I only want to read it. Only Between Us was that for me. I found Siena to be completely charming and hilarious. Brooks was sweet and vulnerable. And the secondary characters? They just rounded everything else out perfectly (minus the creepy landlord, blech). Throw in football and a fake relationship (who knew I liked those?! I didn't.) and I could not stop reading. I liked so much about this novel--the character development, the plot development, the lighthearted banter, and the spice...so good, y'all. 

This is the first Ellie K Wilde novel I've read, but I will be researching her backlist to see which thing I read next because I feeeeel like they're all gonna be this good. 

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/40a9zRM

SYNOPSIS:

After a death-defying injury sidelined him for two seasons, Brooks Attwood’s pro football comeback has hit a major snag. Naughty photos from a post-break-up bender have leaked, and they’re killing his chances with the Rebels—his old team, and the only one he wants to play on.

As he trains with the hope of being signed before the first kickoff of the season, Brooks’s plans to keep a low profile are suddenly upended when his selfie with a fiery fan goes viral, and tabloids mistake them as the football world’s newest It couple.

Turns out, Siena Pippen is the ex-girlfriend of the “face” of the League. And she wants nothing more to do with that world after being with her nightmare ex. While she and Brooks are busy blaming each other for the media circus surrounding them, NFL teams are suddenly scrambling to sign a housebroken Brooks. Meanwhile, Siena realizes that all this buzz could be the Hail Mary her family’s struggling business needs.

Together, Brooks and Siena hatch a ignore the will to kill each other and pretend to be madly in love—at least, until Brooks signs with a team. But the longer they pretend, the less fake their fauxmance begins to feel…and Brooks becomes as determined to convince Siena they’re truly meant to be as he is to land a spot on the Rebels’ roster.

REVIEW: Totally and Completely Fine by Elissa Sussman

 

OUR REVIEW:

I am a sucker for an Elissa Sussman book and Totally and Completely Fine did not disappoint. While Lauren and her family made me a little nutso because of their inability to talk about how they feel about almost anything, I was rooting for them all to get their shit together and figure some stuff out. These completely likable people were making me crazy because I wanted them to be okay (or more okay) and to quit repressing everything. I wanted them to not just survive, but thrive. Enter Ben. The perfect disrupter. He charmed his way into the hearts and lives of all of them and you couldn't help but hope that somehow, someway he'd manage to make them (and him) all okay. He wasn't the savior, but he was a source of conflict and action and the only thing that would've made him better in this novel, is if I'd had a look into what was going on in his mind. 

I enjoyed the cross over between Gabe and Lauren. I enjoyed the flashbacks mixed in with the current day story. I enjoyed the secondary characters and all they brought to the novel....essentially I enjoyed it all. I'll definitely read anything Elissa Sussman writes, so here's to hoping she has something new out soon. 

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/4hQPiGT

SYNOPSIS:

In her small Montana hometown, Lauren Parker has assumed a few different roles: teenage hellraiser; sister of superstar Gabe Parker; and most recently, tragically widowed single mother. She’s never cared much about labels or what people thought about her, but dealing with her grief has slowly revealed that she’s become adrift in her own life.

Then she meets the devilishly handsome actor Ben Walsh on the set of her brother’s new movie. They have instant chemistry, and Lauren realizes that it has been far too long since someone has really and truly seen her. Her rebellious spirit spurs her to dive headfirst into her desire, but when a sexy encounter becomes something more, Lauren finds herself balancing old roles and new possibilities.

There’s still plenty to contend with: small-town rumors, the complications of Ben’s fame, and her daughter’s unpredictable moods. An unexpected fling seemed simple at the time—so when did everything with Ben get so complicated? And is there enough room in her life for the woman Lauren wants to be? Alternating between Lauren’s past with Spencer and her present with Ben, Totally and Completely Fine illuminates what it means to find a life-changing love and be true to oneself in the process.

REVIEW: These Summer Storms by Sarah Maclean

 

OUR REVIEW:

Sarah Maclean is one of my favorite historical romance writers and I've read one short work that of hers that was contemporary, so when I saw this novel of hers on NetGalley, I immediately requested it. As with her historical romances, These Summer Storms is intense and detailed and while it felt more women's fiction than romance, in places, it does end with the HEA. 

These Summer Storms centers on Alice Storm and her very dysfunctional family. The novel begins with Alice returning to her family home (on a private island) upon news that her father has died. We learn that she's been estranged from the billionaire family for years, working and living independently from the wealth that she was brought up with, and almost immediately her family reminds her that she's going to have to work her way back into the fold. As the first day home progresses, it becomes clear that the patriarch of the family had plans in mind, upon his death, and those plans appeared to include pushing on the insecurities and wounds that each sibling and his wife had. And as the week progresses, we learn how Alice's one night stand factors in to all of this, as well as why the siblings do what they do and how they feel about what is happening. 

The Summer Storms asks us to imagine what it must be like to live in a family where everyone is jockeying for position, thirsty for the love and attention of their parents, never quite getting what they want, and therefore always feeling a little out of sorts, a little unsatisfied, even when they think they're getting what they want/deserve. It plunges us into a world of refinement, not feelings, and how that philosophy can go terribly awry, resulting in a sibling dynamic that's better for the messiness. And while this novel could've let us cold and bitter, the ending is quite the opposite--warm and satisfactory.

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SYNOPSIS: 

Alice Storm hasn’t been welcome at her family’s magnificent private island off the Rhode Island coast in five years—not since she was cast out and built her life beyond the Storm name, influence, and untold billions. But the shocking death of her larger-than-life father changes everything.

Alice plans to keep her head down, pay her final respects (such as they are), and leave the minute the funeral is over. Unfortunately, her father had other plans. The eccentric, manipulative patriarch left his family a final challenge—an inheritance game designed to upend their world. The rules are clear: spend one week on the island, complete their assigned tasks, and receive the inheritance.

But a whole week on Storm Island is no easy task for Alice. Every corner of the sprawling old house is bursting with chaos: Her older sister’s secret love affair. Her brother’s unyielding arrogance. Her younger sister’s constant analysis of the vibes. Her mother’s cold judgment. And all under the stern, watchful gaze of Jack Dean, her father’s intriguing and too-handsome second-in-command. It will be a miracle if Alice manages to escape unscathed.

A smart and tender story about the transformative power of grief, love, and family, this luscious novel explores past secrets, present truths, and futures forged in the wake of wild summer storms.