My romance reads of the past week. A lot of continuing series this week and most were super wins.
Irresistible - Melanie Harlow
This is the first book in the Cloverleigh Farms Series. I read book 2 a few weeks ago and I loved both books. Irresistible is the story of Frannie and Mack. Mack in the CFO for Cloverleigh Farms, which is owned by Frannie's parents. Frannie works part time at Cloverleigh and part time as a nanny to Mack's 3 young daughters. A messy divorce left Mack a single dad to 3 young girls and he's trying his best to cope. The chemistry between the two characters was an instant hit - super cute and flirty. There is a 10 year age gap between them - Frannie is 27, Mack is 37 - but since they are already adults and both have had past relationships, it isn't taboo or a point of contention in the book. I loved how both characters had goals and aspirations outside of being together. Frannie wants to open a bakery and Mack wants to be the best dad to his girls. I felt the conflict in the story was completely realistic and handled well and the resolution was pure swoon. And thank goodness for children characters who actually sound like children! The whole book was super cute and romantic (and the bedroom scenes were steamy as f**k) - highly recommend!
Commander - Kristy Marie
This is the first book in the Commander in Briefs series and I will be reading more of the books ASAP. This book is a friends to lovers story revolving around Theo - a pro baseball player - and Anniston - he's childhood friend and personal doctor. After years of being attached at the hip, Anniston decides to branch out on her own a bit and find herself and her calling outside of Theo. When she finds a homeless marine veteran, Cade, in a ditch on the brink of freezing to death, she brings him home and makes her new mission helping homeless veterans integrate back into society. Anniston and Cade strike up an interesting friendship. He hopes it can be more, but Theo and Anniston are head over heals for each other as anyone can see (especially since they fool around in the open pretty often) so I wouldn't necessarily call it a love triangle. Cade backs off pretty quickly and is okay just being friends and helping Anniston with the other veterans they've taken in. The one part that didn't land for me was the main threat plot line. It seemed way too serious and high stakes for what felt like a pretty rom-com type of book. It wasn't fleshed out enough to hold my attention and there were like 3 other plot lines with the various cast of characters that I cared about way more.
Smitten - Lauren Rowe
This story was adorable from start to finish. A little overly cute-sy for my liking at times, but had me grinning pretty much from start to finish. Our hero and heroine meet at a party - he's a member of a famous rock band, she's a music student - and they click instantly but she has to return home to Boston in a day and he's staying in LA to work on a new album with his band. There's no denying the chemistry both physically and mentally between these two and they'll find a way to be together. I loved the conversations between the two characters. They really came across as understanding each other on an almost spiritual level. It did get a little too cute and awk-dorable for me at times but it didn't stay like that for too long. Since both characters are into music, the story revolves heavily around musicians, record labels, writing lyrics, shooting music videos, etc. I'm not that into music so I found those side plots pretty boring, but I know that is just a me thing. Overall, the romance was super cute and I can honestly say these two characters felt like the most 'meant to be' couple of all the romance books I've read so far.
Accidental Protector - Nicole Snow
This is book 2 of the Marriage Mistake series. This book follows Mindy and Noah after waking up married in Reno and neither remembering anything other than flashes. Noah is special ops turned bounty hunter and Mindy just left her cheating fiance a few months before the wedding. The chemistry is unmistakable and the two bicker like an old married couple at times. But Noah's wrapped up in a pretty shady situation and now Mindy is also. I loved the chemistry and relationship between our hero and heroine. They are both strong headed people who find themselves tied together for now. The plot of what Noah is doing in Reno and his mission is a little boring, I didn't feel like the villain was really well fleshed out and the conclusion was way over the top for my liking. I would have loved more with Noah's service buddies as well. But overall, the romance was super hot, the threat was a little lame, and the happy ending was perfect.
The Chase - Elle Kennedy
This is the first book in the Briar U series which is related to the Off Campus series. This book follows Summer and Fitz. He's a hockey player for Briar U where Summer just transferred and he's friends with Summer's older brother. She needs a place to stay and he and his other 2 hockey player roommates need a 4th person. She's had a crush on him since they first met but after a bad New Years Eve party, she ends up kissing one of the other roommates and the angst begins! I loved how both of the characters somewhat broke the usual trope of new adult romance. Yes, they were both super attractive and popular as is the case with most new adult romances. However, she struggles with her ADHD, saying whatever is on her mind, and being feminist as f*ck. He's an introvert, artist, video game nerd who has trouble sharing his feelings not because "men don't talk about feelings" because of past trauma. They both somewhat misjudge the other when they first meet, but soon the walls come down and it is a true opposites attract sort of story. I didn't appreciate the love triangle with the other roommate and there wasn't any real resolution to that story line in this book (but I believe book 3 in the series is his story, so he'll get his happy ending eventually). There's also a creepy professor story line that I didn't really feel was well developed and it felt thrown in at the end to amp up the stakes a bit but it fell flat for me.
Accidental Romeo - Nicole Snow
This is book 3 in the Marriage Mistake series and this is my new favorite series because the books are just so fun. This book follows baker extraordinaire Wendy and broody single dad Hunter. After a chance encounter one day, Wendy's mom makes a deal with Hunter to be Wendy's date to her sister's upcoming wedding. He happily agrees, she begrudgingly agrees. The sparks are undeniable, but she has a hard time letting go and realizing that someone like Hunter could fall for her. He's a big typical alpha hero but for once, the hero isn't the one who is super closed off. She keeps trying to let him off the hook, but he keeps insisting and showing her how much he cares about her. Our heroine is a bit of the wallflower of the family, at least as far as relationships go. No one can believe that she would ever be able to catch the eye of someone like Hunter. He, to his credit, is appalled at this and goes out of his way to express to her how amazing she is in front of her family. He isn't playing games or playing his feelings up, he's just expressing his feelings. The hero's backstory with the tragic death of his brother was more believable than the other action subplots of the first 2 books which I appreciated as well.
Gorgeous - Kristy Marie
This is the second book in the Commander in Briefs series and I loved it. I cried, twice, and grinned a lot while reading. This book was pretty much perfect in my opinion. It follows Cade, the marine Anniston saved in the first book, and Brecklyn the girl who makes pies and jams at the local orchard. As Anniston and Theo leave for their honeymoon, Anniston arranges for Brecklyn to stay with Cade and the other 4 veterans at the house to teach them cooking skills. Brecklyn came to town over a year ago in search of Cade, the two of them tied together by their history. Cade doesn't know who Brecklyn is, but she might be the only one who can break through his wall of grief and guilt and be happy with his life. I got everything I loved about the first book - the hot guys, the witty banter, the brooding - with no overly dramatic B plot line. The story was simply about Cade and Brecklyn opening up to each other and to other people in their lives and learning to forgive the past. Cade does deal with some pretty severe PTSD and I liked how he had to actively choose to work on that part of himself. Love doesn't automatically fix everything and he made the choice for himself.
Insatiable - Melanie Harlow
This is the third book in the Cloverleigh Farms series. It is a friends to lovers story of Meg and Noah. Meg lives in Washington DC and is home for her sister's wedding. Noah is the sheriffs deputy in their small hometown. Both have been through some bad breakups and decide to just give into their feelings and have fun for the week until Meg returns to DC after the wedding. Everything is going well, really well (hello handcuffs!) until Meg starts considering moving back home. My favorite part of this book was the relationship between the 5 sisters. Out of all the books so far, this one is for sure the most sister-oriented which makes sense because they're all in town for the wedding. For the first 2 books, 2/5 have been away so this book fills in a lot of the gaps in their relationship. The relationship between Noah and his siblings is also really well developed and complex. Noah and Meg's relationship, however, I thought wasn't as developed. I wish we would have gotten more flashbacks or something to show how they grew up together like with did in book 2 with Chloe and Oliver. I also wasn't entirely convinced at how quickly they both got over their past relationship traumas. Overall, I believed them as a couple but I wasn't convinced at how smoothly their ending worked out.
Banking the Billionaire- Max Monroe
This is the second book in the Billionaire Bad Boys series and follows Thatch and Cassie, the best friends of Kline and Georgia from the first book in the series. Thatch and Cassie are two peas in a pod - they are both free spirits, passionate, and love pranks and one-upping each other. After a chance night together, they both start pretending to be in a relationship with each other in order to freak the other out. Both also have some personal issues with relationships for different reasons so the 'fake' relationship is a good mechanic for them to actually work through their feelings without freaking out. I loved these two together and they were perfect for each other. However, all the one-upping and challenges they kept giving each other was stressing me out. They didn't do anything super bad, but I just felt really uncomfortable with how neither of them could just say how they felt and they kept having to hide behind their pranks. I did appreciate the slow burn sort of realization that both of them have separately that they are good together and make a good couple. The conflict in the story was very real and made me tear up and I really liked how the heroine was the one who needed to apologize instead of the hero like in most books. I will say the book ended with one of my least favorite tropes so that put a bit of a bummer on the whole book for me, but I fully realize that the specific trope at the end is beloved by most readers so I get it.
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