It's Definitely Not You - Abby Brooks
This is an enemies to lovers story that follows handyman Joe and doctor Kennedy. They meet when Joe is hired to be the live-in handyman for Kennedy's grandmother and fix up her house. They butt heads immediately and both have very strong first impressions of the other. Those initial impressions get broken down and the two realize that they were wrong about the other - so wrong that what they thought was hate turns out to be love. I really enjoyed Joe and Kennedy's relationship build-up. They had some pretty spicy banter when they didn't like each other and that banter slowly got more and more flirty as time went on. I thought both of them were really well developed outside of their relationship and I found myself invested in other parts of the story (like Kennedy's job at the local doctor's office). I really enjoyed how vulnerable Joe was and how the hero of the story is the one that really has some baggage. I think the beginning of the story was hinting at Kennedy maybe having some similar baggage, but I felt like it never really played out on her side. I loved how Kennedy stood up for herself and let Joe know exactly how she was feeling and wasn't just taking any apology from him. I wish we saw some more of Joe's insecurities earlier in the story. We get a few scenes before the big blowup but I feel like they didn't have any real consequences. I wanted him and Kennedy to maybe argue a bit about something, her to push him too far and him to get snippy, something that showed the storm brewing. In the chapters from Joe's POV, we get his inner monologue where he mentions how some of her actions or comments make him feel, but I wanted more of that to show up in their actual relationship.
Also to note: this story takes place after the Hutton Family series and we do see some of the Hutton characters in this book but it isn't necessary to read that series before reading this book (I didn't).
Scoring the Billionaire - Max Monroe
This is the third book in the Billionaire Bad Boys series and follows football team owner Wes and team physician, Winnie. He's perfectly content being a single guy in Manhattan, she's a single mom who isn't looking to be disappointed again, and their chemistry is undeniable. I really liked how both characters had their own lives and priorities and how their relationship came completely out of left field for both of them. They get together pretty quickly in the beginning of this book, but I believe there's more build up in book 2.5 of the series (Banking Her) which I did not read. I would have liked a bit more build up of their initial boss/employee relationship at the beginning of this book only because I didn't really know these characters yet. I really liked Winnie's relationship with the players on the team - she grew up with 4 brothers so she can give as good as she gets - and I really wanted more of those scenes. Winnie has a 6 year old autistic daughter who is described as 'high functioning' I believe. I'm not autistic, so I can't speak entirely on the rep in the book, but from what discussions I've seen, that label and the type of characteristics the daughter exhibits (math prodigy, excellent at memorizing facts, etc) are pretty stereotypical and are how a lot of neuro-typical people see autistic kids. There is a big focus in the book on Wes and if he feels he can be a good enough father for the daughter (and if Winnie feels like he's good enough as well), which I thought was really well done. It took me a while to get into their romance I think mostly because there was a disconnect in how the characters were acting and how they were telling the reader they normally act. Wes said so many times in his chapters that he had never seen himself as someone who liked kids, but for some reason he liked Winnie's daughter right from the start. Since he didn't know why he suddenly liked the idea of having a kid and we didn't really get a whole lot of 'before and after' character development at that point, I was pretty disconnected from the book. This is probably my least favorite book of the series but it really came together in the end. We get lots of the couples from the first 2 books which I always appreciate.
With This Ring - Georgia Le Carre
This is a mafia romance that follows Freya and Maxim. They are from two different Russian mob families and their fathers agree that they should marry in order to form a bond. Maxim is taking over the business from his father but Freya wants nothing to do with the mafia lifestyle and is working with a friend to start up a jewelry business. Freya initially refuses the marriage and Maxim agrees that he won't force her to marry him but he does think the union would be a good idea. This book wasn't as dark as mafia romances usually are which was refreshing and I appreciated how strong Freya was against her father and Maxim. She understands the rules of the world she was brought up in but she also knows how to push the limits to what a normal mafia romance heroine would be allowed to do. I thought the two characters complimented each other perfectly and their personalities meshed so well. I really appreciated how Freya knew exactly the type of life she would have with Maxim and wasn't blindsided like some heroines are in this sub-genre. I do wish there was more drama with the mob sub plot - someone was threatening them but it never felt really dangerous or like the main characters were really bothered too much by it. We are also told that Freya and Maxim knew each other when they were younger and I wish we had gotten a bit more of their relationship back then - either through flashbacks or just the characters remembering certain things from the past.
My Every Breath - Brittney Sahin
This is the second book in the Becoming Us series and follows Mia, daughter of a mafia hitman, and Cade, a businessman with a heart of gold and some ex-SEAL connections. Cade spots Mia one night at a strip club and he is instantly drawn to her. Once he finds out she's part of the mob and wants out, he's determined to help her and keep her safe. She's initially resistant, but when push comes to shove, she trusts him and agrees to go along with him. This is a pretty standard romantic suspense book, which I'm normally on board for. However, I found the romance lacking and the suspense boring so this was overall a thumbs down for me. This was insta-lust central which is fine except for the fact that I didn't feel like Mia and Cade grew together as a couple. I didn't believe the chemistry between them and while they did open up emotionally to each other, I wasn't getting any feelings of real growth. Honestly, at the end of the book, if they had just shook hands and walked away, I wouldn't have minded one bit. It felt like once the pressure and danger-sexiness of the situation had gone, their relationship would have fizzled. The suspense plot was interesting in premise, but I found it really lacking in execution. We were told about how much danger Mia was in, what sort of cartel/terrorist/mafia criminals our characters were up against but I just didn't feel like the characters were in any real sort of danger. Of course, with these books the reader knows the main characters will survive to live happily ever after, but I wasn't even worried for a second about any of the side characters or anything. Overall, this wasn't a bad book, it was just entirely underwhelming for me.
**There is mention of a drug overdose and human trafficking.
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