REVIEW: Dream Girl Drama by Tessa Bailey

OUR REVIEW:

In book two of this series, my curiosity was fully piqued, and Sig and Chloe did not disappoint. They were just as fraught with tension as I suspected they would be and while I've been around the romance block a few times, so I didn't quite see the scandal of them being together, I quite enjoyed it nonetheless. I enjoyed learning more about Chloe and how much more depth she had, since she'd seemed a little shallow when we first met her in book 2. I enjoyed learning about Sig and his huge heart and secret insecurities. It was nice to read about genuinely kind characters who cared so much about each other that they'd sacrifice being together to make sure the other one was okay. Sounds convoluted, and completely messed up, but somehow that's what they felt they needed to do, and yet it all ended up being okay. Romance crisis averted. 

I don't know what it is about sports romances that get me every single time, but they do. I guess I love the idea of it--the idea of this big jock falling hard and being helpless to stop it? It just works, or it does in this series, and I seem to be a sucker for it, so sign me up for the next one. 

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SYNOPSIS:

A steamy chance encounter between a professional hockey player and the manic pixie dream girl he just can’t seem to forget takes a turn when the pair realize that their parents are engaged—in an all-new rom-com by #1 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey.

When professional hockey player Sig Gauthier’s car breaks down and his phone dies, he treks into a posh private country club to call a tow truck, where he encounters the alluring Chloe Clifford, the manic pixie dream girl who captivates him immediately with her sense of adventure and penchant for stealing champagne.

Sparks fly during a moonlight kiss and the enamored pair can’t wait to see each other again, but when Sig finally arrives to meet his dad’s new girlfriend over dinner, Chloe is confusingly also there. Turns out the girlfriend is Chloe’s mother. Oh, and they’re engaged.

Sig’s dream girl is his future stepsister.

Though the pair is now wary of being involved romantically, Chloe, a sheltered harp prodigy, yearns to escape her controlling mother. Sig promises to teach her the ins and outs of independence in Boston—but not inside his bedroom. They both know there can never be more than friendship between a famous hockey player and his high-society, soon-to-be stepsister. But keeping their relationship platonic grows harder amid the developing family drama, especially knowing they were meant for so much more…

 

NEW REVIEW: Catch and Keep by Erin Hahn

OUR REVIEW:

I have really enjoyed every book in these interconnected stand alone novels featuring the three friends who love each other like sisters. In the other two we got to know a former child/teen star turned homemaker over star, a country music star, and now we get to know Maren-a former YouTuber known for her fishing prowess. Seriously, how unexpected is that? A woman who is known for her superior fishing skills?! Awesome. Love it. And even more than that, I love that her love interest is someone she's known forever, has crushed on forever, and is divorced and available. I even love how she ends up there--not the terrible former boyfriend part, but the part that sends her running home to her favorite place...the place that her dreams were really made of. So we have Maren, this super smart, super pretty, and super wonderful woman and we have Joe--her brother's best friend, divorced father to two awesome kids, and also wonderful human being. What a pair!

I loved their story because it was filled with so much kindness. She needs the kindness of him and his family to help her find her footing after leaving a great job and a less than great boyfriend. He needs her kindness to help him with the chaos of single parent life. They both instinctually know how to help each other and care for each other and love each other. Because they've known each other for so long, they're getting to know each other as adults and while there are definitely obstacles to them reaching their HEA, there are more good moments than bad. (I'll just say, thank god Joe finally said something to her brother because that guy was THE WORST for a good portion of the book). 

Loved the romance and their story, loved the autism representation, loved the cameos by her friends, and really, just loved the whole thing. Sign me up for the next Erin Hahn book, I'm ready!

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/3xrMxe3

SYNOPSIS:

In Erin Hahn's latest cozy, swoony romance, Maren Laughlin has been fishing her whole life, but she’s finally ready to be caught.

At thirty-three, Maren Laughlin's just turned down her boyfriend’s proposal, walked away from her decade-long position as a park ranger, and returned to her childhood playground in Northern Wisconsin to accept her inheritance: a decrepit waterfront bait shop. After a lifetime of letting things happen to her, she’s ready to start making her own moves, even if everyone else thinks she’s making the wrong ones. Well, not everyone—at least the local heartstopper and resort owner is on her side.

Josiah Cole has made some missteps in his life, but he’s proud of what he has: two awesome kids and the keys to the kind of getaway spot that has families coming back every summer– their up north home away from home. After his marriage dissolved, leaving him a single dad, he feels he’s the last person to judge Maren for her recent transformation (even if his best friend, her brother, wants him to feel otherwise). Besides, he genuinely likes having her around. She’s a breath of fresh air, his kids adore her (not to mention her dog, Rogers), and it doesn’t hurt that she’s beautiful.

Things between Maren and Joe are easy. So easy, they’re fully immersed in the middle before they even decide to begin. It’s not a question of should they, but rather can they make it last? Are things too easy, or is this just how real love works? In Erin Hahn’s heartwarmingly sexy Catch and Keep, Maren and Joe have to be brave enough to find out.
 

REVIEW: Embracing the Change by Kristen Ashley

 

OUR REVIEW:

I've been waiting for this book for what seems like forever...or, ever since Nora and Jamie showed up on the page together and every single character in this series has been dying for them to get together. Nora and Jamie did not disappoint and Kristen Ashley did the best job of making their romance completely over the top in every single way. From their extreme wealth, their forced proximity on a yacht, their housing, clothing, and accoutrement to the dramas that filled their days and the page, I was hooked the first scene and didn't blink until I was done. I loved escaping into their lives, lives so far removed from mine that it felt like fantasy. I loved catching up with all of the other characters from the previous books in the series. And I loved that even though Nora and Jamie live a life I'll never live, I found them to be likable and genuine and characters you couldn't help rooting for. 

Of course it doesn't hurt that Kristen Ashley is like my own personal catnip; I am addicted to the worlds she creates. I'm almost finished rereading all of her previously released novels and it's honestly ruined me for so many other reads because these characters just feel like home.

All of this to say: Embracing the Change was another 5 star Kristen Ashley read for me and, of course, I cannot wait for what she releases next. 

BUY HERE: https://amzn.to/3MZixKA

SYNOPSIS:

That Kiss…

Gorgeous New York socialite, Nora Ellington has been waiting a very long time for her happily ever after.

So long, she’s given up on it and has decided, even though she’s the plus-one friend without benefits to a man she’s head over heels in love with, an HEA will forever be out of her reach.

Handsome billionaire Jamie Oakley thought he’d had two happily ever afters in his life. However, neither lasted long, and both ended in tragedy. He’s not about to try it again or put his children through the trauma Jamie has learned from experience undoubtedly will come their way.

And he’s made this decision even if the woman who’s become his constant companion is a woman he loves straight to his soul….and wants with everything that is him.

But then, one night, Jamie loses control and kisses Nora.

He can’t go there.

She can’t go on without it.

They’ll never be the same.

Or will they?

REVIEW: The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez

OUR REVIEW:

The Next Best Fling had a cute premise--two people in love with other people who help each other out when the people they're in love with become engaged to each other. Did you catch all that? 

Marcela and Theo have been in each other's circle of acquaintances for a while but get to know each other when Theo's brother (Marcela's original love interest) and his girlfriend (Theo's original love interest) become engaged, much to their chagrin. Marcela and Theo become each other's plus one to all sorts of events and it's through these dates that they get to know and care for each other. It becomes clear, from early on, that Theo's brother is a complete douche and Theo is the superior brother of the two. Thankfully, Marcela picks up on that sooner than later.

While I enjoyed the idea of this novel, some of the execution didn't work for me. Something was a little off with some of the dialogue, which I found distracting. I also thought it went on a little long and so I found my interest waning. That being said, there were some cute scenes and a lot of potential for future books in this series. 

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SYNOPSIS:

Two broken hearts decide that the best way to get over their first loves is with a no-strings-attached relationship in this spicy and charming debut romance.

Librarian Marcela Ortiz has been secretly in love with her best friend for years—and when he gets engaged, she knows it’s long past time to move on. But before she gets the chance, she has a bigger problem to contend with in the form of Theo Young, ex-NFL player and older brother of the man she’s in love with. When she discovers Theo's plans to confess his feelings for his brother’s fiancée at their engagement party, Marcela is quick to stop him—despite how tempting it is to let him run away with the bride-to-be. She manages to convince Theo to sleep off his drunken almost-mistake at her place and when they arrive at a family brunch the next day together, everyone wrongly assumes they hooked up.

Since Theo needs a cover for his feelings for the bride and Marcela needs a distraction from her unrequited feelings for the groom, they decide to roll with the lie. Until one late night at a bar, they take it a step further and discover a layer of attraction neither realized existed. Soon, they find themselves exploring the simmering chemistry between them, whether in library aisles or Marcela's bed. There are no boundaries for the rebound relationship they form—just a host of complicated feelings, messy familial dynamics, and uncovered secrets that threaten to tear them apart before they can even admit to themselves that their rebound is working. Maybe a little too well.
 

REVIEW: The Au Pair Affair by Tessa Bailey

REVIEW:

I loved the first book in this series and I f-loved this book too. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a good sports ball romance and while this was more focused on the relationship between Tallulah and Burgess, there were some good diversionary hockey-focused scenes. 

Tallulah and Burgess were fun to read in a very opposites attracts way. He's a broody, single father, hockey player, who has the biggest heart. She's a sunny, smart, bubbly graduate student who has been burned so badly by her ex-boyfriend that she has isolated herself for years in order to protect herself from that ever happening again. When he hires her to be a nanny to his young daughter, Tallulah definitely questions her choices and almost backs out, but his obvious care and love for his daughter, and willingness to do anything to make Tallulah feel safe and comfortable wins her over. As the spend more time together, they discover that they're good for each other. She nudges him into living more of his life and he nudges her into doing the things her previous isolation had prevented her from doing. Pushing those boundaries created the opportunity for their attraction to build and grow and before you know it, they were falling for each other. Things were going so very well until they weren't and dang, it hurt to see them hurt, as they were both such likable characters, but it definitely made that HEA that much sweeter at the end.

Lately I've needed these easy, fun reads and The Au Pair Affair definitely was that--it practically read itself. So, if you're looking for something quick and fun and romantic, check this one out.

BUY IT: https://amzn.to/4g5ra3R

SYNOPSIS:

A sports rom-com about a burly, surly, single dad who falls head-over-hockey-stick for his quirky live-in nanny...

Tallulah is smart, vivacious, and studying to be a marine biologist. She’s also twenty-six and broke. So when Burgess, a battle-scarred hockey veteran and newly single dad, offers her a job as his live-in nanny, she jumps at the opportunity to get paid while living in a super fancy neighborhood and being around Lissa, his cool but introverted tween.

Her tween charge isn’t the only one who could use some help fitting in, though. According to…well, everyone except Burgess, he needs to get back on the dating scene, and adventurous Tallulah is just the girl to show him how. But as boundaries are slowly crossed and Burgess finds himself pulled between his daughter, who wants her parents back together, and his insane chemistry with Tallulah, a huge rift is formed, and Tallulah does the “right” thing—breaks her own heart and walks away.

Though Burgess knows it’s for the best—he’s too jaded, with too much baggage—a chance meeting, and a new push from his daughter, forces him to put everything on the line and fight to prove he learned his lessons well and is worthy of a happily ever after with Tallulah.