Wrapping up the month of October and with November Nanowrimo on the horizon, not sure how much reading I'll be getting done next month.
My Brother's Billionaire Best Friend - Max Monroe
This is the second book in the Billionaire Collection and follows Milo and Maybe. Maybe is back in NYC looking for a job in the publishing industry after graduating from Stanford and Milo has recently been named one of NYC's most eligible bachelors. A chance encounter at Maybe's parent's flower shop and Milo doesn't recognize her but the crush Maybe has had on Milo since they were kids is still in full bloom. Maybe's brother Evan reaches out to Milo to see if he has any connections to help Maybe with her job hunt and the two reconnect from there. Overall, this is Max Monroe's typical fun, flirty, and funny romcom. Maybe is a virgin but I did feel like it was handled better in this book than in other books where Milo understands that her first time is important and doesn't want to 'conquer' her or 'take' her virginity. He does fetishize it in his head, but his actions are much more respectful. What I really didn't like was how much secondhand embarrassment I got when reading this book. I fully acknowledge that I am so incredibly sensitive to secondhand embarrassment so this might not bother anyone else, but I almost had to DNF the book because I was cringing and squirming in my seat. As an example: in one scene Maybe overhears two girls talking in a coffee shop about a particular sex activity that she's never heard of before. She texts her friend saying that these other girls said it was the best type of sex and Maybe declares that she wants to try it (before she even knows what the act actually is). Her friend thinks it is funny that Maybe doesn't know what this act even is and tells Maybe to text Milo and tell him the exact same thing. Maybe does, Milo fills her in on what exactly that act is, and she sort of freaks out at the same time as asking him if he's ever done that with someone. A lot of the relationship building between Maybe and Milo that the reader sees is done via text message. I would have liked to gotten more in-person interaction between them.
Cruel Paradise - J.T. Geissinger
I loved this book. It is the second in the Beautifully Cruel series and follows Irish mob boss Killian and secret thief Juliet. The two meet after Juliet and her crew pull a Robin Hood style theft from one of Killian's warehouses. The attraction is immediate (some might even call it insta-love) but both are hiding secrets that are stopping them from taking the relationship to where they want it to be. Not everyone will love a hopeless romantic mob boss who quotes Shakespeare but my goodness I loved it a whole lot. Killian is typical big, broad, and broody mob boss but with a soft nougat-y center that he isn't shy about sharing with Juliet. She has put up emotional walls a mile high around her and is trying her hardest to keep Killian out. She thinks he's everything she never wanted in a man but is inexplicably drawn to him nonetheless. I loved their chemistry - even if it did fall on the insta-love side of the spectrum - and I think their relationship was realistically complicated based on their own personal histories. While this book is the second in the series and it is a standalone story, I would highly recommend reading book 1 first because it gives some backstory to Killian's situation and lets the reader in on his secret right from the beginning, which just makes us route for him and Juliet even more.
Beautiful Scars - Ariana Black
This is the first book in the Cruel Heroes series and it follows gangster Cillian and Meisie, daughter of Cillian's political rival. Cillian kidnaps Meisie with the plan to force her mother to stop a bill legalizing drugs that would put a damper on Cillian's drug running side of his business. Meisie's mother is tougher to deal with than expected so Cillian and his ruthless twin brother Cole need to find some more creative measures to get their point across. This is a dark mafia romance with some pretty extensive BDSM scenes which won't appeal to all readers. The heroine does have a safeword and the hero does respect when she uses it, which is the first time I've seen that come up in one of these dark romances which I appreciated. Overall, I wasn't a real fan of this book because I didn't get any chemistry between the two characters. Often with these mafia romances, the hero kidnaps the heroine for some reason and it is just super lucky that they both are instantly attracted to one another and it takes the rest of the book to break down emotional walls and win hearts. In this book, however, I didn't even get the feeling that the hero was super into the heroine. Sure, he mentions that she's pretty, but the whole arrangement felt like a business deal for the entire book. Even when they're declaring their love for one another, it just didn't ring true. I didn't find the plot outside the romance particularly interesting either so this whole book fell really flat for me. Book 2 in the series follows Cole after the events of this book which, based on the description, sound like Cole is out for revenge. Cole was a pretty bad guy in this book so I don't think I'll find myself reading his book.
Dirty Talk - Lauren Landish
This is the first book in the Get Dirty series and follows radio show host Derrick and app developer Kat. The two meet after she calls into his late night love and relationship show (think Love Line with Dr Drew) and the two have an instant connection. A few bouts of phone sex later and they meet in person, start dating, and things progress from there. Overall, I really liked this book but I think I could have loved it if it was just a bit longer and some of the side plots were more developed. I thought Derrick and Kat's chemistry was off the charts. I think I've mentioned in some of my reviews for Landish's other books, but she can write some damn good dirty talk. This book is filled with very explicit scenes almost right from the beginning so if that isn't your thing then this book is not for you. I was surprised that the central conflict wasn't what I was expecting it to be, which was refreshing. I really liked how many scenes we got of Derrick doing his radio show and it was interesting to see little glimpses of the back end of a hit radio show like that. I do wish we got some more development of the side characters and side plots as well as a deeper dive into Derrick and Kat's very different views on love and relationship. He's a hopeless romantic, she's jaded from multiple men falling short of even the most basic guidelines. I was really expecting that difference to play a much bigger role. Also, I wanted more of the friends and what they thought about the budding relationship. We get Kat's friends in the beginning scene and then she'll call them a few times through out the book, but I never really got a strong sense of the friendship they have and since Kat has a not so great history with men, I would expect her to be really grounded with her girls and I was missing that development.
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