Extra Whip - L.A. Witt
This is the 8th book in the Bold Brew series and follows married couple Will and Aaron. They've been together for 20 years and are in a monogamous D/s relationship. However, after finding out that Aaron is interested in more pain than Will is able to give, they start looking for an additional play partner. Kelly is the unicorn Will and Aaron are looking for and after meeting up, the three find their desires line up pretty perfectly. Despite the ground rules the three agreed upon, emotions start getting involved and feelings develop. Will and Aaron had always said they weren't into poly, but maybe they could be flexible if it keeps Kelly around. I really enjoyed this book. It was my first married couple romance and I'd like to read more of that trope. I really liked how solid of a couple Will and Aaron are and how it was very obvious that Kelly isn't coming in as a band-aid solution for a bigger problem. I also really enjoyed how Kelly's relationship developed with both Will and Aaron separately as he spent more time with each of them alone. This is a long book - almost 500 pages - and a good amount of it is spent outside the bedroom. We get chapters from the POV of all 3 characters and each of them have their own struggles outside the relationship. There's a good amount of focus on building the emotional connection between all the characters while their clothes are on which I really liked. The kink scenes were great and I really liked the amount of emotional care that all the characters took after the scene was finished. I really believed in them as a romantic unit which is really all you can ask for from a romance.
Mad About Ewe - Susannah Nix
This story follows Dawn and Mike, both fairly recently divorced, as they reconnect before their 30 year high school reunion. Both have a bit of baggage left over from their past relationships and at 48 years old, habits are hard to break. But reconnecting now brings back the feelings from high school and maybe it is finally time for these two to have their happy ending. Overall, I thought the premise was really cute but this ended up being pretty lacking in what I was expecting from the execution. For example, this book is marketed as a 'second chance romance' but when the 'first chance' was Dawn asking Mike out to a movie 30 years ago and him saying no and then they both move on with their lives, it didn't really feel like there was enough history for a 'second chance'. Also, these characters didn't read like 48 year olds who had been married already. They really read more like 23 year olds coming back from college. I think Dawn and Mike worked really well together and I thought they had some good character growth outside the relationship. However, the story just didn't really hit where I think it was aiming. I think if there were some more flashbacks to high school days where we could see teenage Dawn and Mike interacting, that would have helped show the history and tension more so than just Dawn remembering being embarrassed when he rejected her back in the day.
Bossy - N.R. Walker
This story follows Michael and Bryson - both very successful business men - as they meet at a bar and hook up one night. They both agree to see each other again the next weekend with no strings (or names) attached. However, uncomplicated no strings attached sex only lasts so long when they start to spend more time together and slowly reveal parts of their lives to the other. Their professional lives soon intersect unexpectedly and they need to decide how to move forward. I really liked this book and Michael and Bryson as a couple. It has basically no angst which I wasn't expecting given the summary but I don't normally like super angsty books so I was very pleased with that development. I also liked the amount of side character interaction we got - especially Bryson's friends and father. This was on the shorter side of romance books for me (277 pages) but I thought the pacing worked out really well. I thought the relationship grew realistically and loved how Michael and Bryson really seemed to click from the get-go and just really worked together. The epilogue was super cute and I just really loved everything about this book.
Fall into Temptation - Lucy Score
This is the second book in the Blue Moon series and follows mayor Beckett Pierce and yoga instructor Gianna. Gianna recently moved to Blue Moon with her two kids after a divorce and is renting out Beckett's guest house. Her and Beckett have an instant connection but they both agree it would be too much of a complication. However, the connection is too strong to fight and the two eventually fall hard and fast for each other. But when Gianna's ex husband comes to town, it will take the residents of Blue Moon banding together to get Beckett and Gianna to realize they are meant to be. I really loved this book and Becket and Gianna's relationship. The chemistry between these two coming off the pages was super hot and they are one of those book couples that just obviously belong together. I really liked how we also got a good amount of follow up with the couple from the first book (that hero is Beckett's brother). The town of Blue Moon is great and all the colorful characters that live there really help build out this series. I'm not a super fan of kids in books, but I thought Gianna's two kids were written really well although her oldest read more like 15-16 years old at times when he was only 12. I also liked how there was a good amount of character development outside of the relationship with Beckett finally coming to terms with his mom dating again after his dad died years ago. Overall, this was just a great read and I can't wait to continue in the series.
Only Him - Melanie Harlow
This is the second book in the One and Only series and follows Maren and Dallas. The two dated in high school until one day senior year Dallas left without saying a word. Twelve years later, he shows up on Maren's doorstep to apologize and the two fall back together like no time has passed at all. Only problem is Dallas is keeping a secret - one big enough that he feels like is big enough to threaten their happiness again and maybe he should leave and let her fall in love with someone else. This is a second chance romance which aren't usually my cup of tea. However, Melanie Harlow is an insta-buy author so I figured if anyone can do it, she can. And while I think this book was fine, I just really think this trope isn't for me. I did like how we got bits of information about Maren and Dallas's relationship in high school without having actual flashback chapters and I understand that 12 years have passed so both of them have done a lot of growing up. However, the characterization was a miss for me at the beginning and I didn't understand what these two characters saw in each other now. Like they have both gone through so much in the past 12 years so I wanted them to take some time to get to know the new Maren and new Dallas but it seems like they just came back together so easily because they hadn't changed at all since they were 17 and I just didn't really like that. I did like the conflict in the story and how integral both Maren and Dallas's families were with them finally getting their happy ending. The chemistry was off the charts and it was obvious that both characters were head over heals in love. I just wanted a bit more character development. Maybe just little things changing where Maren thought Dallas liked/didn't like X but he's changed his mind now or something like that.
Drop Dead Gorgeous - Lauren Landish
This romance/mystery follows county coroner Zoey and life insurance salesman Blake as they find themselves investigating a death under questionable circumstances. Zoey, known to most residents in the town as Drop Dead Gorgeous, has a reputation for being unlucky and anyone who gets close to her ends up injured or dead. Because of this, she's pretty much an outcast and spends most of her time either at work, at home with her brother, or with her best friend. Blake is a charismatic and nerdy insurance salesman who knows a ton of random facts and statistics and he falls head over heels for Zoey. The two meet after a traffic accident and realize they are both working on the same recently deceased person. Questionable lab results and a pushy widow trying to force an early life insurance payout get Zoey and Blake thinking there might be more to this death than meets the eye. I really liked the balance this book had between the mystery investigation and the romance. Blake pretty much falls in love with Zoey instantly and sees her for the funny, quirky, kind person she is. He's furious that pretty much everyone else in town treats her like some sort of supernatural creature who can kill you with just a look. Zoey, unfortunately, has internalized a lot of these reactions and Blake makes it his mission to show her that she's worth more than what these townspeople give her. I really enjoyed their banter and random trivia facts - they are both a little nerdy and odd but work together so effortlessly. I thought the mystery element was well plotted and while not as twisty as a straight mystery/thriller would be, I really enjoyed it. Overall, this was a really fun and cute mystery romance that, while it is a little over the top at times, has a lot of heart. (Also, I have a real soft spot for romance heroes/heroines with non-traditional jobs)
Happy Trail - Daisy Prescott
This is the first book in the Park Ranger series and follows Ranger Jay Daniels and hiker Olive Perry. The two meet when an early snow storm forces them off the Appalachian Trail and into an old cabin for a few days. Jay is a loner who is happy with his life as a ranger and getting to spend lots of time out in the woods. Olive is from a prestigious family and grew up in the lime light. She's broken off numerous engagements and ended up hiking the Appalachian Trail alone after her most recent boyfriend proposed and then left when she rejected him. But in a small cabin in the Tennessee wilderness, both Jay and Olive can just be themselves and end up falling for each other pretty quickly. I really liked Jay and Olive's interactions and growth together as they both opened up to each other over time. Stuck in the cabin with a stranger is one of my favorite set ups so I was a little disappointed that we only got that setting for 2 days. We follow Olive's months of hiking before she even meets Jay and while I liked that we see her character development over those months, I do wish we had gotten more of her interactions with her family and friends to see how hiking the trail for months changed her. I was expecting a lot more conflict with her 'old life' back in NYC and her 'new life' in rural Tennessee but we don't really get any of that. I did appreciate that this story had very low angst and how happy Jay and Olive were once they finally got together. I liked that most of the relationship building was done through actually just getting to know each other and not just pure physical attraction considering how little time they actually spent together (there wasn't more than a kiss until like the 85% mark).
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